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After missing out the all-time favorite noodles <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Maggi+">Maggi </a>in our menu, it’s the king of the kitchen, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=onion">onion</a>, which makes us cry now. With soaring prices of onion, sellers are now finding newer ways to woo the customers. And the best they can think of is to sell this key ingredient to prepare Indian meals at a lesser price. 
 
As per an Economic Times report, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=online+grocery">online grocery stores</a> like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Localbanya">Localbanya</a>, MeraGrocer, <keyword id="3020147" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Freshfalsabzi">Freshfalsabzi</keyword>.com and <keyword id="2817480" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="GrocerMax">GrocerMax</keyword> are offering onions at Rs 40-69 per kilogram against Rs 80 or more per kg in the retail market. 
 
If experts are to be believed, these online platforms are able to sell onions at such a low price because they’ve cut-out the middlemen. 
 <keyword id="2047523" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="LocalBanya">Localbanya</keyword> CEO Karan Mehrotra cleared the air by saying that they could make it because of a mix marketing strategy and procurement. He said, "We do take a hit on margins at times for the benefit of customers.” 
 
The eCommerce platform, which is partly inventory-led, also uses just-in-time procurement, thus gets very good deals at times and it passes on the benefits to the customers. Localbanya started a grocery subscription plan this week. 
 
Another Delhi-based online fruits and vegetable retailer FreshFalSabzi too is selling onions at Rs 40 per kg. "We are selling onions at a loss but have reduced marketing spends, including spends on local ads and sponsorships," said Rajesh Gupta, chairman of the RSND Group-promoted FreshFalSabzi, which has hired TV actress Sakshi Tanwar to promote the site. The e-tailer gets vegetables directly from farms and is selling them on a no-profit-no-loss model at least for now, said Gupta. 
 
The price rise is not just limited to onions. After unseasonal rains hit the country this year, prices of other essential fruits and vegetables like potato, brinjal, radish and carrot are also going up in the markets. On the other hand, the online prices are said to be at least 10% cheaper. 
 
In a similar move, Gurgaon-based online store MeraGrocer ran a 30% discount promotion from Wednesday to Sunday and it offered onions for Rs 42 per kg. The company has extended the campaign to this week as well, but this time only for vegetables. 
 
"The whole campaign was around the concept of cheaper than wholesale price. Cheaper than Azadpur mandi," said Saurabh Chadha, co-founder of MeraGrocer. The company has also decided to offer daily discount deals, he added. 
 The online grocers, as per the industry insiders, aren’t making money and are running short of money as most of them have already spent a lot on marketing and promotions. A recent report by researcher Kantar Worldpanel, eCommerce for fast-moving consumer goods (<keyword id="34523" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="fmcg">FMCG</keyword>) will increase 47% to $53 billion by 2016, up from $36 billion in 2014. 
 
As per K Radhakrishnan, co-founder Grocermax.com, "We have driven the selling price down to Rs 69.50 per kg for 45-55 mm diameter onions, whereas similar quality is selling at Rs 80 to 85 (in the open market). Customers are sometimes unaware that traders mix small-sized onions which they end up buying." 
 Fresh FalSabzi.com's Gupta said, the minimum order value is Rs 249 and it doesn't sell more than 2 kg of onions to a customer on a given day to prevent hoarding. "For other vegetables, we ensure at least 10% discount compared to the retail price elsewhere," he said. Some sites engage in cross-subsidies. The founder of one <keyword id="1640900" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-grocery">online grocery</keyword> said prices of lemon, beetroot and lettuce have been raised to keep onion rates down. 
 
<a href="http://www.chilloutpoint.com/images/2010/05/naughty-mischievous-baby-boys/naughty-mischievous-baby-boys-11.jpg">Image source</a>

Now, you can buy Onions at Rs 40 per kg at the most unlikely market place

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">McDonald's</div></div></div>McDonald's next week will introduce premium-price Bacon Clubhouse beef and chicken burgers in an attempt to regain its pricing equilibrium after a long spell of Dollar Menu &amp; More budget-price promotion.
McDonald's describes the Bacon Clubhouse as "Thick-cut Applewood smoked bacon, caramelized grilled onions, white Cheddar, crisp leaf lettuce and fresh tomato, all lovingly layered on a quarter pound of 100% pure beef, then topped with Big Mac special sauce. Served on our artisan roll."
The chicken version can be ordered with crispy or grilled chicken. The sandwich was initially tipped on the <a href="http://www.grubgrade.com/2014/03/01/new-bacon-clubhouse-from-mcdonalds/">GrubGrade</a> site. The sandwich is priced at $4.39 to $4.69 and officially joins the menu March 10.
Of course, the Bacon Clubhouse really is just another Quarter Pounder variation, made a little different by the first-time use of the Big Mac's iconic special sauce on another sandwich.
But the burger's grilled-onion-and-bacon lineage is interesting. It dates to 2011, when McDonald's tested an <a href="http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=7659">English Pub Burger</a>, using its third-pound Angus patty and topping it with Dijon mustard sauce, grilled onions, hickory-smoked bacon, white Cheddar and American cheeses and steak sauce. Remove the steak and mustard sauces and you get the <a href="http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=10859">Clubhouse Angus</a> that McDonald's tested in 2012 in San Diego.
Now that the Angus patties are gone from McDonald's, a quarter-pound patty is the largest on hand. Keep the bacon, grilled onion and white Cheddar from the Clubhouse Angus and add lettuce, tomato and a shiny bun and you have…the Bacon Clubhouse.
The Bacon Clubhouse is already included on the McDonald's USA <a href="http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/product_nutrition.sandwiches.1360.bacon-clubhouse-burger.html">site</a>, indicating its imminent national availability. Nutrition details are 720 calories for the sandwich, which has 40 grams of fat, 51 carbs and 1,470 mg of sodium. In other words, it's an indulgence but a quite pleasant alternative to all the crusty cod sandwiches added for Lent.
Meanwhile, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is extending its "Finest" line of high-end burgers that it began last November with the <a href="http://www.burgerbusiness.com/?p=16051">Smoke &amp; Pepper Signature Burger</a>. Now the line gets two new burgers.
Red Robin calls The D.G.B. "perhaps our Finest burger yet." The name is an acronym for "Damn Great Burger." The build is oven-roasted tomatoes, savory roasted-garlic aïoli and fresh arugula tossed in citrus olive oil dressing atop a half-pound Angus beef patty.
Also new to the Finest line is a Black &amp; Bleu burger. It, too, has a half-pound Angus beef patty, topped with sautéed blackened portobello mushrooms, grilled onions, house-made blue cheese sauce and blue cheese crumbles with Dijon sauce.
The Smoke &amp; Pepper burger is menu priced at roughly $13.49, balancing the $6.99 Tavern Double at the low end. Red Robin hasn't released pricing for the new burgers.

