People are switching to shampoo mini-packs from regular bottles, women are sacrificing their tiny luxuries of cosmetic puffs while households are embracing cheap but substandard detergents for laundry: this is exactly what happens when brutal price pressures push around 78 lakh people below the poverty line in just two years and stalk another 1 crore to do so.

The Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) will investigate the authenticity of the claim that the retail prices of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) increased because of rising spending for raw materials, shipping, dollar, transportation and fuel.