Mumbai, March 20 (IANS): The demand for anti-virus essentials like sanitizers, masks, thermometers, and gloves has soared in Maharashtra but there is no panic buying of food or groceries despite a near-total clampdown in the three main cities of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, market players said here on Friday.

Mumbai-based Mamta Laxmi Inc's proprietor Sandeep Jadhav, an importer of anti-virus medical supplies, said there is an average 300 percent demand in the markets owing to the coronavirus pandemic currently raging.

"While we strictly adhere to the MRP norms to our customers, we have noticed that some unscrupulous persons down the line jack up the prices by double or triple," Jadhav told IANS.

Pune-based medical equipment company Save-Life's proprietor A. Hameed said that presently, the markets are virtually bereft of raw material supplies for both sanitisers and masks of different varieties, while thermometers are virtually not available, leading to a spurt in retail prices.

"Plus, in view of the extraordinary situation, now the manufacturers take orders with 100 per cent advance payment and deliver to specific customers which is a new development," he said.

Hameed added that the purported shortage have led to a spurt in online sales with many new suppliers suddenly crowding the online markets, taking payments and but not delivering to the customers.

Bhavnagar-based Nagindas Hiralal Bhayani (NHB) owner Pankaj Bhayani who does contract manufacturing for sanitisers for a German company, said in the current scenario, its difficult to estimate the demand.

"We work round-the-clock, but the demands keep increasing for more supplies. This is the situation for all manufacturers in the country," he said.

Mumbai medico Himanshu Modi said that anxious patients come without any problems wanting to know whether they should opt for masks or sanitizers.

"They are perfectly healthy and normal, but there appears to be a scare. We medicos give them the relevant advice and ask them to look out forcCoronavirus symptoms and take utmost care," Modi said with a smile.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd's CEO, India & SAARC, Sunil Kataria said that in recent months, there has been a 30 percent increase in costs of raw materials for soaps.

"We were planning a price hike to partially cover this spike in input costs. But, given the spread of COVID-19, we have decided to put it on hold, and will continue to replenish stocks across all channels," Kataria assured.

A floor manager with a prominent national supermarket chain in a suburban outlet said that though demand for dry food items with long shelf life has increased by around 25 percent, there doesn't seem to be any sort of 'panic-buying spree' so far.

"It's a simple calculation. If a customer comes and regularly buys two packets of noodles, now its three packets, and similar for most other products. They are stocking a little more, but not hoarding," the manager, declining to be identified told IANS.

A saleswoman in a departmental store in Andheri said that many people even ask "whether certain foods, household stuff, etc will be available after March 31 or not, and we inform them that we don't foresee any problems".

"Though the customers are stocking up on pulses, rice, wheat, flour, dry spices, its not for a long-term crisis, but maybe to tide over for a month or so in case of probable shortages," the saleswoman said with a laugh.

HariOm Supermarket proprietor Vijay Tiwari said that the crowds have increased owing to the regulations on alternate day shopping imposed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

"Yes, there has been an increase in our orders and also with the major online players, but this is a temporary phase. The markets will stabilize once the people realize there are no shortages," he said.