McDonald's To Introduce Bacon Clubhouse Burger

New Delhi, Dec 27 () Following are the top business stories at 1825 hours:
 
DCM3 BIZ-YEAR-INFLATION
Inflation leaves consumers teary-eyed as pricey onions, food items bite
New Delhi: Onion literally brought tears to the eyes of consumers as retail prices touched Rs 200 per kilogram and tomato too turned pricier in the last quarter of 2019, leaving many scurrying for changes in dietary ways as costly food items pushed retail inflation to a more than three-year high. 
 
DEL26 BIZ-ONION
Onion at eye-watering Rs 150/kg; imports underway
New Delhi: Retail onion prices on Friday remained higher at up to Rs 150 per kg even as the imported supplies have started arriving to boost the domestic availability and check prices.
 
DEL43 BIZ-LD RUPEE
Rupee at fresh 3-week low against dollar on rising crude oil prices
Mumbai: The rupee depreciated by 4 paise to close at a fresh three-week low of 71.35 against the US dollar on Friday, continuing its losing streak for the sixth day in a row amid crude oil prices hitting three-month high levels.

DCM20 BIZ-FM-BANKS
Sitharaman to meet heads of PSBs to discuss credit situation, economy on Saturday
New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday will hold a meeting with heads of public sector banks to discuss various issues including the recently announced government measures to prop up the economy, sources said. 

DEL36 BIZ-LD STOCKS
Sensex regains footing, rallies 411 pts as bank stocks spurt
Mumbai: Markets snapped their three-day downward spiral to finish with smart gains on Friday as banking, finance and energy stocks saw robust buying amid supportive global cues.
 
DCM2 BIZ-YEAR AUTO
Auto industry drives into 2020 with hope after a forgettable 2019
New Delhi: Battered by an unprecedented slowdown, the Indian auto industry is desperately pinning hopes on the next financial year for a turnaround, banking on a host of new and upgraded models slated to make their way to the market. 
 
DCM12 BIZ-VISTARA-DATA SERVICES
Vistara partners with Nelco for inflight data services; likely to launch shortly: Telecom Secy
New Delhi: Vistara has partnered with Tata group company Nelco for inflight data services, which are expected to be rolled by the full service carrier shortly, according to a senior government official. 
 
DCM15 BIZ-EDIBLEOILS
SEA urges govt to not cut import duty on crude palm oil
New Delhi: Edible oil industry body SEA on Friday urged the government to not reduce the import duty on crude palm oil (CPO) to 30 per cent from the existing 40 per cent as it will affect domestic oilseed growers.
 
DCM11 BIZ-CITIZENSHIP-TECHIES 
Indian techies pen open letter against Citizenship Amendment Act
New Delhi: A grouping of Indian and Indian-origin professionals working with tech giants like Google, Uber, Amazon and Facebook have written an open letter against the new religion-based citizenship law and the planned national register of citizens, terming them as "fascist".
 
DCM13 BIZ-UNEMPLOYMENT-SURVEY
Unemployment top worry for urban Indians; majority thinks nation on right path, says survey
New Delhi: Nearly half of the urban Indians are most worried about unemployment while 69 per cent of them think that the country is headed in the right direction, according to a survey. 
 
DCM17 BIZ-PMC-BANK
PMC Bank crisis: Administrator to seek valuation of HDIL's aircraft, yacht
Mumbai: The RBI-appointed administrator of scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank has floated a request for proposal to appoint a consultant for valuation of two aircraft and a yacht owned by HDIL group firms. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SHW
SHW

