Lok Sabha Question No. 1638 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-31
Subject: Rising Prices of Essential Commodities
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Andimuthu Raja, A. Ganeshamurthi, Harsimrat Kaur Badal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE

## DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1638

DUE FOR ANSWERED ON 31.07.2023

## Rising Prices of Essential Commodities

## 1638. SHRI A. RAJA, SHRI A. GANESHAMURTHI and SHRIMATI HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  there  is  rise  in  prices  of  essential  commodities  and  food  products  especially vegetables, fruits, pulses, Mustard Oil, Lentils, Milk, wheat, Flour, Tomato, etc. during the last two years;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government has taken note that prices of these essential commodities have gone up by 200 per cent to 800 per cent when compared with 2014 till today;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the measures taken or being taken by the Government to control higher inflation to give relief to common people and to stabilise the economy?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b): Government monitors prices of 22 essential food commodities at designated price monitoring  centres.  The  All-India  retail  prices  of  22  essential  commodities  during  2021 (April-July), 2022 (April-July) and 2023 (1 st April to 25 th July) are presented in Annexure I. These items do not include fruits. Inflation in fruits as per the Consumer Price Index was 3.47 per cent and 1.40 per cent in 2022 (April-June) and 2023 (April-June) respectively.  Prices of essential food items get affected by several factors, such as mismatch in demand and supply, seasonality,  supply  chain  constraints,  rise  in  international  prices, etc .  Sometimes,  slight disruptions  in  supply  chain  or  damage  due  to  heavy  rains  lead  to  spike  in  prices  of  agrihorticultural commodities.

(c) & (d): None of the aforementioned 22 essential commodities had a cumulative increase of 200 per cent or more in their average All-India retail prices between 25-07-2014 and 25-072023.  For  all  these  items  except  tur/arhar  dal,  groundnut  oil  and  tomato,  the  annual compound average growth rate (CAGR) of price increase was below 6 per cent. The increase in the price of tomato in July 2023 is due to crop seasonality, region-specific crop disease, instant arrival of monsoon rains in the northern part of the country and logistics disruptions in isolated areas due to heavy rains. Price of tur/arhar increased, despite higher imports, because of lower production.

(e):  Government has taken various measures to augment domestic availability and stabilize the  prices  of  essential  food  items  for  the  common  people.  These  steps, inter-alia ,  include releases from the buffer stock, imposition of stock limits, monitoring of stocks declared by entities  to  prevent  hoarding,  as  also  requisite  changes  in  trade  policy  instruments  like rationalization of import duty, changes in import quota and restrictions on exports of specific commodities. Besides, in order to rein in core inflation, the Government has, from time to time, calibrated the import duty and excise duty on specified key inputs. To bring relief to consumers, NCCF and NAFED have procured tomato from producing States for continuous disposal  in  major  consumption  centres of  Delhi-NCR, Rajasthan,  Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Apart  from  measures  taken  to  curb  inflation,  Government  has  taken  various  measures  to stabilize  the  economy  by  containing  fiscal  deficit,  while  at  the  same  time,  significantly increasing  capital  expenditure.  Union  Budget,  2023-24  also  initiated  many  investmentfriendly measures to promote stable and robust economic growth.

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Annexure I All India Average Retail Prices of Essential Food items (Rs. per Kg) during 2021 (AprilJuly), 2022 (April-July) and 2023 (1 st April to 25 th July)

| Commodities            |   2021 (April-July) |   2022 (April-July) | 2023 (1st April-25 th July)   |
|------------------------|---------------------|---------------------|-------------------------------|
| Rice                   |                36   |                36.2 | 39.7                          |
| Wheat                  |                26.6 |                29.5 | 31.6                          |
| Atta(Wheat)            |                30.2 |                33.2 | 36.8                          |
| Gram Dal               |                75.9 |                73.8 | 74.1                          |
| Tur/Arhar Dal          |               107.1 |               103   | 124.1                         |
| Urad Dal               |               108.9 |               104.5 | 110.6                         |
| Moong Dal              |               105.7 |               102.3 | 108.8                         |
| Masoor dal             |                85.4 |                96.4 | 92.4                          |
| Groundnut Oil (Packed) |               175.8 |               190.8 | 190.8                         |
| Mustard Oil (Packed)   |               165.5 |               187   | 157.0                         |
| Vanaspati Oil (Packed) |               129.8 |               161.3 | 131.5                         |
| Soya Oil (Packed)      |               147.9 |               167.7 | 139.3                         |
| Sunflower Oil (Packed) |               168.9 |               186.6 | 154.2                         |
| Palm Oil (Packed)      |               129.7 |               149.8 | 111.9                         |
| Potato                 |                19.4 |                23.8 | 21.2                          |
| Onion                  |                25.9 |                24.6 | 23.4                          |
| Tomato                 |                21.2 |                40.3 | 46.5 (*)                      |
| Sugar                  |                39.6 |                41.5 | 42.5                          |
| Gur                    |                46.7 |                48.3 | 49.9                          |
| Milk(Rs./Litre)        |                48.8 |                51.6 | 57.2                          |
| Tea Loose              |               276.2 |               284   | 275.6                         |
| Salt Pack(Iodised)     |                18   |                19.5 | 22.0                          |

Source: Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA)

(*) Average retail price of tomato per Kg for all centres monitored in the country was Rs. 23.2, Rs. 23.6, Rs. 32.6 and Rs. 106.6, respectively, during April, May, June and July (till 25 th July) of 2023.

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