The government has expanded the sale of discounted onions at Rs 25 per kg in several cities in North India to curb the rise in retail prices. The measure was being taken as the average retail price remained at Rs 78 per kg in Delhi.
The National Cooperative Consumers Federation (NCCF) of India has begun the sale of discounted onions via mobile vans at 71 places in Delhi-NCR, Jaipur (22), Ludhiana (12), Varanasi (10), Rohtak (6) and Srinagar (5). The retail sale of discounted onions via mobile vans is already underway in Bhopal, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
The all-India average retail onion prices increased by Rs 3.40 per kg to Rs 53.75 per kg on October 31 from a day before, according to the latest official data. Onion prices in the national capital started inching up from October 25 when the rates were at Rs 40 per kg, which doubled to Rs 80 per kg on October 29.
Prices fell marginally to Rs 78 per kg on October 30 and remained at the same level the next day as well, the data from the consumer affairs ministry showed.
Last week, the government had notified a Minimum Export Price of US $800 per metric tonnes (MT) on onion exports to maintain domestic availability. The government had also stated its intent to procure additional 2 lakh tons of onion for buffer, over and above the 5 lakh tons already procured.
The government said that onion prices in Maharashtra fell by 5-9% after recent move of fixing the MEP.
PTI quoted official sources saying that prices in both wholesale and retail markets across the country have shot up purely due to speculation despite 15-20 lakh tonnes of rabi crop stock available in Maharasthra that is sufficient to meet the demand for a month.
A likely fall in fresh kharif output and two weeks delay in arrival cannot be the sole reason for the sudden spike in onion prices. There is enough old crop stock to meet the domestic demand and even the government has maintained 5 lakh tonnes of buffer stock, PTI quoted sources.
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