Business highlights

<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image">AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh</div></div>
NITIN JAIN is the big man in Lasalgaon, a dusty town a day's drive from Mumbai that boasts it has Asia's biggest onion market. With a trim moustache and a smartphone stuck to his ear he struts past a thousand-odd tractors and trucks laden with red <keyword id="6470164" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="onions">onions</keyword>. Farmers hurl armfuls at his feet to prove their quality. A gaggle of auctioneers, rival traders and scribes follow him, squabbling and yanking each other's hair. Asked why onion prices have risen so much, Mr Jain relays the question to the market. "Why?" he bellows. His entourage laughs. He says that the price of India's favourite vegetable is a mystery that no calculation can explain.
High food prices perturb some men and women even bigger than Mr Jain. Raghuram Rajan, the boss of India's central bank, is grappling with high inflation caused in large part by food prices: wholesale onion prices soared by 278% in the year to October and the retail price of all vegetables shot up by 46%. The food supply chain is decades out of date and cannot keep up with booming demand. India's rulers are watching the cost of food closely, too, ahead of an election due by May. Electoral folklore says that pricey onions are deadly for incumbent governments.
A year ago it seemed that India had bitten the bullet by permitting foreign firms to own majority stakes in domestic supermarkets. The decision came after a fierce political battle. <keyword id="80487" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="walmart">Walmart</keyword>, Carrefour and Tesco have been waiting for years to invest in India. They say they would revolutionise shopping. Only 2-3% of groceries are bought in formal stores, with most people reliant on local markets. They would also modernise logistics chains, either by investing themselves, or indirectly, by stimulating food producers to spend on factories, warehouses and trucks, and establish direct contracts with farmers, eliminating layers of middlemen.
On the ground little has happened. Foreign firms complain of hellish fine print, including a stipulation to buy from tiny suppliers. Individual Indian states can opt out of the policy--which is unhelpful if you want to build a national supermarket chain. In October Walmart terminated its joint venture with Bharti, an Indian group. India has reduced the beast of Bentonville to a state of bewilderment. Tesco has cut expatriate staff.
The reaction from politicians has been indifference. "We have liberalised...to the extent that we can. People have to accept this and decide whether they want to invest," said Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's finance minister. Despite the apparently obvious benefits of supermarkets and the experience of most other countries, few Indians seem to want change.
<h3>You're not in Bentonville anymore</h3>
Just how bad is India's food supply chain? To find out <keyword id="425741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Economist">The Economist</keyword> followed the journey of an onion from a field in the heart of onion country, in western India, to a shopping bag in Mumbai, a city of 18m onion-munchers. The trip suggests an industry begging for investment and reform.
"The system hasn't changed much--it's been the same since the 1970s," says Punjaram Devkar, an elderly farmer in a white cap. For generations his forefathers have grown onions near a hamlet called Karanjgaon. He owns a crudely irrigated six-hectare (14-acre) plot, larger than the national average farm of just 1.2 hectares. He does not want to buy more land; unreliable electricity and labour mean "it is too hard to manage." There are four onion crops each year--in a good season production is three times higher than in a bad one. To hedge his bets he also grows sugar cane. Costs have soared because of rising rural wages, which have doubled in three years. He says welfare schemes have made workers lazy. "They just play cards all day."
Storage facilities amount to a wooden basket inside a shed--at this time of year onions perish within 15 days, although the variety grown in the spring can last eight months. From here one of Mr Devkar's finest is thrown into a small trailer, along with the produce of nearby farms, and taken to Lasalgaon. The roads are mostly paved but the 32km (19-mile) journey takes a couple of hours in a rickety old tractor.
Lasalgaon neophytes will find their eyes water upon entering its market, a huge car park full of red onions, trucks and skinny farmers. Although the auction is run twice daily by an official body, it doesn't look wholly transparent. Some farmers complain that Mr Jain and another trader dominate the trade (Mr Jain denies this). Prices vary wildly day by day and according to size and quality, which are judged in a split second by eye. The average price today is $0.33 per kilo.
Neither traders nor farmers agree why prices have risen so steeply of late. They blame climate change, the media, too much rain last year, too little rain this year, labour costs, an erratic export regime. "Our biggest problem is illiteracy," says one farmer. "We don't know how to use technology." Most folk agree that India needs better cold storage but worry that it is too pricey or that it ruins the taste of onions.
Farmers must pay a 1% fee to the auction house and a 4% commission to the traders. Sometimes they also have to stump up for fees for packing and loading. That takes place at several depots surrounding the market where farmers must drop off their loads and pour them onto tarpaulins on the ground. The onions may wait there for days but once put into hessian sacks they are loaded onto trucks operated by separate haulage firms and owned by intricate webs of independent consortiums.
At 8pm Prabhakar Vishad, a 20-year veteran of the onion-express highway from Lasalgaon to Mumbai, climbs into a battered Tata truck with "Blow Horn" painted in big letters on the back. Over the years the roads have improved and power steering has made life easier. Still, it is dangerous work, says Mr Vishad, who had a bad crash last year. By 6am next morning he sets his bloodshot eyes on Vashi market on the outskirts of Mumbai. It handles 100-150 truckloads of onions a day--enough to satisfy India's commercial capital.
Onions are sometimes unpacked, sorted and repacked, with wastage rates of up to 20%. By 9am the market is a teeming maze of 300-odd selling agents, who mainly act on behalf of middlemen, and several thousand buyers--who are either retailers or sub-distributors. Everyone stands ankle deep in onions of every size. The bidding process is opaque. The selling agents each drape a towel on their arm. To make a bid you stick your hand under the towel and grip their hand, with secret clenches denoting different prices. Average prices today are about $0.54 per kilo. If the seller likes your tickles you hail a porter. He carries your newly bought sacks on his head to a dispatch depot where another group of couriers takes them into the city.
"I'm crazy, like the guys you see in the movies. I don't negotiate," declares Sanjay Pingle. One of the market's biggest agents, he charges the seller a 6.5% commission. The buyers pay loading charges on top of that and a fee to the market. He says business is tough--bad debts from customers run at a fifth of sales and he has to pay interest rates of 22% on his own debts. The solution to the onion shortage is obvious, he says. "In China they keep things in storage facilities--if India had the same facilities as China has, prices would be lower." He says he has seen photographs of Chinese technology on his mobile phone.
By the afternoon thousands of cars and trucks are picking up small batches of onions to take them into Mumbai. In Chembur, a middle-class neighbourhood, Anburaj Madar runs a big sub-distributor. He handles 200 sacks a day which he sells to retailers and restaurants. He buys daily from Vashi market and has space to store only about 12 hours' worth of stock. Rent is dear and he too reckons cold storage destroys the flavour of onions. He marks up his prices by perhaps 20% but says a chunk of what he buys has to be thrown away--it is either damaged or of inferior quality.
For the onions that do make the cut the next stop is a small shop down the road where they are sold for another mark-up of 10% or so. From here Indubai Kakdi is hand-selecting onions with elaborate care. Buck-toothed and ragged, she sells seven kilos a day from a wooden barrow; she makes a 10% margin. She says climate change has made prices more volatile.
<h3>Peeling back the layers of truth</h3>
The journey of an onion from Mr Devkar's field to the end customer in Mumbai takes only a few days but is enough to make you weep. There are some underlying reasons why prices have risen--higher rural wages have pushed up farmers' costs. But the system is horribly fiddly. Farms are tiny with no economies of scale. The supply chain involves up to five middlemen. The onion is loaded, sorted or repacked at least four times. Wastage rates, either from damage or weight loss as onions dry out, are a third or more. Because India has no modern food-processing industry, low-quality onions that could be turned into paste or sauces are thrown away. Retail prices are about double what farmers receive, although the lack of any standard grading of size or quality makes comparisons hard.
The system is volatile as well as inefficient. Traders who buy onions from farmers may hoard them, but for the supply chain as a whole far too little inventory is stored. As a result small variations in demand and supply are amplified and cause violent swings in price. In the first week of December 2013 prices fell again.
It is easy to see how heavy investment by supermarket chains and big food-producers--whether Indian or foreign--could make a difference. They would cut out layers from the supply chain, build modern storage facilities and probably prod farmers to consolidate their plots.
The shoppers of Chembur agree that Indian onions are the world's tastiest but are fed up with price swings. No one mentions reform as a solution and until there is popular support and political leadership it is hard to see much changing. And what of the last stage of the onion's odyssey, to the stomach? By one stall stands an elderly lady who says she likes the vegetable so much that she doesn't bother to cook it. Instead she chomps on raw onions as if they were apples. At least someone has an eye on efficiency.
Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist

