{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "Rising Onion and Edible Oil Prices Made India's Home-Cooked Thali Costlier in August",
  "summary": "The cost of a vegetarian thali rose to Rs 29.5 and a non-veg thali to Rs 57.5 in August, as onions, edible oil and LPG turned costlier, though cheaper potatoes and tomatoes offered some relief, a CRISIL Intelligence report shows.",
  "content": "Cooking at home turned a little costlier across India last month, with onions, edible oil and cooking gas all pushing up kitchen bills, even as cheaper potatoes and tomatoes stopped the bill from climbing even further. The findings come from CRISIL Intelligence's monthly cost index, which offers one of the clearer month-on-month pictures of how essential food and fuel prices are showing up on Indian dinner tables.\n\nThe 'Roti Rice Rate' report from CRISIL Intelligence, the research arm of rating agency CRISIL, found that the average cost of putting together a vegetarian thali rose to Rs 29.5 in August. That is 1 percent higher than July and also 1 percent higher than what the same thali cost in August last year. The report pointed to onion, food oil, rice and LPG as the main drivers, noting that prices of all four stayed above year-ago levels through the month and fed straight into the cost of a daily meal at home.\n\nOnion prices climbed the fastest\nNo ingredient moved as sharply as onions. A kilogram had cost around Rs 28 in August last year, and it rose to Rs 40 a kilogram in August this year, a jump of nearly 43 percent over twelve months. The increase was not just an annual trend either: onion prices alone climbed 17 percent compared with July. The report linked the spike to unseasonal rain and hailstorms that struck Maharashtra in March and April, which disrupted the standing crop and left supplies tighter in the months that followed.\n\nOil and LPG kept the pressure on\nOther kitchen staples added to the squeeze. Food oil cost 11 percent more than it did a year earlier, while LPG cylinder prices were up 10 percent over the same period, and rice too traded at higher rates, all of which weighed on the overall cost of a vegetarian thali. The month was not uniformly expensive, though. Potato prices actually fell 12 percent in August, and tomatoes were down a steep 28 percent, and that drop in vegetable costs kept the thali's overall price rise from being sharper than it was.\n\nTaken together, the numbers suggest that while the overall rise in thali costs was modest on paper, at just 1 percent for the vegetarian version, the ingredients behind that number moved very differently. Sharp gains in onion, oil, rice and cooking gas prices were largely offset by cheaper potatoes and tomatoes, without which the increase would likely have been steeper. The trend also shows why grocery bills do not always track headline inflation numbers in a straight line, since a handful of ingredients like onions can swing sharply from one harvest cycle to the next.\n\nA non-vegetarian thali now costs Rs 57.5\nA non-vegetarian thali cost Rs 57.5 in August, 5 percent more than the same month a year ago. That increase came mostly from broiler chicken, whose price rose nearly 10 percent on an annual basis. Measured against July, though, the non-veg thali actually turned cheaper by 1 percent, helped along by a 4 percent fall in broiler prices during the Shravan month, when meat consumption traditionally dips and demand, along with prices, tends to ease.\n\nWhat this means for you\nThe immediate effect is on how much an average household spends filling its plate every day, and the pinch is coming mostly from kitchen essentials that are hard to skip.\n\n• Grocery bills stay elevated: With onion, edible oil, rice and LPG all costing more than a year ago, families cooking at home should expect their monthly grocery and fuel spend to stay a notch higher for now.\n• Onions remain the biggest budget shock: At Rs 40 a kilogram against Rs 28 a year ago, a household buying 3-4 kg a month is paying roughly Rs 36-48 more just on onions.\n• LPG adds to monthly fuel outgo: A 10 percent annual rise in LPG prices means the cylinder that fuels daily cooking is now a bigger line item in the household budget.\n• Non-vegetarian meals cost more too: A 5 percent annual jump in non-veg thali cost, driven by broiler chicken, means families that eat meat regularly are seeing a steeper rise than vegetarian households.\n• Cheaper vegetables offer some cushion: Potato and tomato prices falling 12 percent and 28 percent respectively mean households can lean more on these staples to balance out costlier onions and oil.\n\nWhy this happened\nThe rise in thali costs traces back to a handful of specific price shocks rather than a broad-based surge, with weather playing the biggest role.\n\n• Weather damage to the onion crop: Unseasonal rain and hailstorms hit Maharashtra during March and April, damaging the standing crop and tightening supply in the months that followed, the direct reason onion prices jumped 43 percent year-on-year.\n• Broader input costs stayed high: Food oil, rice and LPG prices were already running above year-ago levels going into August, so their combined weight kept the vegetarian thali's cost elevated.\n• Seasonal demand shift for meat: Broiler chicken prices dipped 4 percent during the Shravan month, when meat consumption traditionally falls, which is why the non-veg thali got cheaper compared with July.\n• Partial offset from vegetables: A steep fall in potato and tomato prices worked in the opposite direction, cushioning what would otherwise have been a sharper rise in the vegetarian thali's cost.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. How much did a vegetarian thali cost in August?\nRs 29.5, which is 1 percent higher than both July and August last year.\n\n2. What was the cost of a non-veg thali?\nIt cost Rs 57.5 in August, up 5 percent from a year ago, though 1 percent cheaper than July.\n\n3. Why did onion prices rise so sharply?\nUnseasonal rain and hailstorms in Maharashtra during March and April damaged the crop and cut supply, pushing onion prices up 43 percent year-on-year.\n\n4. Did every ingredient get costlier?\nNo, potato prices fell 12 percent and tomato prices fell 28 percent, which limited the overall rise in thali cost.\n\n5. Who published these figures?\nCRISIL Intelligence, the research arm of rating agency CRISIL, published the data in its 'Roti Rice Rate' report.\n\n6. Why did the non-veg thali get cheaper than July?\nBroiler chicken prices fell 4 percent during the Shravan month, when meat demand traditionally drops, lowering the non-veg thali's cost.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/business/rasoi-ke-bajata-para-para-asara-pyaja-tela-ki-mahngai-se-barhi-ghara-ki-thali-ki-lagata-29570",
  "category": "Business",
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-08",
  "tags": [
    "thali cost",
    "onion prices",
    "food inflation",
    "LPG price",
    "CRISIL report",
    "non-veg thali"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}