SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Hyderabad: The next time you go to a restaurant in Hyderabad and check the menu to order, brace yourself. The prices are likely to increase.
A sudden and steep hike in the price of commercial LPG cylinders, with the 19-kg ones that power the stoves behind almost hotel and restaurants, has sent the hospitality industry into a tailspin. Effective May 1, the price of a commercial cylinder shot up by Rs 993, pushing it to a record Rs 3,315 from Rs 2,321 in the city, just two days after Assembly elections in four states and a Union Territory ended.
For the restaurant industry that is already facing supply disruptions and lower margins, it is likely to have a major impact.
‘A severe blow to an already struggling sector’
Pradeep Shetty, spokesperson of the Hotel and Restaurant Association (Western India) and vice president of the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Associations of India (FHRAI), said, “Due to the recent rise in LPG prices, a 10 to 15 per cent hike in menu prices is imminent. But even that may not be enough to absorb the impact.”
Within just three price revisions – Rs 144 in March, Rs 195.50 in April and now Rs 993 in one go – commercial LPG prices have climbed by a cumulative Rs 1,332.50. The hospitality sector is facing “an unprecedented escalation in operating costs at a time when businesses are already struggling with supply disruptions, reduced operational capacity, and weakened cash flows,” Shetty said.
The crisis is already visible. Many restaurants across Hyderabad have reduced their operating hours, trimmed their menus and scrambled for alternative cooking arrangements as LPG supply remained inconsistent even before this latest price shock due to the war in West Asia.
For the past several weeks, restaurants had already increased menu prices upward when they were struggling just to get cylinders. The supply crunch meant some kitchens ran on half capacity. Now, with prices hitting a historic high, the impact on margins has become almost unsustainable.
Shetty warned that many establishments which had shut down temporarily may not reopen, and that this latest hike will “accelerate closures and job losses” across the sector. The sector is one of the city’s largest informal employers.
Govt urged to roll back hike
Industry associations are now pressing the government for urgent relief. “We urge the government to urgently intervene, roll back this hike and stabilise LPG prices to give the sector some breathing space,” Shetty said. “Without immediate relief, the hospitality industry, which is a key employment generator, faces an existential crisis,” he added.
The warning extends beyond Hyderabad. Hotels and restaurants in districts across Telangana are facing the same problem, with job losses seen as increasingly unavoidable if costs are not brought under control.
For now, it is the customer who will feel the pinch.
(With inputs from PTI)
SOURCE : SIASAT
