Home-cooked meal costs rise in August as onion, oil and LPG prices climb
Crisil Intelligence pegged a vegetarian thali at ₹29.5, up 1% year-on-year, and a non-vegetarian thali at ₹57.5, up 5%. Higher onion, edible oil, LPG and broiler prices offset lower potato and tomato costs.
What happened
Crisil Intelligence · Crisil said Indian home-cooked meal costs rose moderately in August. Vegetable thali costs reached ₹29.5, while non-vegetarian thalis cost
Key facts
- Vegetarian thali cost: ₹29.5, up 1% year-on-year and month-on-month
- Non-vegetarian thali cost: ₹57.5, up 5% year-on-year and down 1% month-on-month from ₹58.3
- Broiler prices: up 10% year-on-year; down 4% month-on-month
- Onion prices: ₹40/kg, up 43% year-on-year and 17% month-on-month
- Vegetable oil prices: up 11% year-on-year
- LPG prices: up 10% year-on-year
- Potato prices: down 12% year-on-year
- Tomato prices: down 28% year-on-year and 7% month-on-month
Why this matters
The cost divergence strengthens the case for investments or partnerships in resilient sourcing, cold-chain capabilities and private-label staples that reduce exposure to volatile proteins and cooking inputs.
What to watch
- Monthly Crisil thali-cost updates, especially whether non-vegetarian inflation remains materially above vegetarian inflation.
- Onion wholesale arrivals, mandi prices and any government buffer-stock releases or export/import policy changes.
- Edible-oil import prices, rupee movement and changes in import duties.
- LPG retail-price revisions and crude-price trends.
- Broiler feed costs, poultry supply conditions and wholesale chicken-price movement.
- Evidence of trade-down in modern retail: higher private-label share, smaller pack mix and weaker premium packaged-food volumes.
- Increase promotions on pulses, soy, eggs, frozen vegetarian products and value protein alternatives to retain basket affordability.
- Expand private-label edible oil, staples, spices and ready-to-cook offerings while maintaining aggressive entry price points.
- Use smaller packs, multi-buy offers and meal-bundle pricing to limit visible per-purchase price shock.
- Rebalance fresh-food sourcing toward lower-cost producing regions and tighten onion, poultry and oil inventory planning.
- Prepare selective menu and ready-food price increases, especially for chicken-led offerings, while protecting high-traffic value meals.