Slack reforms in the retail sector have been brought into stark contrast by the current bout of inflation. Published figures of fruit and vegetable prices in mandis (wholsesale markets) in Delhi are way below what consumers pay in their local markets.
As FE reporters fanned out to various corners of the city on Thursday for a reality check, they found the wholesale prices of most commodities were surprisingly soft. The bite in prices builds up as the goods travel to the retail markets.
Let?s start with onion. On Thursday, the prices of onion varied between Rs 4 and Rs 5.50 per kg at the wholesale market, but the retail prices at vegetable markets were between Rs 12 and Rs 15, a hefty premium of 200?172%.
Even accounting for retail margins, the mark up was steep. The comparable prices in the outlets of Mother Dairy and Subhiksha were much lower at Rs 10.
The Agricultural Marketing Produce Committee?s price for tomatoes ranged between Rs 3.25 and Rs 12.75 per kg, but street vendors near Alakananda in South Delhi were hawking every variety above Rs 25 a kg. At the outlets of organised retailers, the price was Rs 22.
The government reckons that inflation this time round is due to supply-side factors. But prices in the organised retail outlets were softer in every case than the local markets. The staple of north India, potato, sold for Rs 2 at the mandis climb to Rs 10 in the organised retail shops and steeper in the vegetable shops at Anand Vihar in East Delhi.
Amidst spiralling prices, the ministry of fruit processing industries has recently estimated that farm foods worth more than Rs 58,000 crore go waste in the country, annually.