The Route Of An Onion Shows Why India Needs Walmart, Carrefour, And Tesco

New Delhi, Feb 1 () The government on Saturday proposed a price stabilization fund (PSF) to control prices of food items like onion and tomato -- kitchen staples that pushed retail inflation to a five-year high in December.
 "Government has taken various measures from time to time to stabilize prices of essential food items..Government is also implementing PSF to help moderate volatility in prices of agri-horticultural commodities like pulses, onion, and potato," said the Union Budget 2020-21 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament.
Onion prices started to flare up from August 2019 onwards peaking to about Rs 150-200 a kg due to unseasonal rains which disrupted supplies from key producing regions such as Maharahstra and Karnataka.
Prices of tomato too hovered in the range of Rs 60-80 a kg while potato sold for Rs 30 per kg towards the end of 2019. 
Pulses also turned costlier due to a fall in acreage resulting from rains in the growing states and low price realisation due to glut in market following increased production of earlier years.
 The consumer price index-based retail inflation spiked to over five-year high of 7.35 per cent in December 2019.
 The government said it resorted to trade and fiscal policy instruments like import duty, minimum export price, export restrictions, imposition of stock limits besides advising
states for effective action against hoarders and black marketers to regulate domestic availability and moderate prices.
CPI or the retail inflation averaged 4.1 per cent in during April-December period of the current fiscal, while it had declined to 3.4 per cent in 2018-19 from 3.6 per cent in 2017-18. It was at 4.5 per cent in 2016-17.
The 'food inflation' component of the retail inflation basket averaged 5.3 per cent in 2019-20 (April to December) and stood higher at 14.1 per cent in last December.
On the wholesale price front, inflation averaged 1.5 per cent during April-December in the current fiscal year and rose to 2.6 per cent in December.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation was at 4.3 per cent in 2018-19 as compared to 3 per cent in 2017-18 and 1.7 per cent in 2016-17.
"For increasing productivity and production in key segments of agriculture towards moderating prices, government has been incentivising farmers by announcing minimum support prices and implementing schemes such as Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) and, National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP), among others," read the Budget. 
The consumer price inflation was within the targeted limits set by the monetary policy committee of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it said.
The RBI decides on its monetary policy in every two months, targeting retail inflation to be at 4 per cent with a bias of 2 per cent on the either side. 
However, acknowledging the major challenges for the economy arising from the external front like geo-political tensions in the Middle East and rising crude oil prices due to supply disruption, the government said it may "decelerate growth and increase inflation". KPM MR
MR

To rein in rising inflation, Govt to set-up a price stabilisation fund for key staples

New Delhi, Jan 14 () Wholesale prices based inflation surged to an eight-month high of 2.59 per cent in December, as against 0.58 per cent in November due to sharp rise in prices of food articles like onion and potato. 
 The annual inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI) was recorded at 3.24 per cent in April 2019.
 WPI was at 3.46 per cent during December 2018.
 Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.42 per cent compared to a build up rate of 2.92 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, as per data released by the Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce &amp; Industry on Tuesday.
The rate of price rise for food articles rose to 13.12 per cent during December as against 11 per cent a month earlier, while for non-food articles it rose nearly four-fold to 7.72 per cent from 1.93 per cent in November.
 Among food articles, vegetable prices surged by 69.69 per cent mainly on account of onion, which witnessed 455.83 per cent jump in prices, followed by potato at 44.97 per cent.
 Onion prices ruled above Rs 100 per kg in various markets till recently because of crop damage due to excessive rains. However, prices have started to move southwards with fresh crop arrival and imports.
 The consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation, as per data released on Monday, spiked to over a 5-year high of 7.35 per cent in December due to costlier food products.
 The unexpected jump in inflation diminished the chances of the RBI cutting interest rate at its next monetary policy review due in early February.
 Experts feel CPI is expected to further harden next month due to elevated price level of food prices mainly vegetables.
 "We now expect inflation to breach 8 per cent in January and then start bottoming out. However, this jump in inflation will perforce the RBI to relook at the inflation trajectory but in our view any change to a possible change in stance could be unwarranted as we find compelling evidence of significant slowdown in discretionary consumption," SBI Economic Research Department said in a report. 
 It further said RBI missed the bus in cutting rates in December and if food prices remain elevated, there is a fear of economy slipping into stagflation, which indicates low growth and high inflation. This means RBI will possibly remain on hold in 2020, going by current trends. 
For manufactured products, the wholesale inflation cooled marginally (-) 0.25 per cent during the month under review. Fuel and power, as a category, too continued to show deflationary trend at (-) 1.46 per cent as against (-)7.32 per cent.
 The rate of price rise in primary articles as a grouping rose to 11.46 per cent from 7.68 per cent a month earlier.
Primary articles, which have a weightage of 22.62 per cent in the wholesale price index, broadly comprise of food articles, non-food articles, minerals and crude petroleum and natural gas components.
Inflation for manufactured food products rose appreciably in December 2019, driven by various edible oils and fats, and dairy products, ICRA Principal Economist Aditi Nayar said. 
"Although the core-WPI remained in disinflation for the fifth consecutive month, the pace of the same narrowed to 1.5 per cent in December 2019, from 1.9 per cent in November 2019. This trend is expected to continue over the next two quarters, with the core-WPI likely to emerge out of disinflation only in second half of 2020," she said.
Even if food prices record some correction, an unfavourable base effect will push up the headline WPI inflation further in January 2020, she added. DP CS DRR

Wholesale inflation rises to 2.59 pc in Dec on costlier veggies

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/BabuA labourer unloads sacks of onions from a supply truck at a vegetable wholesale market in the southern Indian city of Chennai.</div></div></div>India's wholesale price inflation rate crashed to its lowest level ever.The country's Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rate plunged to -4.9% year-over-year for the month of August - below the consensus expectation of -4.4.% - following July's drop down to -4.1% y/y. This marks the tenth consecutive month that WPI has been in the negative territory. Additionally, this is the lowest since monthly prices started being tracked in 2005."The WPI rate may not have as much of a bearing on policy-making as the CPI rate, but the fact that it has plummeted again is unlikely to be ignored," writes Capital Economics' India economist Shilan Shah. "This strengthens our view that interest rates will be cut at the Reserve Bank of India's policy meeting later this month."Furthermore, Shah writes that it doesn't look like things are going to bounce back anytime soon."Looking ahead, the WPI rate should remain low by past standards," writes Shah. "There is still evidence of spare capacity in the economy, which should keep a lid on core price pressures ... But we remain sanguine. Other factors that have a role to play in determining local food prices - such as global prices and government stockpiles - should help keep inflation anchored."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Capital Economics</div></div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/global-market-meltdown-stocks-oil-2015-8">RED EVERYWHERE: It's a global market meltdown</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="F3NTU1dzpxuF4acJ9B_9g5mwKWDZ5O4E" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Prices in India are plummeting

