When we hear the name like Petrol, Diesel, LPG & Lemon, after hearing these 4 words, the fifth word automatically comes out of the mouth, that is inflation. The prices of these things are increasing like a rocket.
But do you know that there are some daily use products, whose price did not increase even in this era of inflation? Yet they have become expensive. Now you must be thinking, how can this happen?
Yes, it is exactly like that, Parle-G Biscuit, Namkeen, Colgate Toothpaste... and there are many such products, whose price did not increase even by 1 paisa, but still, they became expensive.
In economics, such an increase in inflation is called Shrinkflation in English and Shrinkflation in Hindi. Instead of increasing the price of the product, the quantity is reduced.
For example, the price of Parle-G Biscuit was Rs.5 in February and it is still Rs.5, but the weight has been reduced from 64 grams to 55 grams. Not only Shrinkflation but there are also other 3 ways to increase inflation.
They have complicated names in economics, but in simple language, they are tortoise speed inflation, horse race inflation and rocket speed inflation.
Remove more than 20 such products, which you are buying from the mall or street-side shop at the same price which were in 2021.
Shrinkflation, also known as package downsizing, is the practice of reducing the size or quantity of a product and even reformulating while maintaining the price or increasing it very slightly.
It’s often used as a way to avoid raising prices and losing customers, as it can be seen as less drastic than a price increase.
Coined by the British economist, Pippa Malmgren, this phenomenon has become more prevalent in recent years as the cost of ingredients and manufacturing has increased.
Take Nestle’s KitKat Chunky for example. The chocolate shrank by 16.7 per cent from 48g in 2014 to 40g in 2018, while the price increased by 25% from £1.25 to £1.56.