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BENGALURU: With shortages across products, many large retail chains across the country are putting restrictions on how much a customer can purchase at a time to prevent people from hoarding essential items.Future Retail, which runs Nilgiris and Easyday stores, said it was regulating quantities per bill to ensure essential items are consistently available to all customers. Such items include rice, flour, pulses, oil, butter and biscuits, which have been flying off the shelves and are taking longer to replenish.A customer is only allowed to buy two packets of 10 kg flour or four packets of 5 kg flour, five packets of Amul butter, weighing 100 gm each. For any type of dal, chana, tur or moong, the ceiling is set at 5 kg. “We have empowered our store managers to make changes on this based on the demand in their locality,” said a Future Retail spokesperson.Spencer’s Retail and Nature’s Basket managing director Devendra Chawla said such measures have been adopted to ensure no customer is deprived at a time when the backend supply chain is fragile. Transportation of products remains challenging and thousands of labourers have moved back to their towns and villages after the lockdown was imposed two weeks ago, affecting production at factories.“We have set limits for the purchase of certain items such as butter, rice and atta. For example, a customer can buy two packs of butter of 100 gm each,” said Chawla. TOI reported in its Friday edition that there is an acute shortage of staples like rice, atta, dal and dry packaged foods like instant noodles, biscuits and snacks, in many retail and kirana stores across the country.Some retailers like More have not imposed curbs but are requesting customers to not resort to panic-buying. DMart did not comment but has requested customers not to overstock items and shop only as per normal household needs.More Retail CEO and deputy managing director Mohit Kampani said they have told customers that whatever they get, will continue to be available. “It is not that a certain category is vanishing from the shelves. If we have put tea, there will be tea, though not necessarily from all the brands. The additional buy is due to the increased consumption by staying at home. Also, people are looking to lessen the number of trips to the stores,” he said.