Thane: Bakers hike bread prices in Badlapur due to rising raw material cost

Residents of Thane districts Badlapur in Maharashtra have to pay more for a loaf of bread as the areas bakery owners association hiked the price of the staple food item from Rs 20 to Rs 23 from Tuesday PTI reportedThe increased cost of raw materials has left them with no option but to revise the prices says Ayub Gadkari the officebearer of KulgaonBadlapur Bakery Owners Welfare AssociationThe cost of flour oil and other ingredients has gone up by nearly 20 per cent over the past year Weve held off raising prices for as long as we could but the situation has now become unsustainable said a member of the associationBread is consumed on a daily basis in various forms by a large number of households The increase in price is likely to impact families as well as small businesses that rely on bread for their meals PTI reportedWhile some consumers acknowledged the bakers compulsion given the inflationary pressures others raised concern about the collective impact of the increasing prices on their household budgetFrom edible oil to groceries the prices of raw materials required for bread production have seen a steep increase over the past months This has significantly impacted the operational costs for bakeries leaving no choice but to revise the prices Gadkari saidThe representatives of the bakery owners association also claimed that they will monitor the market conditions and strive to ensure a balance between quality and affordability PTI reportedCREDAI urges govt to reconsider 1837 GST imposition on FSI charges warns of increase in housing pricesThe Confederation of Real Estate Developersrsquo Associations of India CREDAI has strongly opposed the proposal to levy an 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax GST on Floor Space Index FSI and Additional FSI charges imposed by local authorities for real estate projectsIn a letter addressed to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman CREDAI urged the central government to reconsider the move warning that it could lead to a significant increase in housing prices and adversely affect both supply and demand in the real estate sectorAccording to CREDAI imposing GST on FSI chargesmdashwhether retrospectively or prospectivelymdashwould escalate project costs by as much as 10 per cent pushing up housing prices across various regions of IndiaThe industry body claims that the additional burden would make affordable housing projects economically unviable exacerbating the housing affordability crisis and potentially affecting the purchasing power of middleclass homebuyers who make up 70 per cent of the total marketThe proposed tax on FSI charges which are fees paid to local authorities for the additional space developers are allowed to build could also create substantial financial pressures on developersWith PTI inputs