Govt replenishes onion stock, sells tomatoes at subsidised rate amid price rise
Consumer price inflation rebounded in June to 5.1%, after easing for five months, largely because of a spike in vegetable prices as food inflation touched 9.4%.
The central government has purchased its targeted 500,000 tonne stockpile of onion from cultivators and is expected to start releasing them to cool prices, even as Union food and consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi on Monday launched the sale of subsidised tomatoes in the national capital region, which will later be expanded to more cities.
Consumer price inflation rebounded in June to 5.1%, after easing for five months, largely because of a spike in vegetable prices as food inflation touched 9.4%. Tomato, onion and potato are three most consumed grocery items.
Subsidized tomatoes will be sold at ₹60 per kg to retail consumers and distribution will be strategically located in high footfall areas, Joshi said, adding that the government is closely monitoring prices of the staples that surged by double digits in June as extreme heat and floods disrupted production and transportation.
“Last year, onions were bought from farmers at ₹17-18 a kg. This year, we have bought them at ₹26-27 a kg. Onion buffer serves two purposes. One, farmers benefit from procurement. Two, consumers benefit when subsidised onions are released,” consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare said.
Last year too, the government had launched sales of subsidised onions in 19 cities at ₹25 a kg through its cooperative agencies as prices spiraled from August 2023. The bulb then was selling for an average of ₹90 a kg. The government’s intervention helped to cool prices in some centres.
In 2023, the government had exhausted nearly all of its 500,000 annual onion stock to cool market prices. By November last year, nearly 170,000 kg were already sold at a subsidised rate, before another spell of onion inflation took hold.
Cheaper tomatoes will be sold in outlets and mobile vans by the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF), an agency under the ministry of consumer affairs. Last year, about 60 tonne of tomatoes, including 10 tonne from Nepal, were sold at cheaper rates.
NCCF managing director Anice Joseph Chandra said locations where tomatoes will be sold include Krishi Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Colony, Hauz Khas Parliament Street, INA Market, Mandi House, Kailash Colony, Gurugam, Moti Nagar, South Extension, Rohini, Noida Sector 14, among locations.
A key region for a spurt in onion prices in the national capital has to do with flooding of growing belts in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, which supplies to Delhi.
