Ganeshotsav 2026: Inflation hits modak, sweet prices this year
Rising prices of sugar, milk and oil have pushed up sweet costs by about 35 percent this Ganeshotsav, cutting how much devotees are buying for Bappa's offering.
Bappa has been installed in homes and markets are decked up, but this year's offering to Ganpati is being hit by inflation. A rise in the prices of sugar, milk, oil and other raw materials has pushed up sweet prices, directly affecting how much customers are buying.
Sweet prices have gone up by nearly 35 percent due to costlier sugar, oil, milk and other ingredients. Citizens who used to buy a kilo of sweets every year are now making do with a quarter kilo. Devotees who bought large quantities of prasad have also cut down on their purchases this year.
Shops selling modak and sweets have seen a rise in footfall for Ganesh Chaturthi, with people buying modak, pedha and various sweets to offer to Bappa. Shopkeepers say that while large quantities of sweets used to be bought for every home earlier, customers are now buying carefully because of the higher prices.
Devotees who earlier bought five to ten kilos of prasad are now buying two to three kilos. Customers who bought a kilo of sweets for the Ganesh festival at home are now settling for a quarter or half a kilo. The rising prices are directly affecting purchase volumes, meaning the same amount of money now buys less sweets.
With the administration cracking down on adulteration and poor-quality sweets, traders are being cautious. Checks by the Food and Drug Administration have pushed sweet makers to focus on using better-quality ingredients so that their business does not get hit by enforcement action.
A sweet shop owner said that even though prasad and sweet prices have risen by 20 to 40 rupees per kilo, customers keep coming because of their faith. The shopkeeper noted that customers who earlier took a kilo of prasad or sweets are now taking only a quarter to half a kilo. In other words, buying for Bappa's offering has not stopped, but the quantity has come down.
Demand for ukadiche modak remains high this year as well. Since making modak takes time and effort, many women prefer to buy ready-made ones. Shops now stock a variety of modak to suit different tastes. Mava, saffron, mango, chocolate, dry fruit, diet, sugar-free, gulkand-paan and cardamom mava modak are in particular demand, and fried modak are also popular among buyers.
