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Home-cooked meal costs rise in August as onion, oil and LPG prices climb
Our read
Rising cooking costs will push Indian households toward value staples and vegetarian substitutions, leaving chicken-led food baskets under the greatest volume pressure.
For operators
Rising onion, edible oil, LPG and broiler costs warrant tighter procurement, menu engineering and selective price actions, especially across value-led food formats.
Watch
Monthly Crisil thali-cost updates, especially whether non-vegetarian inflation remains materially above vegetarian inflation.
The report,
Crisil said Indian home-cooked meal costs rose moderately in August. Vegetable thali costs reached ₹29.5, while non-vegetarian thalis cost ₹57.5. Higher onion, oil, LPG and broiler prices outweighed declines in potatoes and tomatoes, with onion prices expected to stay firm.
- Non-vegetarian thali cost, August₹57.5
- Vegetarian thali cost, August₹29.5
Reported figures
From the report. Source details below
| Vegetarian thali cost: | ₹29.5, up 1% year-on-year and month-on-month |
|---|---|
| Non-vegetarian thali cost: | ₹57.5, up 5% year-on-year and down 1% month-on-month from ₹58.3 |
| Broiler prices: | up 10% year-on-year; down 4% month-on-month |
| Onion prices: | ₹40/kg, up 43% year-on-year and 17% month-on-month |
| Vegetable oil prices: | up 11% year-on-year |
| LPG prices: | up 10% year-on-year |
| Potato prices: | down 12% year-on-year |
| Tomato prices: | down 28% year-on-year and 7% month-on-month |
Why it matters to operators
The cost divergence strengthens the case for investments or partnerships in resilient sourcing, cold-chain capabilities and private-label staples that reduce exposure to volatile proteins and cooking inputs.
What to watch next
- Onion wholesale arrivals, mandi prices and any government buffer-stock releases or export/import policy changes.
- Edible-oil import prices, rupee movement and changes in import duties.
- LPG retail-price revisions and crude-price trends.
- Broiler feed costs, poultry supply conditions and wholesale chicken-price movement.
- Evidence of trade-down in modern retail: higher private-label share, smaller pack mix and weaker premium packaged-food volumes.
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Increase promotions on pulses, soy, eggs, frozen vegetarian products and value protein alternatives to retain basket affordability.
- Expand private-label edible oil, staples, spices and ready-to-cook offerings while maintaining aggressive entry price points.
- Use smaller packs, multi-buy offers and meal-bundle pricing to limit visible per-purchase price shock.
- Rebalance fresh-food sourcing toward lower-cost producing regions and tighten onion, poultry and oil inventory planning.
- Prepare selective menu and ready-food price increases, especially for chicken-led offerings, while protecting high-traffic value meals.
The counter-case
The case against this reading — not reported by the source.
The reported increase is modest in absolute terms and may not signal a broad-based deterioration in food affordability. A ₹29.5 vegetarian thali is up only 1% year-on-year, while the 5% rise in the non-vegetarian basket is heavily exposed to volatile broiler, edible-oil and LPG inputs. Falling potato and tomato prices already demonstrate offsetting deflation within the basket, so the pressure could reverse with seasonal supply normalization.