New Delhi – The Indian government has taken further steps to alleviate the burden of rising onion prices for consumers. As of this weekend, Mother Dairy’s Safal outlets will sell buffer onions at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kilogram in Delhi-NCR, while the Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association will do the same in Telangana and other southern states. This initiative is in addition to the efforts of cooperative bodies NCCF and Nafed, which have been retailing buffer onions at subsidised rates on behalf of the central government.
Nafed has already set up 329 retail points, including mobile vans and station outlets, in 55 cities across 21 states, while NCCF has established 457 retail points in 54 cities across 20 states. Kendriya Bhandar has also joined the effort supplying onions through its outlets in Delhi-NCR since November 3rd.
“The retail sale of onions to consumers in Telangana and other southern states is being taken up the Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association (HACA),” stated the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The ministry has initiated an aggressive retail sale of onions from the buffer stock in order to provide relief to consumers affected the recent increase in onion prices, which resulted from delays in the arrival of the kharif crop.
To address this issue, the government has maintained a buffer stock of 5 lakh tonnes of onions for the current year and plans to create an additional buffer stock of 2 lakh tonnes. Although wholesale prices have started to show a decline due to recent government interventions, it will take some time for this to be reflected in the retail markets.
For instance, the wholesale price of onions at the Lasalgaon market in Maharashtra was Rs 4,800 per quintal on October 28th, but decreased to Rs 3,650 per quintal on November 3rd, representing a 24% decline in a week. The ministry expects retail prices to show a similar decline in the coming week.
Notably, when tomato prices surged in the last week of June 2023 due to supply disruptions caused monsoon rains and white fly infestation, the government intervened procuring tomatoes through NCCF and Nafed from producing states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. These tomatoes were then supplied to consumers in major consumption centers at highly subsidised rates.
In addition to addressing the onion crisis, the government has also launched Bharat Dal at a subsidised price of Rs 60 per kilogram to ensure the availability and affordability of dal for ordinary households. Bharat Dal is available for retail sale to consumers as well as for supplies to the Army and welfare schemes through Nafed, NCCF, Kendriya Bhandar, Safal, and state-controlled cooperatives in Telangana and Maharashtra.