In the rain-fed Rayalaseema districts, inflation is no longer a graph in a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report, but a daily deal at the rice shop, vegetable market, milk kiosk and petrol pump.Across Chittoor, Annamayya and Sri Sathya Sai districts, the average household budget is being silently rewritten, not by one big jolt, but by a dozen small ones.Rice, the staple food that dominates every meal, is now taking a lion’s share of the monthly budget at ₹70 a kg for the general starting sonamasoori variety. Sugar, after touching record highs nationally, has added to the burden, with a sudden ₹25 hike per kg. Onion, the most politically and culinarily sensitive vegetable, has started to surge again at ₹60-70 a kg, forcing families to buy less or switch to cheaper alternatives. Though the Centre has acknowledged the trend and initiated the release of buffer stocks, the relief is yet to be seen in Rayalaseema markets.Milk, which no family can avoid, has become costlier across Andhra Pradesh this month. A senior Animal Husbandry department official in Chittoor said that as per the Price Monitoring Division data, retail milk in the state is now around ₹60.52 a litre, up 8.1% in five years. On the ground, the price is higher. Any brand of full-cream milk has been raised by ₹2 across the State, while private brands are selling milk at ₹78 a litre in Chittoor markets.It is followed by a 10% rise in secondary products. In Chittoor retail, curd is now selling at ₹84 a kg, with branded cup curd at ₹35-40 for 400g. For families where curd rice is a daily necessity, consumption by children and elders is under the price radar.Cost of price riseKrishnappa Mani, 63, a retired Junior Assistant of Sri Venkateswara University, says: “For a family earning ₹20,000 a month, these increases do not come one by one. A few rupees extra on rice, ₹30 more on onions per kg, ₹2 more on milk, ₹10 more on curd, and a higher auto fare, all together ruthlessly eat into money meant for children’s school fees, house rent, power bills, medicines, rent or miscellaneous expenditure.”The middle class people are now rationing food products based on their prices. “Earlier, I would buy vegetables and milk without asking the price. Now I ask first, then decide how much to take,” said Lakshmi, 45, a homemaker from Chittoor.“The burden is more in rural Rayalaseema, where incomes are irregular. A daily-wage worker earning ₹400 a day cannot renegotiate his wage every time onion prices jump 50-100% year-on-year, or milk rises by ₹2. A small farmer cannot immediately pass on higher diesel, fodder and transport costs,” said Rathnavel, 32, of Chittoor, who works as a security guard in neighbouring Vellore in Tamil Nadu. Published - August 26, 2026 09:02 pm IST