The cost of home-cooked meals declined, with veg thalis costing 10 per cent less and non-veg thalis dropped by 6 per cent as compared to the same month last year. This decline is due to a sharp decline in commodity prices, ANI reported citing Crisil data.
Why veg thalis are getting cheaper
Vegetarian thalis have become cheaper due to major drop in vegetable and pulse prices. Like potato prices are 31 per cent cheaper as cold storage units are releasing their stock, while tomatoes are 8 per cent year-to-year cheaper due to higher supplies.
Whereas onions have seen a massive 46 per cent drop, all due to increased domestic production and reduced exports to a major buyer of the Indian onions, Bangladesh.
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Prices of pulses are now 16 per cent cheaper due to increase in the imports of Bengal gram, yellow pea and black gram also the reasons for decreased rates of vegetarian thalis, which are allowed until March 2026 to bring down prices for consumers, ANI reported.
Factors limiting the price drop
The prices drop in thalis was not even more noticeable because vegetable oil surged by 21 per cent due to high demand during the festive season. Additionally, LPG cylinder prices also increased by 6% which slowed down the overall drop in thalis costs.
Non-veg thalis see some relief
Non-veg thalis did not get much cheaper as the chicken prices only dropped 1 per cent and chicken is a big part of the cost. However, the decline in veg and pulse prices did help bring down the overall cost a bit.
Pushan Sharma, Crisil Intelligence director said- “Going forward, onion prices could see a moderate increase in the medium term as excess rainfall in August and September in key producing states such as Karnataka and Maharashtra has delayed kharif transplantation and raised yield concerns,” ANI reported.
He also mentioned, heavy rainfall could affect the stored onions or the standing Kharif crops previous month, resulting additional pressure on prices.
Meanwhile, tomato prices are expected to lift up during the festive season, due to isolated impact on yield from excessive rainfall in major producing states, such as Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Has other grocery items also get affected ?
As per the official records, the government has reduced and removed GST on various several essential food products to make them more affordable for consumers. Many commonly used items have now been moved to lower tax slabs up to 5 per cent or made completely tax-free.
Earlier, items such as ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk, pre-packaged and labelled paneer, and pizza bread attracted a 5% GST. After the recent reforms, these items are now exempt from GST.
Other items like Coconut water, driniking water (20 litre bottles), sauces, mayonnaise, goods inclusing refined sugar, nuts are now reduced from 12 per cent GST to 5 per cent.
