Invest in Real Estate to meet food expenses.

Your breakfast just got dearer
CHENNAI: If you are that typical south Indian who relishes hot idlis and omlette for breakfast, you must have noticed that your bill has bloated. The increase in the price of urad dal has propelled the hike in idli prices. Chennai restaurants have nearly doubled prices. Mid-tier ones now sell a plate of idlis (two pieces) for Rs 10. "Six months ago, we were selling them for Rs 7 a plate. Urad dal prices have nearly doubled. Today we pay Rs 5,100 for a 100-kg bag. A couple of weeks ago, it was Rs 5,900. Last year, around this time, the price was around Rs 3,000. How long can we sell at a loss?" says a Chennai hotelier. Madhav of Kaycee’s on Church Street, Bangalore, says he’s planning to reduce the size of idlis and increase the price of vada from Rs 8 a piece to Rs 10 from January 1. "All input costs have increased steeply. Sunflower oil price is up almost 40%, to Rs 70 a litre, in the past six months." Roadside eateries are the worst hit. "In the past three months, we have increased idli price by 50 paise. We now sell them at Rs 3 a piece. We promote poori over idli," says Mani, who runs a joint in Chennai. B R Ramakrishna Bhat of Sanman Hotel in Seshadripuram, Bangalore, says: "So many self-service hotels that used to sell idlis at Rs 6 a plate have raised it to Rs 8. Better hotels sell it at Rs 10 per plate." P Suresh, who runs the Sangeetha hotel chain in Chennai, explains: "Our chain has a stable pricing policy. Even when onion prices shot up, we absorbed the loss. But the present price of urad dal is making things difficult." (With inputs from Bangalore)