The cost of the vegetarian ‘thali’ increased by 7% in the past one year, from March 2023 to March 2024, according to India’s largest independent research house, CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics (MI&A).
The reason for this was the surge of 40%, 36% and 22% in the prices of onion, tomato and potato, respectively. The increase in prices was due to lower arrivals of onion and potato and low base of last fiscal for tomatoes.
Amid lower arrivals, prices of rice (accounting for 13% of the veg thali cost) and pulses (9%) increased 14% and 22% on-year, respectively, the CRISIL report said.
A veg thali comprises roti, vegetables (onion, tomato, and potato), rice, dal, curd, and salad.
Input prices
The average cost of preparing a vegetarian thali at home is calculated based on input prices prevailing in various parts of the country. These inputs include cereals, pulses, vegetables, spices, edible oil and cooking gas, according to the rating agency.
Meanwhile, according to RBI data, male agricultural workers in rural areas got an average daily wage of Rs 323.2 in India in 2022. If they work for 20 days in a month, their monthly income will be around Rs 13,000 for two persons. If there are two earning members in a household, 70% of the wages will go towards preparing the vegetarian thali (both lunch and dinner) for the month.
Expenses towards education, health, clothes, travel and energy will have to come from the balance 30%.
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