Dwelling-cooked meals bought considerably cheaper in October, with the price of a vegetarian thali dropping 17% and a non-vegetarian thali practically 12% year-on-year, based on Crisil’s Roti Rice Fee (RRR) index. The sharp decline was pushed by falling costs of key components like greens and pulses.
Potato costs have been down 31% because of larger Rabi output, whereas tomatoes slid 40% on sturdy provides from western and southern markets. Onion costs noticed the steepest fall — down 51% — as merchants cleared shares in anticipation of recent Kharif arrivals and subdued export demand.
Pulses noticed a 17% decline, helped by a surge in imports: Bengal gram imports elevated nine-fold, yellow peas by 85%, and black gram by 31%. In the meantime, vegetable oil costs rose 11% because of festive demand, and LPG costs have been up 6%, limiting additional declines in thali prices.
The non-veg thali noticed a smaller drop as broiler costs, which make up practically half its price, declined by solely 6%. Nevertheless, cheaper greens and pulses nonetheless pulled the general price down.
On a month-on-month foundation, the decline was modest — vegetarian thali prices eased 1%, whereas non-veg thalis fell 3%. Tomato and onion costs slipped 8% and three%, respectively, whereas broiler costs declined 4% amid oversupply.
Crisil’s RRR tracks the price of a regular home-cooked thali throughout areas in India, providing a sensible gauge of meals inflation’s influence on family budgets.
India’s retail inflation, as measured by the Shopper Value Index (CPI), has additionally remained in a snug zone. In September 2025, headline inflation dropped to 1.54% — the bottom since June 2017. This sharp decline is credited to a good base impact and falling inflation in key classes equivalent to greens, oils and fat, fruits, pulses, cereals, eggs, and gasoline.
Retail inflation information for October is anticipated later this week.
