The consumer protection service is working full throttle on making e-kalathi available before the Christmas holidays voluntarily on a pilot basis, with the application expected to be fully operational in mid-February 2025.

Supermarkets will be able to join the pilot run voluntarily, offering real time information to customers about the prices of essential household products.

There has already been a keen interest on behalf of supermarkets to join the programme immediately.

The pilot app will also give the service a heads up on any hiccups, so that everything runs smoothly in February.

During the pilot run, the platform will include about 480 essential products.

After the pilot run, the commerce ministry will issue a decree, obliging all supermarkets to join the platform, as stipulated by legislation.