Costlier veggies make vegetarian thali dearer by 10% in June: CRISIL

The average cost of a vegetarian thali in India rose by 10 per cent in June due to an increase in prices of onion, potato, and tomato, a report by CRISIL said on Friday. But, during the same period, the cost of a non-vegetarian thali saw a 4 per cent decline due to a drop in price of broiler chicken.  

CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analysis’ monthly ‘Roti Rice Rate’ report said that the cost of vegetarian thali, which comprises roti, vegetables (onions, tomatoes and potatoes), rice, dal, curd and salad, increased to Rs 29.4 in June from Rs 26.7 in June 2023. Sequentially, it saw a six per cent rise as in May a vegetarian thali’s cost was Rs 27.8.

 

The overall hike in vegetarian thali prices was attributed to a 30 per cent increase in prices of tomato, 59 per cent in potato and 46 per cent in onion.

In the case of onion, there were lower arrivals due to a significant drop in rabi acreage, while potato witnessed lower yields due to unseasonal rainfall in March. On the surge in tomato prices, CRISIL said virus infestation in the summer crop due to high temperatures in key growing regions of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh reduced tomato arrivals by 35 per cent year-on-year.

On top of that, there was a 13 per cent increase in rice prices. It was due to a dip in acreage, resulting in subdued arrivals. The prices of pulses also rose 22 per cent due to a dry spell in key kharif months, the report said.

For the non-vegetarian thali, which comprises all the same ingredients but dal gets replaced by chicken, the price declined to Rs 58 in June as compared to Rs 60.5 a year ago. However, it was considerably higher when compared with May’s price of Rs 55.9 per thali.

According to the report, non-vegetarian thali cost declined due to a decrease in broiler prices by around 14 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), oversupply and lower feed cost as against last year.

However, sequentially, it rose due to stress on vegetable prices.

The prices of veg thali have been rising since November last year, mainly due to costlier vegetables.

Pushan Sharma, Director-Research, CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics said that tomato prices will rise before correcting at the end of August as fresh supplies arrive from southern and western states.

“That said, going forward, thali prices are expected to be lower on-year due to the high base of last fiscal, when tomato prices had surged,” Sharma added.

WATCH: The Budget Show with BS: Will the food prices come down?