Consumers bear the brunt

A recent study by ASSOCHAM revealed that in Retail in India, middlemen have walked away with most benefits, while consumers have bore the maximum brunt of price rise in the past five years.

The study says the average difference between wholesale prices and the minimum support prices (MSPs) during 2002-07 was 33 per cent, while the consumers paid 60 per cent more than the wholesale price.

The gap hit hard both farmers and consumers with all the benefits reaching traders as farmers receive the MSPs, decided by the government while consumers pay rates, decided by traders. The price differences are unlikely to be reversed.

Comments

Niyati Priyam said…
Question: Can we expect this trend to change if Walmart steps in India with Bharti?
Anonymous said…
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Ray Titus said…
Sure large format retail is to a certain extent going to benefit both farmers and end consumers...greater realisation for output, lower prices...in that order.

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