The average cost of home-made chicken thali, unlike the perception, costed less than the vegetarian thali in the month of February. And if you prefer chicken over daal, you have paid less in the previous month due to lower poultry prices and uptick in prices of pulses, rice, onion and tomato, according to Crisil’s monthly indicator of food plate cost- The Roti Rice Rate. The average cost of preparing a thali at home is calculated based on input prices prevailing in north, south, east and west India. The monthly change reflects the impact on the common man’s expenditure. The data in the report revealed the ingredients (cereals, pulses, broilers, vegetables, spices, edible oil and cooking gas) driving the change in the cost of the thali.
The cost of the representative home-cooked veg thali rose by 7 per cent on-year in February due to a surge of 29 per cent and 38 per cent on-year in prices of onion and tomato, respectively. Prices of rice, which account for 12 per cent of the veg thali cost, were up 14 per cent YoY and pulses, which account for 9 per cent, increased by 20 per cent on-year.
Meanwhile, the cost of the non-veg thali declines by 9 per cent YoY as per the CRISIL MI&A Research estimates. The decrease in the cost of the non-veg thali was due to a decline of ~20 per cent on-year in broiler prices on a high base of last fiscal, it said. Broiler poultry accounts for 50 per cent of the non-vegetarian thali cost.
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the cost of veg thali declined by 2 per cent on a 14 per cent decline in prices of onion and 3 per cent drop in prices of potato, even as the prices of tomato and pulses remained flat. Sequentially, the price of chicken thali rose by 4 per cent on month-on-month basis as prices of broilers increased an estimated 10 per cent on-month due to lower supply amid the spread of bird flu in Andhra Pradesh and increasing temperatures, as well as rising demand due to Ramadan.
During the previous month, that is, January, the cost of home-cooked non-veg thali posted a decline of 13 per cent YoY due to lower poultry prices. The vegetarian thali on the other hand had gotten expensive by almost 5 per cent as a result of the uptick in prices of pulses, rice, onion and tomato in the same period.