Consuming less edible oil is healthier for India's import bill too

Economics of edible oil also seems to favour India

An India less reliant on the consumption of edible oil will likely be not just less obese, as PM Modi advocated in the latest Mann Ki Baat edition, but it would also have a healthier looking import bill as well as the food inflation, data assessed by Moneycontrol has revealed.

Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) shows that edible oil now takes a larger share of spending than it did a decade ago. In 2022-23, rural households spent 7.7 percent of their total budget on edible oil compared with 7.1 percent in 2011-12.

Data shows that while India's edible oil import in 2023-24 (November-October) fell to $15.9 billion compared with $16.7 billion in the previous fiscal, the edible oil bill has risen by nearly 60 percent over the last five years.

In 2019-20, India had imported refined and crude edible oil worth $10 billion. In volume terms, the import has risen from 13.2 million tonnes in 2019-20 to 16 million tonnes in 2023-24.

“To become a fit and healthy nation, we will certainly have to deal with the problem of obesity… You can decide that while buying oil for cooking, you will buy 10% less oil. This will be an important step towards reducing obesity,” PM Modi had said during the 119th episode of Mann Ki Baat, aired on Sunday.

India is one of the largest importers of edible oil with nearly two-third of the consumption requirement met with imports.

This is also expected to show in rising inflationary burden on households. Inflation in prices of oils and fats has prevented food inflation from easing further, with the category seeing a double-digit rate of price rise over last three months. In January 2025, edible oil inflation rose to its highest level in nearly three years at 15.6 percent.

With the revised basket indicating a higher share of spending on edible oil, the impact on overall inflation is likely to be higher. What is not helping is that the government’s efforts to raise the output of oilseeds haven’t been successful so far.

Oilseed production in 2023-24 was only 20 percent higher compared with 2013-14, with the government targetting to double the output within the next seven years.