The latest increase in prices of different variants of milk by Mother Dairy has hit the consumers hard with the poor being the worst affected.
A litre of toned milk (poly pack) would cost Rs.23 instead of Rs.22, while a litre of full cream milk (poly pack) would cost Rs.30 - up from Rs.28 - from Saturday.
IT executive Vivek Bhatnagar said: “Our domestic help has four kids and she earns about Rs.4,000 per month. Since she wishes to send her children to school, she has to compromise on other things. For a long time now the family has not been able to buy milk. With Mother Dairy raising the prices further, the family's access to milk has reduced further.”
There are concerns that prices of tea and other products using milk too might increase.
Household budgets have also been affected with some families struggling to adjust incomes with new prices.
Housewife Shilpa Aggarwal said: “With the price of essentials increasing at regular intervals it is getting increasingly difficult to accommodate all expenses within the monthly family earnings. Expenditures have to cut and salaries adjusted according to the new prices.”
Poonam Sharma, a working professional, added: “The quality of milk and prices offered by Mother Dairy do not match. There are other brands in the market which offer quality even if the prices may be a little higher. We have switched over to another brand of milk.”