Ahmedabad's Kalupur 'mandi' spells more money in your pockets

That Amdavadis are feeling the pinch rising inflation is causing to their pockets is no longer news.

Housewives are increasingly finding it difficult to manage household budgets. Soaring vegetable prices have made their task even more difficult, for there is little scope of curtailing expenses on this score.        

For them, here is the good news. If they buy vegetables from the Kalupur sabzi bazaar, they can save substantially over the month.

In an analysis by DNA, shopping malls and street bazaars in the western part of the city were found to be very costly compared to Kalupur sabzi bazaar.

While potatoes and onions are priced at around the same level in different markets, other vegetables like cauliflower, cucumber, tomato, lemon, bhindi (ladies finger), methi and spicy chillies are quite cheap at Kalupur, compared to shopping malls and other markets in the western part of the city.

For example, cucumber and coriander cost almost three times in west Ahmedabad than in Kalupur market. Cauliflower costs 50% to 100% more, cabbage 16%, tomato 25% to 50% and lemon over 50%. Chilli, palak and methi cost half in Kalupur market, compared to street bazaars and shopping malls in west Ahmedabad.

“Kalupur sabji bazaar is the wholesale market of vegetables. It supplies vegetables to the western city’s sabji bazaars. Retail customers come to Kalupur market once a week or fortnight to buy their requirement of vegetables,” said a shopowner at the Kalupur sabji bazaar, Hansarji Ghoghaji.

“Sometimes, vegetables are much cheaper after 8 pm when the market is about to close. I visit this market once a week and buy my requirement for the whole week,” said a resident of Gurukul, Rajni Desai.