Onion price: Onion price has doubled from Rs 30-35 per kg to Rs 60-90 per kg in last one week. The government is selling onions from its buffer stock at Tk 25 per kg. To do this, the government has set up onion sales centers in more than 170 cities and 685 centres. Compared to last week, now the price of onion is double. The government has taken several steps to control onion prices, including releasing onions from its buffer stock and increasing imports.
Onions from the buffer stock are being sold at major retail points across the country from the second week of August. Onion is being sold at Rs 25 per kg to retail customers through mobile vans of NCCF and NAFED. The Center recently announced that it will buy an additional 2 lakh tonnes of onion for the buffer, over and above the 5 lakh tonnes already procured. The notification said that the move to impose MIP will help maintain availability of onions at affordable prices for domestic consumers.
Onions are available cheaply in these cities
Onion is being sold at subsidized prices through mobile vans at 71 locations in Delhi-NCR, Jaipur (22), Ludhiana (12), Varanasi (10), Rohtak (6) and Srinagar (5). Retailing of discount onions through mobile vans in Bhopal, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Onion prices in the national capital continued to rise as the average retail price remained at Rs 78 per kg, while wholesale prices in Maharashtra, an onion-supplying state, started to fall following the ban on exports. The all-India average retail onion price rose by Rs 3.40 to Rs 53.75 per kg on Tuesday, according to official data.
Onion prices in the national capital started rising from October 25, when the price was Rs 40 per kg, which doubled to Rs 80 per kg on October 29. However, prices fell marginally to Rs 78 per kg on October 30 and remained at the same level on Tuesday, data from the consumer affairs ministry showed. Currently average retail price of onion in Delhi is highest compared to other states and union territories.