Mumbai: The Government's decision to raise fuel prices has cut the middle class the deepest.
But there's more bad news for the common man- household budgets have gone for a toss with prices of vegetable and pulses shooting up.
”Earlier, a daily meal would have at least two vegetables and a dal. But now, we make do with one vegetable. Sometimes we even skip dal,” says a housewife, Sandhya Rai.
Sandhya has been forced to cut corners and do some serious maths to keep her monthly household budget in check.
”Till March, my grocery budget used to be Rs 2,000, but now it's Rs 3,000. For Rs 800, I got vegetables for the entire month but now even Rs 1,500 is not enough,” she adds.
Sandhya is not alone, families across the socio-economic spectrum are feeling the heat.
Price of pulses like Masoor has gone up from Rs 32 per kg to Rs 40 per kg in the past 3 months. The price of Moong dal has increased from Rs 27 to Rs 54.
A kilogram of potato now costs Rs 18, though three months ago it was just Rs 8. Tomato has lost some colour after going up from Rs 8 to Rs 15.
The price of wheat has increased by around Rs 10 per kg, while sugar has gone up by Rs 4 per kg.
"Increase in the price of fuel has obviously increased the transporter's cost, who has passed it on to the consumer," says Principal Economist, Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL), Dharmakirti Joshi.
But experts say another reason for sky-rocketting prices is the decline in produce of certain vegetables and cereals.
Going by their analysis, there are tougher times ahead, especially for the middle-class household.
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