New Delhi, Jan 31 () The Economic Survey on Friday pitched for scrapping of the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), saying the law is "anachronistic" that leads to harassment and is of no help in checking price volatility.
 The Survey also favoured "dynamic" foodgrain policy that allows switching from procurement and distribution of grains to cash transfers, but disfavoured loan waiver to farmers that disrupts the credit culture.
 "The consumer affairs ministry and its related arms must examine whether the anachronistic ECA, which was passed in 1955 in an India worried about famines and shortages, is relevant in today's India," it observed.
 Stating that around 76,000 raids under the ECA were conducted last year, the Survey said that considerable administrative effort goes into enforcement of this law assuming a minimum of 5 persons involved in a raid.
 "As the conviction rate, however, is abysmally low and raids have no impact on prices, the ECA only seems to enable rent-seeking and harassment. The Survey provides clear evidence that the case for jettisoning this anachronistic legislation is strong," the document said.
 The Survey noted that frequent and unpredictable imposition of blanket stock limits on commodities under this law "distorts the incentives for the creation of storage infrastructure by the private sector, movement up the agricultural value chain and development of national market for agricultural commodities".
 Imposition of stock limits on dal in the third quarter of 2006, sugar in first quarter of 2009 and onions in September 2019 had no effect on the volatility of the retail and wholesale prices of onions, it said.
 The ECA, 1955, was enacted to control the production, supply and distribution of, and trade and commerce in, certain goods considered as essential commodities. The Act itself does not lay out rules and regulations but allows the states to issue control orders related to dealer licensing, regulate stock limits, restrict movement of goods and requirements of compulsory purchases under a levy system.
 On the huge buffer stock of foodgrains, the Survey said "the government policies in the foodgrains markets have led to the emergence of government as the largest procurer and hoarder of rice and wheat crowding out".
 This has led to burgeoning food subsidy burden and inefficiencies in the markets, which is affecting the long-run growth of the agriculture sector, it added.
 "The foodgrains policy needs to be dynamic and allow switching from physical handling and distribution of foodgrains to cash transfers/food coupons/smart cards," the Survey suggested.
 On loan waiver, it said an analysis of debt waivers given by states/Centre shows that full waiver beneficiaries consume less, save less, invest less and are less productive after the waiver when compared to the partial beneficiaries.
 "Debt waivers disrupt the credit culture and end up reducing the formal credit flow to the very same farmers, thereby defeating the very purpose of the debt waiver provided to farmers," it added. MJH HRS

Survey suggests scrapping of 'anachronistic' Essential Commodity Act 1955

<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image">Peter Guttman</div></div>
In a new Gallup poll <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/166028/south-asia-leads-world-suffering.aspx">designed to show the change in levels of "suffering"</a> between the periods of 2006-2008 and 2010-2012, one region clearly stood out.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image">Gallup</div></div>
According to <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/166028/south-asia-leads-world-suffering.aspx">Gallup's Jan Sonnenschein</a>, the "massive increase in suffering among South Asians is largely attributable to negative developments in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, the region's giant," where "average suffering in India more than doubled between 2006 to 2008 and 2010 to 2012."
In 2012, a full 25% of India's 1.2 billion population rated their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering by Gallup. Between 2006 and 2008 that figure was 10%.
What's behind this mass descent into suffering? The obvious answer, of course, is the economy. India may have been the "I" in the BRICS devised by Goldman's Jim O'Neil but O'Neil has <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/investment-summit-oneill-idINDEE7B50AA20111206">admitted the country has been the biggest disappointment amongst its peers</a>. The country's economic growth is at an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/india-economic-slowdown-2013-5">growth at a ten-year low</a>, the rupee down over 12% year-to-date against the dollar, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/indias-great-debt-transfer-2013-8">corporate profits</a> are collapsing.
The Gallup data is a stark reminder that India's economic policies seriously reflect the lives of millions of people - India's surging food prices are epitomized by a mind-blowing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/when-onion-prices-in-india-explode-2013-9">245% annual rise in onion prices</a> - and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-indian-2014-elections-matter-2013-9">they badly need reforming</a>.

Suffering In India More Than Doubled In Recent Years

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">April Walloga</div></div></div><ul><li>The average price of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is at a five-year low, according to a 2017 report from the American Farm Bureau Federation (ABF).</li><li>For a group of 10, it will cost around $49.12 this year - or $4 per person.</li><li>The low price is largely due to the declining cost of turkey.</li></ul>For the average American family, the price tag of this year's Thanksgiving dinner will be at its lowest since 2012.According to <a href="https://www.fb.org/newsroom/farm-bureau-survey-reveals-lowest-thanksgiving-dinner-cost-in-five-years">a new report</a> from the American Farm Bureau Federation, a table of turkey and all the fixings will cost approximately $49.12 for a group of 10 (including leftovers). That's around $4 per person. To get that total, the bureau enlisted 141 volunteer shoppers, who reported prices at grocery stores in 39 states and were asked to look for the best possible prices and not use coupons. The report defines a traditional Thanksgiving dinner as including a 16-pound turkey, a 14-ounce package of bread stuffing, a gallon of milk, a dozen rolls, two nine-inch pie shells, a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix, a half-pint of whipping cream, a 3-pound bag of sweet potatoes, a 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, a 1-pound bag of green peas, a 1-pound veggie tray, coffee, and various ingredients to prepare the meal (e.g. butter, evaporated milk, onions, eggs, sugar, and flour).Throughout the year, turkeys are slaughtered and then put in cold storage, with the number of birds <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/livestock-meat-domestic-data.aspx">peaking in September</a>, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. On any given year, there are between <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-the-price-of-turkeys-fall-just-before-thanksgiving-87473">500 to 600 million pounds of turkey</a> in cold storage before Thanksgiving, or nearly two pounds of turkey for every non-vegetarian in the US.This year's estimated Thanksgiving dinner price is a $0.75 decrease from 2016. The ABF attributes the declining cost to the falling cost of turkeys, which <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/magazine/why-is-turkey-cheaper-when-demand-is-higher.html">usually happens every year before Thanksgiving</a>. For example, in the average year, November's price per pound for turkey falls <a href="http://data.bls.gov/pdq/querytool.jsp?survey=ap">10% lower</a> than the price in September. As The New York Times' Catherine Rampbell <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=246872425">notes</a>, grocery stores know that consumers coming in to buy turkeys will likely buy other items too, like ingredients for Thanksgiving side dishes. But compared to 2016, the prices of many side dish items are actually higher: pumpkin pie mix (a 2.6% increase), whipped cream (up 4%), cranberries (a 1.7% increase), and pre-packaged stuffing (a 5.2% rise). Even if supermarkets take a hit from low turkey prices, they can still make up for it in other ways. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/shake-shacks-new-chili-menu-item-2017-10">Shake Shack just added chili to the menu - here's the verdict</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The cost of a Thanksgiving dinner is at a five-year low, according to a new report

