The cost of a home-cooked vegetarian thali in Mumbai has increased by 65% in the last five years. At the same time, the average wage earned by a casual labourer working in urban Maharashtra has increased by only 37% and that of a salaried worker has increased by 28%.
This disparity between wages/salaries and expenditure has led to essential food items becoming increasingly unaffordable. Given the fixed food budget in most Indian homes, the imbalance results in smaller thalis or fewer items in the thali leading to increasingly unbalanced or unfulfilling meals.
It has been assumed that an average Indian family will be able to meet their daily dietary needs if they consume food equivalent to two thalis per day, spread across breakfast, lunch and dinner. Non-vegetarian meals were not considered due to lack of past data. To avail commodity prices Mumbai was chosen as an exemplar due to the availability of consistent data. The wages and salaries in urban Maharashtra were considered as Mumbai-specific rates were not available.
