As the festive season kicks off, the common man’s budget is coming under strain. Demand for sugar is surging ahead of the festive sweet-buying rush, yet consumers are facing a double whammy in the market: sugar prices have risen, and limits have been imposed on purchase quantities across both online apps and retail stores.
According to a news channel report, Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart have set quantity limits on certain sugar products, restricting the number of packs a customer can add to a single order. On Swiggy Instamart, the listing for ‘Supreme Harvest Crystal Sugar’ showed a limit of two 1-kg packs per order.
Limits on sugar purchases have also been implemented at offline stores. Reports indicate that major offline retail chains like DMart and Reliance have restricted sugar purchases to approximately 2–3 kg per customer at certain outlets.
Why is sugar becoming more expensive?
During the festive season, there is massive demand for sugar from the food industry—including confectioners and bakeries—alongside household consumption. Due to supply shortages and rising prices, the government has relaxed import and processing regulations. Under an original notification dated August 20, the government permitted the duty-free import of 1 million tonnes of raw sugar under the Tariff-Rate Quota (TRQ) until October 31, 2026. Importers were required to process the raw sugar into white or refined sugar and sell it in India by October 31. The government has now modified this condition; under the new rules, importers will have a two-month window from the date of filing the ‘Bill of Entry’ to process the raw sugar into refined sugar and sell it in the domestic market.
