Our New Dashboard Shows Cost Of A Health Diet Across India

A four-person household’s grocery bill has fallen to Rs 6,519 in September 2025, a decrease of 2.7% compared to August 2025, our analysis finds.

Tomato prices, which were exceptionally high in June-September 2023 and 2024, were subdued this year. Onion prices are the lowest since July 2023, and potato prices have hovered around the Rs 25 per kg all of this year.

Overall, vegetable inflation as measured by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been negative since February. This is despite the floods and heavy rainfall, which caused disruptions to the supply chains all over the country, as we reported in May 2025.

In contrast, in July 2024, rainfall in Himachal Pradesh caused tomato prices to shoot to Rs 93 per kg, as IndiaSpend reported the following month. In 2023, too, food prices increased in June and July, a peak that was not observed this year, our analysis of data from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs shows.

The need for tracking nutrition costs

In November 2023, the cabinet announced the extension of the benefits of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for another five years. Accordingly, 794 million beneficiaries (more than half of India’s population) will get food grains up to 2029.

While the public distribution system supplies rice and wheat, NFSA beneficiaries in most states depend on the market for pulses, vegetables, dairy products, etc. Cereals constitute less than 5% of the expenditure on food, as per the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey report. In all, food constitutes about 47% of rural and 40% of urban households’ budgets, found the report.

With 12% of the population being undernourished, increases in the prices of these commodities affect their consumption. Around 40% of the population in rural areas and 10% of the population in cities in India cannot afford two vegetarian meals a day priced at Rs 30 per meal, found an analysis of data released by the credit ratings agency CRISIL.

India will likely not meet the goal for ending child malnutrition by 2025 due to the prevalence of obesity and anaemia, as we reported in August 2023. Malnutrition will worsen with climate change, as we reported in November 2019.

IndiaSpend analysed the price of food commodities released by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs everyday and calculated the cost of the simplest meal that meets the National Institute of Nutrition’s guidelines. Different from the consumer food price index released by MoSPI, our analysis shows the costs of meeting nutrition requirements.

This cost is calculated based on the most affordable vegetarian foods required to meet the nutrition requirements suggested by the NIN. We used pulses (chana dal, which is the least expensive dal), cereal (rice and wheat flour), vegetables (onions, potatoes and tomatoes), palm oil, milk, salt and sugar. Daily prices from across the country are updated at 6 p.m., and monthly averages are added on the first of the following month.

This basket, which can be used to cook an inexpensive thali for four people twice a day, does not include leafy vegetables or fruits, sources of protein other than pulses, cereals like millets, or packaged foods. It also does not account for regional variations or personal preferences for cereals or cooking oils. The cost of cooking fuel was also not considered, leaving us with just the cost of groceries.

A plate of food that can meet the nutrition requirements costs Rs 28.85 on average, we found. For context, that is more than the price of 1 GB mobile internet (Rs 22 for most service providers). This price differed across states, and changes based on the cost of commodities locally.

MP has the cheapest, Andaman most expensive food

At Rs 6,002 per month for a family of four, food that meets the NIN’s guidelines is most affordable in Madhya Pradesh. Moving away from the central Indian state in any direction, food prices increase as a function of remoteness and distance.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands has the highest food prices (Rs 9,546 for a family of four). Mizoram has the second most expensive food (Rs 9,421 for a family of four), followed by Manipur (Rs 8,612).

While the rest of the country was faced with subdued prices, the situation in the peripheral and remote states was different. Tomato prices rose to Rs 102 per kg in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in August and Rs 93 per kg in Mizoram in July this year. A similar increase in Delhi two years ago led the government to initiate sales of tomato at controlled prices in the capital. The price of potatoes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands in September was twice the national average.

Food commodities are much more likely to reach larger consumption centres, but the reverse can also be true--that is, food can be more expensive in bigger states, as IndiaSpend reported in August 2024.

Prices of food are higher in consuming states like the northeastern states compared to producing states and normal life is often marred by strikes and bandhs, noted a parliamentary standing committee report from 2023. “...slight disruptions in supply chain or damage due to heavy rains leads to spike in prices of agri-horticultural commodities.”

No pronounced effect of rain on food prices

In 2019-20, food inflation spiked due to crop damage caused by unseasonal and heavy rains in major states, found an analysis by Climate Trends. Excessive rains in Himachal Pradesh in 2023 and 2024 caused tomato prices to spike, found the report. Extreme heat also disrupted production in 2024, the hottest year on record.

Rainfall changes raise vegetable inflation by about 1.24 percentage points, while temperature changes increase it by around 1.30 points, found a May 2025 study by the Reserve Bank of India.

Despite every major state (Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh) experiencing record rainfall, prices of essential foods have been under control this year. Himachal Pradesh, which is a major horticulture producer that supplies vegetables to the capital and surrounding areas in the summer months, experienced its wettest August in 76 years.

Before the rains struck, India had already recorded a bumper wheat harvest. The rice harvest may be affected, as reports of crop damage from Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu among others.

It’s not just food inflation that is declining. Headline inflation has been declining since October 2024, except for a small increase in August 2025, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by MoSPI. Revision of rates under the reduced Goods and Services Tax regime will also help bring down prices that the consumers face.

Since late August, India’s exports to the USA have come under fire from President Donald Trump’s punitive tariff rates. While inflation was decreasing before the sanctions, the relative price of food may have fallen because agriculture is doing better compared to the non-agriculture economy, according to P. Balakrishnan, professor of economics at Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. “However, it is hard to comment based on month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter data. I would wait for longer-term data to understand the impact of these developments.”

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