HYDERABAD: Despite the sluggish condition of the State’s economy due to the lockdown, if consumer price index numbers are to go by, Hyderabad still remains a more favourable destination for industrial workers, among many other industrial centres in the country.
The latest consumer price index for industrial workers show that for April the index stood at 275 in Hyderabad, while the nation average was at 329. The figures are used to measure inflation level and suggest how much an industrial worker has to spend to get access to basic facilities like housing, electricity and food, including meat, fish, eggs, as well as medical care and other facilities. It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.
As for the other two industrial centres of Telangana, Godavarikhani and Warangal, living is more expensive for industrial workers with the index above 300 in these two places for the month of April. In the pan-India level, only Rangapara Tezpiur in Assam, with 264, had a better index number than Hyderabad. Explaining the reasons for the comparatively-lower index number, Srinivas Garimella of the Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) said, “In Hyderabad, the price of housing, which takes a major component of the weightage in the calculation of the index number, has generally been always low. Availability of resources also plays a part. In contrast, the figures are higher in Godavarikhani and Warangal because availability of resources may be meagre than in Hyderabad.”
Speaking to Express, economist Amir Ullah Khan, while agreeing that factors such as low housing prices and availability to resources did play a part in the figures for Hyderabad, he maintained that Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown played a spoilsport.
“People do not have purchasing power now. Many reports have said that thousands have blown up their savings. They do not have any money. Confidence among consumers is very low, hence they are not being able to buy anything. This low figure is also reflective of this new factor,” Khan added.
