Cool down in onion prices make home-cooked meals cheaper in December: Report

The report attributed the decline in meal prices to a 14 per cent decline in onion prices and a 5 per cent in tomatoes after the end of festivities.

The prices of home-cooked meals fell in December due to a sharp decline in onion prices, a leading domestic rating agency said on Monday. In its monthly 'Roti, Rice, Rate' report, Crisil’s Market Intelligence and Analytics wing said the cost of a vegetarian(veg) thali declined 3 per cent to Rs 29.7 and a non-veg thali came down 5 per cent to Rs 57.6 in December.

The report attributed the decline in meal prices to a 14 per cent decline in onion prices and a 5 per cent in tomatoes after the end of festivities. It can be noted that on December 7, the government banned onion exports till March 2024 to cool down the prices of politically sensitive onions. In the case of non-veg thali, the extent of the decline in prices was higher because of the 5-7 per cent decline in broiler prices, which constitute half of the overall price.

However, when compared with the year-ago period, the cost of a veg thali rose 12 per cent because of the 82 per cent jump in onions and 42 per cent in tomatoes, the report said. The non-veg thali’s cost fell 4 per cent due to a 15 per cent yearly decline in broiler prices, it said.