The situation of inflation in the country is such that despite retail inflation coming down to 4 percent, food inflation remains high. This is also confirmed by a report in which it has been said that now even home cooked food has become expensive for the people. The prices of common vegetables like potatoes, onions and tomatoes have increased so much that people's home veg thali has become 11 percent costlier in September this year compared to last year.
According to the report of rating agency CRISIL, the average cost of a plate of vegetarian food in September 2023 was Rs 28.1. It increased to Rs 31.3 in September this year. Whereas in August its average cost was Rs 31.2. In this way, food for common people has become costlier by 11 percent in a year.
CRISIL has 'Roti, Rice, Rate' A report has been issued in the name. In this, the rise in the prices of vegetables has been cited as the biggest reason for the thali becoming expensive. 37 percent of the cost of a typical veg thali goes towards paying the price of vegetables alone. Apart from this, the prices of flour, rice, pulses and oil have also increased in the last one year.
According to CRISIL report, prices of onion, potato and tomato have increased in September. The prices of onion have increased by 53 percent, that of potato by 50 percent and that of tomato by 18 percent. The reason for this is the reduced arrival of onion and potatoes. Due to heavy rains, tomato production has been affected in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Due to reduction in production, prices of pulses have increased by 14 percent compared to last year. Whereas due to price cut in the beginning of the year, fuel prices have fallen by 11 percent.
A plate of non-vegetarian food has become cheaper during this period. Compared to last year, this year the average cost of non-veg thali decreased by 2 percent to Rs 59.3. At the same time, the prices of broiler (a type of chicken) declined by 13 percent, which contributes 50 percent to this thali.
This report of CRISIL has come at a time when the Reserve Bank of India is going to release its bi-monthly monetary policy next week. Inflation in the country is controlled through monetary policy. Retail inflation plays an important role in determining the monetary policy in India, for which the Food Price Index has a large weightage.
