Prices of festival essentials in Bengaluru go up as supply takes a hit 

Every year, Mahanavami (Ayudha Puja) and Vijayadashami are bumper business days for flowers, fruits, and ashgourd traders in Bengaluru owing to the great demand. This year too, the prices of many of the festival essentials have gone up in the city markets owing to a small supply shortfall.

As of Wednesday, the price of sevanthige (chrysanthemum) was around ₹250 per kg (good quality), while roses were selling at ₹250 to ₹300 per kg. Jasmine and kanakambara (crossandra) were selling at ₹600 and ₹800 per kg in wholesale markets. Although these have doubled owing to the festival, the prices of jasmine and kanakambara usually go beyond ₹1,000 per kg during this season. This time, the quality and the supply of flowers have taken a hit owing to rainfall.

“The supply also is not great this time owing to rainfall. We get sevanthige and roses from Gauribidanur, Chickballapur, and Doddaballapur, whereas jasmine and kanakambara come from Tamil Nadu. Since both the supply and the quality have reduced, the prices have not gone up too much. But it might go up by ₹100 per kg by Thursday,” said G.M. Divakar, president, K.R. Market Flower Merchants’ Association. 

While the price of lemons, used in the puja of vehicles, has gone up to around ₹10 per piece, ash gourd which is also used for similar rituals, has not seen any significant price rise this year. “It is selling at ₹12 per kg as there has been excessive production and no matching demand,” said Anand Giri, a trader in K.R. Market.

Ash gourd is usually bought whole for the festival and a whole gourd can weigh anywhere between two and four kg on an average. In retail markets, one whole ash gourd was selling at around ₹50 to ₹85 on Wednesday, while online markets showed it as “out of stock” almost through the day.

“I wanted to buy an ash gourd on Wednesday as I feared that it might get costlier on Thursday just before the festival. Since I order most of my vegetables online now, I kept checking throughout the day for whole ash gourds and it appeared that it was out of stock on multiple online marts,” said Rama K., a resident of Guttahalli. 

Other vegetables which have been selling at a higher price regularly have seen a slight increase of ₹5 to ₹10 per kg owing to the festivals. The cost of beans is between ₹100 and ₹120 per kg, while carrot is selling at ₹65 and ₹75 per kg, cabbage at ₹30 and ₹40 per kg, and capsicum at ₹60 and ₹70 per kg, in retail markets.

After poor profits during previous festivals, the supply of fruits has also decreased this time. However, most of them have seen a price hike of ₹10 to ₹30 per kg for the festival, according to Elu Maley, a fruitseller in Electronics City market. 

While yelakki banana is being sold across the city at around ₹100 per kg, apple is going for ₹80 to ₹130 per kg, mosambi at around ₹30 to ₹80 per kg depending on the size and the quality, and orange between ₹100 and ₹130 per kg.

Ayudha Puja funds for KSRTC buses increased

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Wednesday announced that the Ayudha Puja funds which are provided for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses have been increased from ₹100 to ₹250 this year. A government order has been sent out for the same.

Until 2008, every bus was given ₹10 and in 2009, it was increased to ₹30. Later in 2016, it was increased to ₹50, and in 2017, it was increased to ₹100 and had been a norm ever since. There are 100 to 500 buses in each depot and the money will be sent out for those buses to the respective depots.

Published - October 09, 2024 08:57 pm IST