Yesterday, <a href="http://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/press_release/Press%20Statement_0.pdf">data released</a> by India’s Central Statistics Office showed that India’s retail <keyword id="22195" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Inflation">inflation</keyword>, which pertains to the growth in prices of consumer items, had sunk to an 18-month low of 2.19% -- capping a third consecutive monthly decline. Even wholesale inflation was a casualty, dropping to an eight-month low of 3.80% owing to lower prices of manufactured items. On a daily basis, the average Indian household could see this as a good thing. Price growth is low, so that means lower expenditure on essential items like fruits, vegetables, pulses, gas, etc. However, this has many implications for the Indian economy and more importantly, investor and business confidence. However, first things first:- Where was inflation the previous month and at the same point in 2017? Retail inflation was 2.33% in November 2018 ( <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-retail-inflation-rate-just-hit-its-lowest-point-since-june-2017-raising-the-prospects-of-a-rate-cut-and-more-handouts-to-farmers/articleshow/67072609.cms">the lowest point since June 2017</a> ) and a solid 5.21% in December 2017 - which was itself an outcome of higher housing and fuel prices. Why is inflation so low? This is largely due to low prices of food items, particularly onions and potatoes, and fuel. In fact, retail prices of food items actually fell by 2.51% reflecting the excess production from India’s agricultural sector. Meanwhile, retail fuel inflation declined to 4.54% from 7.39% in November 2018 owing to the lower petrol and diesel prices. This was an outcome of the decline in global oil prices. In fact, global oil prices touched yearly lows <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-indian-rupee-just-clocked-its-highest-one-day-gain-since-2013-as-global-oil-prices-plummeted-to-a-yearly-low/articleshow/67158268.cms">in December 2018</a>, owing to excess production by a number of countries like Saudi Arabia, the US and Russia and continued exports from Iran. However, with a supposed production cut by OPEC countries this year, inflation might have bottomed out. Who does it really affect? While lower food prices are obviously a welcome development for consumers, they can hurt rural incomes. Low food inflation directly translates into lower earnings for <keyword id="45092" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="farmers">farmers</keyword> and stagnant wage growth in rural areas. Due to a supply glut, farmers usually do not get an adequate price for their commodities despite having similar costs for their inputs, which can make it harder for them to repay their debts. What does it mean for economic growth? This means lower consumption from rural India, weak economic demand and hence, lower economic growth. Last week, the Central Statistics forecast that <keyword id="35050" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="gdp">GDP</keyword> growth for 2018-19 would be 7.2%, well below the 7.6% clocked in the first half of the year, due to the government’s reduction in expenditure in order to keep its fiscal deficit in check as well as lower indirect tax collections. Low inflation also hurts people other than farmers. If businesses can’t raise the prices of their products, they can’t increase wages, which keeps income growth stagnant. Yes, your raise can get affected. How will foreign investors and businesses react? While a stable inflation rate generally makes a country an attractive proposition for foreign investors. However, if inflation is too low it raises concerns about a country’s GDP growth trajectory. Low inflation means less liquidity in equity and debt markets, which will cause investors to steer clear. Correspondingly, low price growth points to subdued consumer demand, which can discourage businesses from increasing capital expenditure. What will the central bank do about it? The inflation estimates are well below the Reserve Bank of India’s inflation forecast of 2.7-3.2% for the second half of fiscal 2019. The slowdown in price growth raises the possibility that the <keyword id="30067" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="RBI">RBI</keyword> will reduce interest rates when its Monetary Policy Committee meets next in early February 2019. The monetary policy stance is also expected to shift from “calibrated tightening” to “neutral”. It will do this in order to spur aggregate demand and consumer/business confidence by making loans cheaper. An increase in credit-fuelled consumption will provide a boost to the prices of items and economic growth as wages and profits rise. This, coupled with the RBI’s continued liquidity injection through purchases of government bonds, portend for a stronger GDP result in the final quarter of 2018-19. More importantly, with an eye on elections, the government will likely try and sustain farmer incomes by providing price support for specific commodities as well as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/interest-free-loans-and-income-support-the-upcoming-budget-may-be-a-song-for-indias-farmers/articleshow/67538156.cms">cheaper loans and an income support scheme</a>. Global oil prices are expected to tick up this year, but it remains to be seen if the increase will be substantial enough to drive inflation up considerably by the end of the financial year. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-retail-inflation-rate-just-hit-its-lowest-point-since-june-2017-raising-the-prospects-of-a-rate-cut-and-more-handouts-to-farmers/articleshow/67072609.cms">India’s retail inflation rate just hit its lowest point since June 2017, raising the prospects of a rate cut and more handouts to farmers</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/reserve-bank-of-india-surprises-all-by-keeping-interest-rates-unchanged/articleshow/66086453.cms">Reserve Bank of India surprises all by keeping interest rates unchanged</a>

