Diwali food prices in Pune have jumped sharply this year, with the Poona Merchants Chamber pointing to a patchy monsoon, costlier dry fruits and pricier edible oil as the reasons festive faral is hurting household budgets. The chamber says this year’s shortfall in rain across parts of Maharashtra has squeezed supply right when demand for sweets and snacks peaks. For shoppers heading to Pune’s Mandai and neighbourhood kirana stores this week, the bill for the same Diwali spread is simply bigger than last year.
Key Takeaways
- Diwali food prices in Pune are up this year, driven mainly by dry fruits, edible oil, sugar and gram flour costing more than in 2025.
- The Poona Merchants Chamber links the rise to uneven monsoon rainfall and drought-like conditions in several Maharashtra districts that fed into this year’s crop.
- Wholesale traders in Pune’s Mandai market say the cost of a typical faral basket has climbed by roughly 10 to 20 percent compared with last Diwali.
- Shoppers can still soften the hit by buying staples early, comparing wholesale versus retail rates, and leaning on home-made snacks over branded packs.
Why Are Diwali Food Prices Rising This Year?
Every Diwali, Pune’s wholesale markets see a predictable spike in demand for ghee, dry fruits, besan, rava, sugar and refined oil — the backbone of faral items like chakli, shankarpali, karanji and ladoo. This year, the Poona Merchants Chamber says that spike is colliding with a supply side that simply didn’t recover the way it usually does after the monsoon.
Maharashtra’s 2026 monsoon was uneven. Some districts got reasonable rain, but several pockets in Marathwada and parts of western Maharashtra reported a rainfall deficit that traders now describe as drought-like. That matters because sugarcane, groundnut, soybean and pulses grown in these belts feed directly into the ingredients that make up a Diwali faral tray.
What Is the Poona Merchants Chamber Saying?
The Poona Merchants Chamber, a long-standing body representing wholesale grain, grocery and commodity traders in Pune, has flagged the price trend publicly ahead of this year’s festival. Its members, many of whom operate out of the city’s wholesale yards, say the squeeze isn’t coming from one commodity alone — it’s showing up across the entire festive basket at once.
According to the chamber, the usual pre-Diwali pattern of hoarding by a few traders to profit from panic buying is making things worse this year, since genuine supply tightness gives speculative buying more room to push prices further. India Meteorological Department data on this year’s south-west monsoon shows the kind of regional unevenness that traders are pointing to — some districts logged near-normal rain while others fell well short, and it’s exactly that patchiness which the chamber blames for disrupted crop output feeding into festive demand.
The Drought Angle, Explained
Drought doesn’t just mean less rain. For a trader buying sugar, groundnut oil or chana dal for the festive season, it means the harvest that should have hit the market in bulk around September and October came in thinner than expected. Less output from local farms pushes mills and wholesalers to source from other states, and that cost gets passed straight down the chain to the shopkeeper, and finally to the shopper filling a Diwali shopping bag.
Which Diwali Faral Items Cost More in 2026?
Pune’s wholesale traders don’t track every item with precision, but their estimates give a fair sense of where the pinch is sharpest this Diwali. The table below reflects approximate trade-level comparisons shared by Mandai market sources, not official government price data.
| Faral / Festive Item | Diwali 2025 (approx.) | Diwali 2026 (approx.) | Estimated Rise |
| Cashew nuts (kaju) | Baseline price | Higher | 15–20% |
| Almonds (badam) | Baseline price | Higher | 10–15% |
| Refined/groundnut oil | Baseline price | Higher | 8–12% |
| Sugar | Baseline price | Higher | 5–10% |
| Besan (gram flour) | Baseline price | Higher | 10–15% |
| Ghee (branded and loose) | Baseline price | Higher | 10–18% |
Put together, a family that usually spends a fixed amount on faral ingredients each Diwali is looking at a noticeably bigger bill this year, even if they buy the exact same quantities as before.
How Is This Affecting Pune’s Markets and Shoppers?
Walk through Pune’s Mandai a week before Diwali and the arithmetic is visible on every shopkeeper’s face. Retailers say footfall hasn’t dropped much, but basket sizes have — people are buying smaller quantities of dry fruits and premium ghee, and substituting with cheaper local alternatives where they can.
A Local Angle: What Mandai Shopkeepers Are Seeing
One grocer near Tulshibaug, who has sold festive dry fruits for over two decades, put it simply: regular customers who’d buy a kilo of kaju for gifting are now asking for half a kilo, split between gifting and home use. That kind of quiet downgrade — not skipping the purchase, just buying less of it — is the clearest sign of how rising Diwali food prices are actually playing out on the ground, far more telling than any single price tag.
What Can Shoppers Do to Manage Diwali Food Prices?
There’s no way to dodge a genuine supply shortage, but a few practical habits can reduce the damage to a household budget this festive season.
- Buy staples like sugar, oil and besan a week or more before Diwali, before last-minute demand peaks further.
- Compare rates at a wholesale market like Mandai against the nearest retail store before committing to bulk purchases.
- Swap at least one or two imported or premium dry fruit items for seasonal, locally grown alternatives.
- Make faral like chakli and shankarpali at home instead of buying branded packaged versions, which carry a bigger markup this year.
FAQ
Why are Diwali food prices higher in Pune this year?
The Poona Merchants Chamber attributes it to an uneven monsoon that left some Maharashtra districts with drought-like conditions, reducing local output of sugarcane, groundnut and pulses that feed into festive cooking.
Which items have seen the biggest price rise this Diwali?
Traders say dry fruits like cashews and almonds, along with ghee and besan, have seen some of the sharpest increases, with estimates ranging from 10 to 20 percent over last year.
Is the price rise limited to Pune, or is it seen across Maharashtra?
While the Poona Merchants Chamber speaks specifically for Pune’s wholesale trade, the underlying monsoon deficit affected several Maharashtra districts, so neighbouring markets are likely seeing similar pressure.
Will Diwali food prices come down after the festival?
Prices typically ease once festive demand drops, but if the crop shortfall is genuine rather than speculative, some elevated prices could carry into the following months until fresh stock arrives.
How can shoppers save money on Diwali food this year?
Buying staples early, comparing wholesale and retail rates, and making faral at home instead of buying packaged snacks are the simplest ways to cut costs without skipping the celebration.
The Bottom Line
This Diwali, the Poona Merchants Chamber’s warning boils down to a simple point: a thinner monsoon has made festive cooking genuinely more expensive, not just in headlines but in every bag of dry fruits and tin of ghee bought in Pune this week. For most households, the festival will go ahead as always — just with a slightly lighter wallet.