The edible oil import in 2023-24 (November-October) was lower at $15.9 billion compared with $16.7 billion in the previous fiscal. However, India’s edible oil bill has risen by nearly 60 percent over the last five years.
Economics of edible oil also seems to favour India
An India less reliant on the consumption of edible oil will likely be not just less obese, as PM Modi advocated in the latest Mann Ki Baat edition, but it would also have a healthier looking import bill as well as the food inflation, data assessed by Moneycontrol has revealed.
Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) shows that edible oil now takes a larger share of spending than it did a decade ago. In 2022-23, rural households spent 7.7 percent of their total budget on edible oil compared with 7.1 percent in 2011-12.
Edible oils have a significant share of food basket
Data shows that while India's edible oil import in 2023-24 (November-October) fell to $15.9 billion compared with $16.7 billion in the previous fiscal, the edible oil bill has risen by nearly 60 percent over the last five years.