No, low inflation is not always a good thing —  here’s why

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Harrods, London's upmarket department store, sells a Wagyu beef sandwich for £28 ($35.) </li><li>The cost of the sandwich has raised eyebrows in Britain.</li></ul>In a world where a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/salt-baes-london-restaurant-boasts-shockingly-high-prices-2021-9?_gl=1*178uopp*_ga*MTc0OTY5ODQ1MC4xNjkwODkwNDUw*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTcwMDIzNTE1MC4zMjUuMS4xNzAwMjM1NjEzLjMwLjAuMA..">gold-encrusted steak</a> can set you back thousands of dollars, perhaps $35 for a sandwich seems quite reasonable.Nevertheless, the price tag has raised some eyebrows in Britain given that no matter what it contains – a sandwich is still a sandwich.Simply called the "Wagyu Steak Sandwich," the new addition to the menu at Harrods in Knightsbridge contains strips of Wagyu beef fillet along with accompanied by porcini and truffle butter, gold mustard mayo, large portobello mushrooms, arugula, and beer- braised onions. All that is, erm, sandwiched between two thick slices of sourdough bread.<div type="image" title="Harrods Wagyu" height="3456" width="5184" msid="105497934" hostid="261" sizebytes="799236"></div>A single gram of truffle can cost between $3 and $3.50, making it one of the world's most expensive ingredients. High-grade marbled Wagyu beef is a delicacy typically imported from Japan and can cost anywhere between $120 and $300 per pound. Sourdough bread usually commands a premium too.So, looking forward to tasting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wagyu-beef-steak-cows-from-japan-so-expensive-2019-8">one of the world's rarest meats</a>, I headed to Harrods to put this fancy sandwich to the test.<div type="image" title="Harrods Wagyu" height="2750" width="3515" msid="105497935" hostid="261" sizebytes="381030"></div>My first disappointment came as I reached the deli counter and realized all I'd get for my money was a cold, takeaway sandwich.I was not offered a bar stool in the swanky, art deco food hall to enjoy a nice, warm steak sub. No, instead I was handed a wrapped sandwich without even a smile and directed to a self-service till to pay.Accepting that the sandwich is what really mattered here, I headed for a bench in nearby Hyde Park.On first bite, all I got was a mouthful of hard crust. Unfortunately, this set the tone for the whole "dining" experience.<div type="image" title="Harrods Wagyu" height="3456" width="5184" msid="105497936" hostid="261" sizebytes="209536"></div>The sourdough slices were so thick that, bar a few mouthfuls where I got lucky, the bread overpowered all the other ingredients.Seven bites in and the starchy, acidic taste of the sourdough was overwhelming.I decided to try each of the components – beef, mushroom, and onion – on their own.The beef is the raison d'etre of this sandwich. It was a generous portion, well-cooked and soft – but so it ought to be for the price.However, the flavor and texture got somewhat lost in the sandwich. My enjoyment for the bits of meat I did have was tainted by my annoyance that they were stone cold, alongside a mish-mash of flavors, and hidden among slabs of bread. The chefs I've previously worked alongside in restaurant kitchens would be horrified.The beer-braised onions were perfectly nice and tangy, but their sweet caramelized flavor combined with the pungent truffle butter did not work well.<div type="image" title="Harrods Wagyu" height="3456" width="5184" msid="105497937" hostid="261" sizebytes="350966"></div>The threshold for cold mushrooms is low, but these ones had that slimy, squishy texture. And their earthy, umami flavor was lost against the bread.I'll rule out commenting on the three small, limp pieces of arugula given how irrelevant they were. But Harrods at least had the right idea – some crunch would have been a good addition to this sandwich.Not wanting to let an expectation for higher standards cloud my judgement, I tried for a second to imagine I'd bought the sandwich from a regular store. But even then I was not impressed and I'd be in no hurry to buy it again even if it was just $5.Sick of all the bread, I gave the last crust to the pigeons.To its credit, and to be expected when it packs a whopping 1,040 calories, the Harrods sandwich was a generous size and I was definitely full by the end. But I certainly was not satisfied.<div type="image" title="Harrods Wagyu" height="3456" width="5184" msid="105497939" hostid="261" sizebytes="364964"></div>I was just left wondering why on earth this sandwich had been created.Harrods is not struggling: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2023/08/harrods-strong-sales/">sales</a> at the Qatari-owned department store jumped to just over $1 billion for the year to January 2023.Mark Field, CEO of food consultancy Prof Consulting Group, told Business Insider: "Wagyu beef is growing in popularity and whilst to many it's a high price point, a Harrods customer has a higher level of discretionary income to spend," says Field. "Consumers expect Harrods to do things differently, which is part of their success."He adds that the ingredients themselves are not only more expensive, but also involve a more complex and expensive supply chain, with a higher risk of waste – all of which pushes up the price.Yet even if you don't think twice about dropping $35 on a snack while shopping, you could do a whole lot better than wasting it on this disappointing offering. Try the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pret.co.uk/en-GB/christmas-menu">Pret a Manger Christmas sandwich</a> instead with turkey, cranberry sauce, and pork stuffing and a steal at £4.99 (about $6.25.)Harrods did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

I tried a $35 Wagyu beef sandwich at Harrods and it was as disappointing as it was expensive

