Veg thali cost surges 28% in July amid soaring food prices
NEW DELHI : Soaring prices of vegetables, especially tomatoes, onions, and potatoes, have placed a heavy burden on the poor, who spend the bulk of their income on food. According to a Crisil study, the cost of a typical vegetarian thali, commonly consumed across several parts of India, has surged by a third in just a month. The cost of preparing a vegetarian thali at home surged by 28% in July from the preceding month due to the jump in prices of vegetables and spices.
The cost of a non-vegetarian thali rose by a relatively moderate 11%, Crisil said. The cost of a vegetable thali rose to ₹33.7 in July from ₹26.3 in June and ₹26.5 in July last year. On the other hand, the cost of a non-vegetarian thali spiked to ₹66.8 in July from ₹60 in June and ₹61.3 last July, the report found.
“The cost of a thali rose sequentially for the third month in a row in July and inched up year-on-year for the first time this fiscal, mainly due to soaring tomato prices," rating agency Crisil said in a report. A vegetarian thali comprises roti, vegetables such as onion, tomato and potato, rice, dal, curd, and salad. For a non-vegetarian thali, chicken was considered instead of dal.
A quarter of the increase in the cost of the vegetarian thali can be attributed to the skyrocketing tomato costs, which more than tripled to ₹110 per kilogramme (kg) in July from ₹33 in June. For over six weeks now, tomato prices have continued to rise despite the central government’s intervention to rein in prices through the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). Both NCCF and NAFED have been procuring tomatoes from the southern states and making them available in
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