The cost of home-cooked vegetarian and non-vegetarian thalis has increased significantly, revealed a recent report by CRISIL.
Higher tomatoes and potatoes prices drive surge
In November, the cost of vegetarian thalis rose by 7.2% year-on-year (YoY), while non-vegetarian thalis increased by 1.8%. The surge in vegetarian thali costs was driven by higher prices of tomatoes and potatoes, which account for 26% of the thali’s cost.
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According to the report, tomato prices rose by 35% YoY in November, while potato prices surged by 50% due to lower yields caused by late blight infestation in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat. “We expect prices of vegetables and pulses to stabilise from December as fresh supplies enter the market, providing some respite to the veg thali cost,” said Pushan Sharma, Director-Research, CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics.
The report also noted a 10% increase in pulse prices and a 13% rise in vegetable oil costs. However, a 11% drop in fuel costs, from INR 903 to INR 803 for a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder in Delhi, helped mitigate further increases in thali prices. For the non-vegetarian thali, a decline of around 3% in broiler prices, which account for 50% of the cost, helped curb the rise in cost.
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Cost of Vegetarian thali decline by 2% in Nov
However, the coming few months are likely to witness YoY growth in non-veg thali on account of a low base created from December 2023, said Sharma. On a monthly basis, the cost of vegetarian thali declined by 2% in November, while that of non-vegetarian thali remained unchanged, according to the report. The average cost of preparing a thali at home is calculated based on input prices prevailing in north, south, east, and west India.
