The plate of pani puri is being offered at ₹333 at one of the airport’s stores, shocked an entrepreneur at Mumbai Airport. Co-founder and COO of Sugar Cosmetics Kaushik Mukherjee revealed his amazement on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, saying, “I didn’t know this expensive real estate is used for food stalls at the CSIA Mumbai airport.”
Real estate is expensive for food stalls at the CSIA Mumbai airport – but I didn’t know THIS expensive 👀 pic.twitter.com/JRFMw3unLu
— Kaushik Mukherjee (@kaushikmkj) April 29, 2024
Three street food favourites, pani puri, dahi puri, and sev puri, each costing ₹333 for a plate of eight pieces, were featured in the picture he shared. Many X users were moved by Mukherjee’s article and expressed similar feelings on the exorbitant costs of Indian street food, or chaats.
Airport food frequently has high prices, which restricts travellers’ options for where to eat. The Mumbai airport has previously garnered media attention for charging between ₹600 and ₹620 for dosas and buttermilk, plus extra fees for coffee. Similar to this, a journalist’s post about getting two samosas, a cup of tea, and a water bottle for ₹490 also went viral on the internet.
Many travellers choose lounge access instead of paying such high fees, as this allows them to enjoy a sumptuous buffet spread for a small amount as part of their credit or debit card lounge access.