Well, I am an NRI in UK and try to keep myself updated with the happenings in India via Rediff and other portals. On thing I have observed is that most of the manufacuted products be it clothing or food items or any thing from tooth paste to shoes, the prices of comodities in India as almost the same to the prices of the same items in UK.
Eg: you but lets say Heinz catchup for Rs 40-50/kg in India, the same quantity can be baught in UK for about 50-60 pence.
The thing of concern is that theis multinationals produce the items in India itself where labour and raw material is 100 times cheaper than what they pay to produce the same products in Europe or US.
Then why the Indian consumer is paying International price? These multinationals are going to grab the major chunk of retail market of India in coming years, will pay way less to the workers and ask the Indian consumers to pay almost the same price as their other international counterparts .
I may sound irrelavent in context of the article but this is a serious concern that I have and want others to start thinking and comparing the product prices of what they are buying in Inidan market
RE:Prices of Products in India
by Rahul S on Feb 12, 2007 09:32 PM Permalink
You are absoultely right. And the reason for this high price is the huge tax component that forms a part of this price. The government of India considers almost all consumer goods as luxury items and put them in the highest tax bracket. And did you know that the cost of buying a sedan car in India is 30-40% more than the US rates. This 30-40% is just tax going for goverment's wasteful expenditure and in the hands of corrupt politicians. The manufacturers cannot be blamed for this. The goverment is solely responsible. The service tax has been going up by 2% for the last 3 years. And only the goverment has to be blamed for the current inflation levels.
RE:Prices of Products in India
by leeba mathew on Feb 13, 2007 03:34 AM Permalink
Mr. Parikh,
A very dreadful reality....i agree to very word that you mentioned in your thought. But inspite of being aware through every medium possible, i just have a question.....WILL A COMMON MAN'S VOICE BE EVER HEARD IN A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY LIKE INDIA???
RE:RE:Prices of Products in India
by Rahul S on Feb 13, 2007 09:39 PM Permalink
India should have never been a parliamentary democracy in the first place. A monarchy or presidential system was ideal for such a diverse country like India. The presendential system has succeded in almost all democracies. Take US for instance.
RE:Prices of Products in India
by Kalyan on Feb 13, 2007 10:26 AM Permalink
nice analysis! and unfortunately, what u said is very much true! We Indians are paying the same international prices for products that are manufactures locally, and those that are imported. The only difference between both is that the ones that are imported have an "import duty", while the ones manufactures/developed here have "excise tax local taxes sales taxes education cess etc etc"... these all combined make up for more than 75% of the costs...! add to this the hoarding of commodities by various mediators!
Many of us knew what inflation is but cant figure it how it exactly affects an individual. The examples in the article are excellent to understand them
RE:RE:Solution
by m sasikala on Feb 12, 2007 08:16 PM Permalink
$-26.4 billion (2006 est.) https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/in.html#Econ
