Monitoring of prices

The Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs continuously monitors the prices of essential commodities across Himachal Pradesh to safeguard consumer interests and prevent undue price rise, hoarding, profiteering, and market irregularities. A robust price monitoring mechanism has been established to keep a close watch on fluctuations in retail and wholesale prices of essential commodities in the open market.

Objective of Price Monitoring

The primary objectives of the price monitoring system are:

• To ensure the availability of essential commodities at reasonable prices.
• To maintain market stability and protect consumer interests.
• To analyze price trends and identify abnormal fluctuations.
• To assist the Government in policy formulation and market intervention, wherever necessary.
• To prevent hoarding, black marketing, and profiteering practices.

Price Monitoring Mechanism

The Department regularly collects and analyzes the prices of essential commodities from various markets across the State through a systematic monitoring framework.

Daily Monitoring

• Retail prices of 18 essential commodities are collected daily from Shimla Town to closely monitor market trends and price fluctuations.

Weekly Monitoring

• Retail and wholesale prices of 18 essential commodities are collected every Wednesday from Shimla and Mandi towns.
• Retail and wholesale prices of 24 essential commodities, along with retail prices of 14 vegetables, are collected every Friday from all District Headquarters of the State.

Integration with Government of India Portal

As part of the national price monitoring system, the Department also uploads daily retail and wholesale prices of 41 essential commodities on the Government of India portal through all 12 Price Reporting Centres, namely:

• Shimla
• Mandi
• Dharamshala
• Solan
• Bilaspur
• Una
• Chamba
• Hamirpur
• Sirmaur
• Kullu
• Kinnaur
• Lahaul & Spiti

This real-time reporting mechanism helps in maintaining transparency and supports coordinated monitoring at both State and National levels.