Inflation At Your Doorstep: Shampoos To Snacks Become More Expensive

Household budgets continued to remain under pressure after companies hiked prices of home and personal care and certain food and beverages at a time when retail inflation is showing signs of easing.

India's retail inflation eased to the lowest since May last year, led by continued reduction in fuel cost and steady food prices. The Consumer Price Index-based inflation stood at 4.75% in May, as compared to 4.83% in April, according to data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, released on Wednesday.

Kotak Institutional Equities has reported price hikes across several home personal care or HPC categories and in select food and beverage or F&B categories, possibly led by some transient inflationary headwinds.

Here's a look at which home and personal care and food and beverage products saw price hike and by how much.

Home and Personal Care

• Soaps: Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. raised prices by 4-5% on select stock keeping units, or SKUs, while Santoor and Dove prices increased by 3% and 2%, respectively. Bundled-pack SKUs primarily saw these hikes.

• Body Wash: Colgate-Palmolive increased Palmolive body wash prices by 9%, and Hindustan Unilever raised Pears body wash prices by 4%.

• Detergents: Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Jyothy Labs increased the prices of select SKUs by 2-4%, 1-4%, and 10%, respectively. Additionally, Hindustan Unilever and Godrej Consumer increased prices on select liquid detergent SKUs by 9% and 5%, respectively.

• Oral Care: While Dabur and Colgate-Palmolive maintained price stability, Hindustan Unilever hiked prices by 6–10% on select SKUs of Pepsodent and Close Up. Sensodyne increased prices by 4–5%.

• Shampoos:  Hindustan Unilever raised shampoo prices across its portfolio by 2–6%, and L'Oreal increased the price of its Total Repair SKU by 5%.

• Skin Care: Hindustan Unilever implemented 3-4% price hikes across various skin care categories.

• Hair Oils: Parachute Coconut Oil saw an 8–11% price increase, while Nihar Amla (Marico) and Dabur Almond oils each witnessed an 8% increase.

Food And Beverage Categories

• Edible Oils: Despite stable prices for tracked SKUs over the past three months, media reports indicate that disruptions in soybean and mustard oil supplies led to higher prices last month.

• Tea and Coffee: Tea prices remained unchanged, while coffee experienced inflationary pressures. Nestlé increased coffee prices by 8–13%, and Hindustan Unilever by 4–5%.

• Dairy: Nestle raised the price of A+-toned milk by 5%.

• Health Food Drinks: Horlicks and Complan saw price hikes of 3–4%.

• Carbonated Soft Drinks: Coca-Cola increased the price of 750 ml SKUs for Thums Up and Coca-Cola by 13%. Tropicana Slice's price went up by 5%.

• Biscuits: The prices of key players remained largely stable.

• Staples: ITC raised Aashirvaad Atta whole wheat prices by 2%.

• Noodles: ITC increased the price of its Yippee LUP SKU by 17%, while Nestle raised the price of Maggi oats noodles by 17%.

• Other Categories: Some price hikes were observed in select SKUs of chocolates and breakfast snacks.