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Prices city by city
The Delhi basket
Each week, our correspondent visits the same shop to buy five of the staple items found in the typical Delhi shopping basket. The price rises and falls will be tracked and contribute to the World Food Price Index.
- Rice (1kg)
- Ground flour (1kg)
- Lentils (1kg)
- Onions (1kg)
- Milk (1L)
Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi writes:
Delhi is a relatively affluent city but even here families can spend up to half their monthly budget on food so a sharp price rise is a major cause for concern.
Over the past few months the price of rice and lentils have risen steadily mainly due to increasing fuel costs, since all these products are transported into the city from the countryside.
The price of milk, on the other hand has stayed constant because it is mainly supplied by local dairies.
In August large parts of northern India were hit by heavy rain and floods which affected the onion crop and that is why the price of onions has been a lot more volatile.
The Graph
Perhaps the most varied price fluctuations of any of the eight cities, the graph show particularly dramatic movement in the price of onions.
