Going to the market has turned a nightmare for Surabhi Sen. With the prices of household items shooting through the roof, the 40-year-old homemaker, wife of a senior state government official, is finding it difficult to balance her family budget.

“In the past three months, my monthly budget for food items has gone up by at least 20 per cent. The prices of vegetables, edible oil and cereals have all shot up so sharply that it has become really difficult for salaried people like us to manage,” says Surabhi.

In the past three months, she has been spending five per cent more on vegetables, 30 to 40 per cent more on flour, cereals and pulses, while the price of the edible oil has gone up by Rs 20 a kg (see graphic).

According to figures released on Friday, inflation touched a 13-month high at 6.68 per cent for the week that ended on March 15.

The inflation figure is based on the wholesale price index, while people like Surabhi buy from retail markets. Some experts are arguing that the rate of growth of prices in the retail market may have crossed seven per cent. The price of poppy seed, a delicacy for middle-class Bengalis, has gone up by Rs 100 per kg since January.

Surabhi, the mother of two school-going kids, does not understand the nitty-gritty of economics, but the rising prices have taught her to adopt measures to balance the household budget.

“We have to pay our home loans and credit card bills, which I can’t avoid. So, I am trying to balance the budget by cutting down on cellphone and fuel use,” says Sen.

With the grocers and vegetable-sellers hiking prices regularly, arguments between sellers and buyers have become a common scene in markets across the city.

“Everyone is suffering but the worst-hit is the lower middle class, as the price of coarse rice has doubled to Rs 16 in the past three months. We can do very little, as we are buying the grains at higher prices ourselves,” says Pradip Kumar Chakraborty, the secretary of New Market Shop Owners Welfare Association.

Traders attribute the sharp price rise to various factors — from poor supply due to the cold wave to a rise in fuel prices.

“We have information that hoarding by a section of traders has compounded the problem. The government should conduct raids,” adds Samir Pal, the general secretary of College Street Byabsayee Samity.

With the general elections nearing, the price rise has become a political issue. But not everyone is worried.

“We have become overtly sensitive to the inflation rate and tend to forget that we have lived with an inflation rate of 10 in the past. There is nothing to worry about the inflation rate per se,” says Anindya Sen, a professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. “But since the inflation is primarily foodgrain and oil price-induced, the common man will feel the heat,” he adds.

There is, however, a silver lining — many think the problem of price rise will soon be over. “Since the election is approaching, the government cannot afford to take chances. It will surely do something to pull down the prices,” says Priyanka Dutta, a homemaker.