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Cost of home-cooked thalis declines 6% in May, driven by cheaper vegetables: Crisil report
New Delhi, June 8 (ANI): In May 2025, the cost of home-cooked vegetarian and non-vegetarian thalis declined by 6 percent each year-on-year, according to a Crisil report. The decline was due to a sharp drop in the prices of key vegetables, led by the high-base effect.
According to Crisil analysis, tomato prices fell 29 percent to Rs 23 per kg from Rs 33 per kg in May 2025 as concerns over yield had lifted prices last year.
Prices of onion and potato declined 15 percent to 16 percent, respectively, year-on-year in May as potato prices had shot up last year due to crop damage following blight infestations and unseasonal rainfall in West Bengal, while onion prices had increased due to lower rabi acreage and yield, as water availability in key growing states - Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka - was low.
Crisil found in its analysis that a 19 percent year-on-year jump in vegetable oil prices due to a rise in import duty and a 6 percent year-on-year rise in the price of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders prevented a further drop in thali cost in May.
Along with lower vegetable prices, an estimated 6 percent year-on-year decline in the price of broiler chicken made non-vegetarian thalis cheaper.
"The decline in prices of broiler -- which makes up about 50 percent of the non-vegetarian thali cost -- was due to oversupply and lower demand amid bird flu reported in parts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka," the Crisil report read.
On a month-on-month basis, the cost of a vegetarian thali remained stable, while that of a non-vegetarian thali was reduced 2 percent in May 2025.
Potato and tomato prices rose 3 percent and 10 percent month-on-month, respectively, while onion prices dipped 10 percent, thereby keeping the vegetarian thali cost unchanged month-on-month.
The Crisil report noted that an estimated 4 percent month-on-month decline in broiler prices contributed towards the decrease in the non-vegetarian thali cost in May. (ANI)