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/mcdonalds">McDonald's</a> knows one of the most effective ways to get customers into its restaurants is by regularly introducing new menu items, like this year's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-donut-sticks-fries-fast-food-breakfast-taste-2019-2">donut sticks</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-international-menu-taste-test-results-2019-6">international menu items</a>. </li><li>While some of these bizarre foods gain a permanent spot on the McDonald's menu, others fade into a history of unpopular experiments - like the "McLobster" and onion nuggets. </li><li>One of the biggest flops for McDonald's was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-tests-archburger-after-90s-flop-2018-1">Arch Deluxe burger</a>, introduced in 1996.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a> </li></ul>Following is a transcript of the video.Commercial: For a limited time, the McLobster sandwich is ashore at McDonald's. Filled with Atlantic Canadian lobster meat and crispy lettuce on a fresh bun, it's bound to make a splash with everyone.Narrator: Uh, yeah. That was on the McDonald's menu at one point. McDonald's is constantly trying out new menu items to stay relevant and keep customers interested. Some things stick, while others... not so much.Commercial: It's bound to make a splash with everyone.Narrator: Around the time popular fast-food chains started selling salads as entrées, McDonald's hopped on the trend. In 2000, it introduced McSalad Shakers, a salad in a cup that offered customers a healthier option for a quick meal. McSalad Shakers were taken off the menu in 2003 and replaced with the premium salads we have today, all served in bowls.But before launching salads, McDonald's tried another tactic to appeal to customers who wanted a healthier option. Low-fat diets were popular during the 1980s and '90s, pushing the food industry to create low-fat products. In 1991, McDonald's released a low-fat burger called the McLean Deluxe.Commercial: Introducing McLean Deluxe, made with a 91%-fat-free beef patty.Narrator: Ninety-one percent fat free. McDonald's did this by replacing the burger's fat content with water and using a seaweed extract called carrageenan to bind the water to the beef. Ninety percent of the patty was beef, and the other 10% was water and carrageenan. Even though the McLean Deluxe was launched during the low-fat-food era, it wasn't a popular menu item, and the chain discontinued it in 1996.Believe it or not, the burger joint took a stab at pizza in the late '80s, and, surprisingly, it wasn't called the McPizza.Commercial: The McDonald's family-size pepperoni pizza, smothered in cheese and pepperonis, for only $5.99 or two for $10.Narrator: McDonald's simply called it McDonald's Pizza, but customers dubbed it McPizza. The fast-food chain wanted to see if they could dominate the pizza industry, but with competitors like Domino's and Pizza Hut, it was hard to accomplish that goal. The McPizza was discontinued from all the McDonald's restaurants because of its long prep time. Most McDonald's restaurants stopped serving pizza in 2000, but only two locations kept it on the menu. It wasn't until September 2017 that McDonald's corporate office decided to permanently take pizza off the menu.Pizza and salad aren't the only burger alternatives McDonald's has tried. It briefly sold Tex-Mex food with its version of chicken fajitas, made with chicken, cheese, green peppers, and onions on a tortilla.Commercial: ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Ándale ♪ ♪ To Mickey D's today ♪ ♪ Get some fajitas to go ♪ ♪ The price is so low ♪Narrator: The item was taken off the menu at most franchises in the 1990s, most likely because they couldn't compete with Taco Bell, which was known for its Mexican-inspired food.In the 1960s, McDonald's introduced the Hula Burger. The burger had a slice of grilled pineapple and cheese on it. But it had a competitor: the Filet-O-Fish sandwich.Commercial: ♪ Give me back that Filet-O-Fish ♪ ♪ Give me that fish ♪Narrator: These two were introduced in the early 1960s. The Filet-O-Fish was created by a man named Lou Groen, who opened the first McDonald's in the Cincinnati area in 1959. At the time, most of the population in Cincinnati was Catholic and didn't eat meat on Fridays, with the exception of fish. With no meat-free options to offer, business at Groen's McDonald's was slow on Fridays, so he came up with an alternative. Groen said that Ray Kroc, the franchise's owner, initially didn't like his Filet-O-Fish idea, but that might have been because Kroc already had an idea for a meatless burger, which was none other than the Hula Burger.Kroc decided to add both the Hula Burger and the Filet-O-Fish to menus at select locations on one Friday in 1962, and whichever sandwich sold the most would win. The final score? The Filet-O-Fish won by a landslide with 350 sales, while the Hula Burger only had about six. The Hula Burger was discontinued, and the Filet-O-Fish still exists today.What do you get when McDonald's creates a Hot Pockets spinoff? McStuffins.Commercial: McStuffins?Narrator: In 1993, McDonald's created McStuffins, which had various fillings, including...Commercial: Pepperoni pizza, and chicken teriyaki, and...Narrator: Stuffed in French bread. It seemed tasty, but it wasn't very popular. McStuffins were officially removed from McDonald's menus the same year that they were released.In 1984, McDonald's introduced the McDLT, which stood for McDonald's Lettuce and Tomato. Unlike a traditional BLT, the McDLT had more than just meat, lettuce, and tomato. It was served on a two-sided Styrofoam container with the meat on the bottom half of the bun served on one side, while the other side held the top half of the bun with lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles, and sauces. This kept the hot and the cold parts of the sandwich separate until it was time to eat. McDonald's took the McDLT off the menu in 1991 after the company received backlash from environmental activists for using Styrofoam containers.Before the Chicken McNuggets that we know and love today, there were Onion Nuggets. These deep-fried onion bits appeared on McDonald's menus in the 1970s, before McNuggets, which may explain the very close resemblance. But Onion Nuggets are shrouded in mystery. Like many other limited-time offerings, no one really knows when or why McDonald's discontinued them.One of the biggest flops for McDonald's was the Arch Deluxe burger, introduced in 1996. The New York Times reported that McDonald's spent an estimated $150 million to $200 million in marketing for the Arch Deluxe, making it the largest-ever fast-food-marketing budget at the time. McDonald's marketed the burger specifically to adults, promoting it as a gourmet burger with a secret Arch sauce. But McDonald's is known for its fun, family-friendly atmosphere, and the sudden change in marketing towards an adult audience contradicted that fun culture the company displayed for so long.Commercial: Introducing the burger with the grown-up taste. McDonald's Arch Deluxe.Narrator: At the time of the promotion, McDonald's thought the Arch Deluxe, which cost between $2.09 and $2.49, would hit at least $1 billion in sales. But the burger lasted about a year before it was taken off the menu. In January 2018, McDonald's started to test a new version of the Arch Deluxe, called the Archburger. McDonald's confirmed that the new Archburgers were made with fresh beef and that the signature Arch sauce also made a comeback. But McDonald's hasn't given any more updates on the Archburger's comeback.For now, we can always count on McDonald's to surprise us with new, interesting meals.

9 bizarre foods that disappeared from the McDonald's menu

Earlier today, we highlighted both the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-state-of-the-indian-economy-in-one-big-slide-2013-9">positive and negative macro indicators</a> in the Indian economy. 
But with economic growth at a 10-year low, it's worth taking a closer look what has gone wrong.
Below are five charts from Morgan Stanley.
First, inflation has started to tick up again. Food inflation is back at a six-year high, and onion prices have soared over 200% year-to-date.
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52430b4d69bedd134a6cd2ce-960/screen shot 2013-09-25 at 12.11.47 pm.jpg"></a>Morgan Stanley</div></div>
Projects under implementation also fell. <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> recently created the Cabinet Committee of Infrastructure (CCI) to <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/More-steps-needed-to-avert-project-delay/articleshow/19875876.cms">avoid project delays</a> which frequently arise over land disputes and because of environmental concerns:
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52430bd8ecad042e1b7d58c2-960/screen shot 2013-09-25 at 12.13.53 pm.jpg"></a>Morgan Stanley</div></div> The current account deficit is narrowing, but continues to pose a threat to the rupee and economic growth. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/india-raises-gold-import-taxes-2013-6">Gold imports</a>, which are part of the reason India has a high current account deficit, declined in July and August. But the weakness in the rupee and oil price movements will play a crucial role in narrowing the current account deficit:
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/52430f2a6bb3f77b1f6cd2e2-960/screen shot 2013-09-25 at 12.25.08 pm.jpg"></a>Morgan Stanley</div></div>
The rupee is still down nearly 13% year-to-date, against the U.S. dollar. The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/morgan-stanley-fragile-5-emerging-markets-2013-9#the-indian-rupee-3">central bank intervened</a> to support the currency:
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/524314c1ecad040f2f7d58b9-960/inrusd-1.jpg"></a>Google Finance</div></div>
Short-term interest rates are expected to stay elevated for a few more months and this is likely to strain GDP growth, which climbed just 4.4% in the first quarter:
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/524312f1eab8ea94446cd2ce-960/screen shot 2013-09-25 at 12.44.26 pm.jpg"></a>Morgan Stanley</div></div>
Of course there have been some improvements in the Indian economy. For instance, industrial production ticked up, corporate revenue growth has improved modestly, and auto sales are picking up.
But Morgan Stanley analysts Chetan Ahya and Upasna Chachra expect "slow growth and higher rates to stay for a while longer."

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