In a bid to alleviate the impact of escalating onion prices on consumers, the Central government announced on Saturday that Mother Dairy’s Safal outlets will sell buffer onions at a subsidized rate of Rs 25 per kg in Delhi-NCR starting this weekend.
Simultaneously, the Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association will undertake similar initiatives in Telangana and other southern states. Cooperative bodies, namely NCCF and Nafed, are already retailing buffer onions at subsidised rates on behalf of the central government.
Nafed has established 329 retail points in 55 cities across 21 states, while NCCF has set up 457 retail points in 54 cities across 20 states.
Kendriya Bhandar joined the effort by commencing the retail supply of onions through its outlets across Delhi-NCR on 3 November.
The Consumer Affairs Ministry stated, “Safal Mother Dairy will start this weekend. The retail sale of onions to consumers in Telangana and other southern states is being taken up by Hyderabad Agricultural Cooperatives Association (HACA).”
In response to the recent surge in onion prices caused by delays in the arrival of the Kharif crop, the government has initiated an aggressive retail sale of onions from the buffer. The government maintains a buffer stock of 5 lakh tonnes of onions for the current year and plans to create an additional buffer of 2 lakh tonnes.
Despite a declining trend in wholesale prices due to recent government measures, the impact has yet to be fully realized in retail markets. On 28 October, the wholesale price of onions in the Lasalgaon market in Maharashtra was Rs 4,800 per quintal, decreasing to Rs 3,650 per quintal by 3 November, reflecting a 24 per cent decline in a week.
The ministry expects retail prices to follow a similar downward trend in the coming week.
Notably, when tomato prices surged in June 2023 due to supply disruptions from monsoon rains and white fly infestation, the government intervened by procuring tomatoes through NCCF and Nafed from producing states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. The tomatoes were then supplied at highly subsidized rates to consumers in major consumption centers.
Additionally, to ensure the availability and affordability of dal for ordinary households, the government introduced Bharat Dal at a subsidized price of Rs 60 per kg. Bharat Dal is made available for retail sale to consumers, as well as for supply to the Army and welfare schemes through NAFED, NCCF, Kendriya Bhandar, Safal, and state-controlled cooperatives in Telangana and Maharashtra.
