The cost of preparing a home-cooked meal increased in August, with the price of a vegetarian thali rising 1% year-on-year (y-o-y) and a non-vegetarian thali becoming 5% more expensive, according to a monthly food-cost indicator released by CRISIL Intelligence. The increase was driven mainly by higher prices of onions, vegetable oil, rice and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which more than offset the relief from cheaper potatoes and tomatoes.
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, the vegetarian thali became 1% more expensive in August, while the cost of a non-vegetarian thali fell 1%, CRISIL said.
The sharpest pressure on the vegetarian meal came from onions. Their price rose about 43% y-o-y to ₹40/kg in August from ₹28/kg a year earlier. CRISIL attributed the increase to supply tightness, with unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms in Maharashtra during March-April damaging the late-season crop and stored inventories. A 5%-6% decline in rabi production also constrained supplies.
Vegetable oil and LPG prices added to the pressure, rising 11% and 10% from a year earlier, respectively. CRISIL attributed the increases to supply disruptions and elevated energy prices linked to the conflict in West Asia.
The increase in the cost of the vegetarian plate was partly cushioned by a fall in vegetable prices. Potato prices declined 12% y-o-y, helped by an estimated 2%-3% increase in rabi production following an expansion in acreage. Tomato prices dropped 28%, with delayed summer planting shifting supplies into July-August. Market arrivals during the two months were about 20% higher than a year earlier, putting downward pressure on prices.
The non-vegetarian thali was burdened by higher chicken prices. Broiler prices were estimated to have risen by 10% in August, with higher feed costs pushing them up. Broiler accounts for around half of the cost of the non-vegetarian thali, making it a significant driver of the overall increase.
However, the monthly trend for the non-vegetarian plate was more favourable. Its cost declined 1% from July, helped by an estimated 4% m-o-m fall in broiler prices as demand moderated during Shravan.
For the vegetarian thali, the monthly increase was largely due to onions, whose prices jumped 17% from July. A 7% decline in tomato prices and relatively stable prices for other ingredients prevented a sharper rise in the meal's cost.
CRISIL's thali-cost indicator tracks the average expense of preparing a meal at home using prevailing input prices across north, south, east and west India. It includes cereals, pulses, broilers, vegetables, spices, edible oil and cooking gas, and is intended to capture the impact of changes in food and fuel prices on household expenditure.
The vegetarian thali used in the calculation comprises roti, vegetables including onion, tomato and potato, rice, dal, curd and salad. In the non-vegetarian version, dal is replaced by chicken. Crisil notes that broiler prices are estimated and that the weight assigned to ingredients does not vary with commodity price volatility. Some commodity prices are also estimates due to data availability constraints.
The August data point to a mixed food-price picture. While staple ingredients such as onions and cooking oil became significantly more expensive and LPG added to household costs, improved supplies brought relief in potatoes and tomatoes.
The divergence between the two thalis was largely explained by chicken prices. As a result, the non-vegetarian plate recorded a much sharper annual increase even though its monthly cost declined in August.
CRISIL's data also show that the cost of the vegetarian thali stood at ₹29.5 in August 2026, compared with ₹29.1 in December 2025 and ₹29.1 in August 2025. The non-vegetarian thali cost ₹57.5 in August, against ₹58.3 in December 2025 and ₹54.6 in August 2025.
The latest reading suggests that household food costs remain sensitive to supply-side shocks. Weather disruptions affecting crops, energy-market volatility, and feed costs can quickly alter the cost of a basic home-cooked meal, even as some vegetables become cheaper.
For households, therefore, the headline food-price trend may not always tell the full story: the composition of the meal matters, and individual ingredients can move sharply in opposite directions within the same month.
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