Essential commodities supply still worrisome, says survey

Though the government is claiming that it has taken steps to improve the availability of essential commodities, the situation is still worrisome in many areas in the country, according to the latest survey.

The percentage of consumers who are able to find essential goods at retail stores and ecommerce apps shows marginal improvement but there is a concern, the survey conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, said.

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The percentage of consumers who are able to find essentials via ‘ecommerce apps’ has risen from 39 per cent to 41 per cent.

The percentage of consumers who are able to find essentials at 'local retail stores’ has risen from 57 per cent to 60 per cent, said the survey.

"The root cause was identified as lack of clear instructions to police and local officials on the ground which has been leading to restrictions on the movement of vehicles carrying essential goods and people who are engaged in warehousing, wholesale, retail and home delivery of essential goods," said the survey.

The survey received 17,000+ responses from consumers located in 181 districts of India.

The consumers, when asked about when they placed an order for essential goods (wheat, rice, pulses, salt, sugar, etc) from an eCommerce app during the last 48 hours and how their experience was, 25 per cent said they were able to get most items while 15 per cent said they were able to get only some items as online stores were stocked out for others. 13 per cent said they were not able to get most items while 31 per cent said they were not able to get anything. Only 16 per cent said they were able to get everything easily.