The price hike is also affecting small caterers and small scale vendors. Though apple prices are expected to come down usually after the monsoons, the rates are shooting up in the market with one kilogram of apple costing ₹140-150 (€1.65-1.77). Off season fruits like orange, grapes and guava cost around ₹ 80 (€0.94) in the market.
“Usually apple prices come down to Rs 40-50 by mid-September which is the season for apples. But this time the prices have been escalating and is already double the regular price,” said a fruit vendor at Chalai Market.
The situation is the same with vegetables too. Now one kilogram lemon costs around ₹ 80 in the market; double the regular price. Shop owners are of the opinion that the cost of lemon will reach ₹200 in two weeks. “These rates will remain for at least three months,” Manoj V, a shopkeeper at the Chalai market.
