Rising costs cast a shadow on Deepavali sweets in Chennai
Households juggle tradition with thrift, as traditional desserts carry a price tag as hefty as their calorie count
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CHENNAI: As Deepavali draws near, kitchens across the city are warming up with plans for festive feasts, but this year, the sweet aroma of tradition comes with a bitter undertone, soaring prices of ingredients are stretching household budgets.
From adhirasam and murukku to mysore pak, jalebi, laddu, and kesari, families usually prepare these delicacies in generous quantities, sharing them with relatives, friends and neighbours.
However, the cost of staples such as ghee, sugar, rice flour, gram flour, nuts, coconut, cardamom, jaggery and oil, has risen sharply, making it harder to keep culinary traditions alive. Even a recent reduction in GST that prompted Aavin and other dairy brands to marginally cut the price of ghee has done little to ease the pinch.
A one-litre jar of Aavin ghee has fallen from Rs 690 last year to Rs 650, while sunflower oil is slightly cheaper at Rs 155/litre, down from Rs 170. Sugar has climbed from Rs 50 to Rs 60/kg. Flours and jaggery have not been spared either.
Gram flour now costs Rs 140/kg, up from Rs 120, and rice flour is Rs 100, up from Rs 95 last year. Jaggery has inched up from Rs 65 to Rs 70/kg. Spices and nuts have seen even steeper jumps: cardamom now fetches Rs 3,800/kg, up from Rs 3,500; coconut has more than doubled from Rs 35 to Rs 80; and almonds have risen from Rs 720 to Rs 850/kg. Cashew remains stable at Rs 850/kg.
“Last year, prices shot up before Deepavali and they never came down,” said MB Robin, a trader in Koyambedu. “The rates have remained high all through the year.”
For home bakers, the concern is not just price but also quality. “Good ingredients make all the difference in taste, but the cost of quality products is rising,” one baker explained.
Dry fruits, too, have become unpredictable, with prices varying widely from seller to seller. “There should be some regulation and at least a fixed or slightly different rate,” suggested J Jayakumar, a resident of Pattabiram.
Consumer activists argue that the GST relief hardly offsets the overall surge in costs. “Every year, basic prices of festival essentials go up,” said T Sadagopan, president, TN Progressive Consumer Centre. “Even when GST is reduced, the benefit is diluted, if rates fall in one product, they rise in another. Until March 2026, whether GST cuts will have any real impact remains doubtful. What is needed is a strong regulatory body to monitor and stabilise prices.”As Deepavali draws near, kitchens across the city are warming up with plans for festive feasts, but this year, the sweet aroma of tradition comes with a bitter undertone, soaring prices of ingredients are stretching household budgets.
