oppn parties Relief For Households As Cooking Oil Prices Decline Sharply

News Snippets

  • Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh has claimed that Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka refused to meet Congress leaders during his recent Assam visit. He alleged that the group was told to stay away because its outreach was "an Aam Aadmi Party initiative"
  • Indian Railways is undertaking a major expansion of the Guwahati rail network, including new lines, the second Saraighat Bridge, station redevelopment and a Mega Coaching Complex. The projects are intended to improve connectivity, passenger facilities and train operations across the Northeast
  • 150 people were arrested in Delhi as the CJP protest over the resignation of CEC Gynaesh Kumar entered the second day
  • The Centre ordered all AGMUT cadre segments to report within 48 hours any FIR, arrest, adverse court order or investigative action involving IAS, IPS, DANICS and DANIPS officers. The move follows concerns over delays in reporting investigations by agencies including the CBI, ED and anti-corruption bodies
  • India brought back alleged international narco-trafficking kingpin Navpreet Singh from Türkiye, where he had allegedly obtained citizenship under the false identity Navab Virk. Home Minister Amit Shah said Singh was accused of running heroin and methamphetamine trafficking routes from Afghanistan into India
  • Jack Dorsey’s decentralised messaging application Bitchat disappeared from Apple's and Google's app stores in India after Apple said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had ordered its removal under Section 69A of the IT Act. The app's website was also inaccessible through several Indian internet providers
  • The RBI reiterated its cautious stance on private cryptocurrencies, while backing the underlying technologies such as distributed ledgers and tokenisation. Governor Sanjay Malhotra said central-bank digital currencies could offer an alternative for improving cross-border payments
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India must continue building economic resilience amid global uncertainty, highlighting strategic-resource security, diversified supply chains, skills and domestic capabilities in critical minerals, rare earths, semiconductors and small modular reactors. She was speaking at the Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi
  • RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra warned that a slowdown in the global AI investment cycle could trigger sharp repricing of financial assets, while saying any correction in elevated AI valuations in advanced economies could potentially redirect capital towards India. He also identified cyber risk as a major financial-stability concern arising from increasingly sophisticated AI
  • India lost 4-0 to Brazil in the historic international friendly at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium, with Estevao, Pedro and Samuel Lino, who scored twice, finding the net. The match was Brazil’s first senior men’s international on Indian soil
  • Seventeen-year-old Kumkum Mohod won India’s first women’s individual recurve gold at the Asian Games, beating South Korea’s Oh Yejin in a shoot-off. The victory also secured an Olympic quota place for India for the 2028 Los Angeles Games
  • Pranavi Urs became the first Indian woman to win an individual Asian Games golf gold, finishing one stroke ahead of China’s Yin Ruoning at 15-under 265. India also took silver in the women’s team event
  • Wrestler Aman Sehrawat won the men’s 57kg freestyle gold, defeating reigning world champion Han Chong Song of North Korea 11-7 after recovering from a 7-6 deficit late in the bout
  • India’s men’s hockey team retained the Asian Games gold, defeating Malaysia 5-1 in the final. The victory also secured India a place in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
  • India retained the Asian Games men’s T20 cricket title, beating Pakistan by 19 runs in the final. Abhishek Sharma’s 61 off 28 balls and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 51 off 22 helped India post 211/6 before Pakistan finished on 192/6
Asian Games: October 3 gold medallists: Kumkum Mohod (Archery), Pranavi Urs (Golf), Aman Sehrawat (Wrestling), India men’s cricket team (Cricket), and India men’s hockey team (Hockey) /////// India finishes its campaign in 4th position in the Asian Games medal table: 21 gold, 27 silver, 37 bronze; 85 medals.
oppn parties
Relief For Households As Cooking Oil Prices Decline Sharply

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2023-05-05 07:33:53

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The price of edible oils has fallen drastically in the world market. The reduction is as much as $200-250 per tonne, meaning Rs 16.5 to Rs 20.5 per kg. The Centre has noted this and has asked domestic manufacturers to reduce their prices in line with the global decline and pass on the benefit to the consumers with immediate effect. At least one company, Mother Dairy, that markets the popular Dhara brand of edible oils, has reduced the MRP of its products by Rs 15-20 across variants. Others have also started reducing their prices.

The Union food secretary Sanjeev Chopra held a meeting with the Solvent Extraction Association of India (SEA) and the representatives of the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers' Association (IVPA) and impressed upon them that the benefit of the decline in global prices must be passed on to the consumers. The government wanted the companies to reduce the price to distributors as well as the MRP so that there was no dilution in passing on the benefit in this regard. This will also reduce food inflation further.

After the pandemic, the sharp rise in commodity prices, including edible oil prices, due to supply chain disruptions, had resulted in a sharp rise in MRP of the daily essential in India. Prices had jumped by more than 50% for some variants while the average rise for poplular variants was more than 25%. Households were feeling the pinch as the prices of other essentials like atta and maida had also skyrocketed. With the decline in global prices and the market trend, it is expected that prices will drop further. The government needs to keep a close watch to ensure the benefit is passed on to the consumers. The elevated price of edible oils had also forced restaurants to hike their prices. They should also reduce the same now.