E-Paper
'Are you importing groceries from Italy?': Hyderabad founder’s ₹80,000 food bill sparks debate
A Hyderabad founder has sparked a debate on consumption and cost of living by claiming that he spends up to 80,000 per month on groceries for a family of four
Prefer HTon Google
A Hyderabad-based entrepreneur has sparked a debate on consumption and cost of living by claiming that he spends between ₹60,000 to 80,000 per month on groceries for a family of four. Ramsri Goutham Golla made the claim in an X post that has gone viral with half a million views and hundreds of comments.
“Groceries and food cost ₹60K– ₹80K”
Golla claimed that his grocery and food bill is unusually high despite the fact that everything is cooked at home.
“Groceries and food cost ₹60K– ₹80K a month for us with 2 adults and 2 young kids, with everything cooked at home and meat twice a week!” said the Hyderabad-based entrepreneur and data scientist. “How is everyone surviving?” he wondered.
Golla’s LinkedIn profile states that he is the founder of AiArtist.io and Supermeme.ai, two revenue-making Natural Language Processing SaaS apps that automate quiz generation and meme creation using AI models.
He further broke down his monthly grocery expenses when questioned, pointing out that the family of four consumes roughly 10 eggs every day, which cost ₹3,000 per month. Milk adds another ₹2,000 to 3,000 per month, while meat — eaten twice a week — costs up to ₹8,000 per month.
Besides these major expenses are the cost of fruits and vegetables, dosa batter, cooking oil, nuts and dry fruits, rice and more, Golla added.
(Also read: Gurgaon couple breaks down ₹1.2 lakh monthly expenses: ' ₹36,000 rent for 3 BHK, ₹25,000 on groceries')
According to the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2023–24 report released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the average householding monthly spending in Urban India is ₹6,996 per person per month. Food accounts for less than half of an average household’s total monthly spending in both rural and urban India.
Beverages, refreshments, and processed food take the largest chunk of the food budget in both rural and urban areas, followed by milk/milk products and vegetables.
Post sparks debate
The post sparked a heated debate on the cost of living and the price of eating right in India. While many raised doubts about Golla’s claim of spending up to ₹80,000 per month on groceries, others called it a realistic estimate for a family of four.
(Also read: ‘Dubai rehna aasaan nahi hai’: Man highlights high cost of living, low savings; says he was better off in India)
“ ₹60K– ₹80K a month on groceries and food sounds quite high to me, especially when household expenses can be managed with a little planning,” wrote one X user.
“In a country where the median monthly salary is reportedly around ₹20–22K, spending ₹60–80K on groceries for a family of 4 and then asking how everyone else is surviving is quite something,” X user Anirban Chowdhury wrote. “Bhai, maybe everyone else is just buying groceries, not the entire grocery store.”
“80K for home-cooked food? Are you importing your groceries directly from Italy?” one person questioned.
Hyderabad man also finds support
While many found Golla’s spending to be unrealistically high, he also found support from a section of the internet that agreed that eating healthy is expensive.
“People trolling him that they do it in 15k a month, please understand that there are different levels of quality of vegetables and meat,” one X user noted. “Basic bhindi can be 30 rs and organic will be 90. Once you taste organic ones, you'll never go back to pesticide laden one. Also, normal eggs will be 60 per dozen but grass fed ones can be 150 too. Other meats, antibiotic free ones are expensive. So just because you do jugaad with low quality, pesticide stuff doesn't mean it's a flex.”
“I don't know why people are attacking him, eating well in India IS expensive,” another said.
“Same situation for us minus the meat. Petrol and diesel added it’s the same amount . Inflation is real,” a user noted.
“People aren't agreeing with him but he seems right. I made a food routine for my father and it costs around 20k per month. For a family of four, it can easily lie in the 60-80k. Food is expensive if you want to eat nutritiously in this country,” another pointed out.
