Small Businesses Being Crushed by Rising Inflation

Wholesale price inflation has nearly touched 15% in March compared to last year. Retail prices have also gone up by 7%, which is very high, but they are still far behind wholesale prices. While one key reason is that wholesale prices of fuel went up sharply, retail prices had been held for several months ahead of the Assembly elections. However, wholesale prices have been rising consistently for a year now, averaging 13% between April 2021 to March 2022. During the same time retail prices have risen by just 5.5%. This suggests that small business and small shopkeepers are being forced to absorb the rise in input prices to survive, because there's not enough demand for goods. Small businesses, which have already been badly affected by GST and then the Covid slowdown, are being crushed by wholesale inflation.