Govt starts sale of onions at subsidised rates in Delhi

Onions will be available at a subsidised rate of ₹35 a kg — around half the market rate — and more cities will be covered soon.

To stave off a price spiral, Union food and consumer affairs minister Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi on Thursday rolled out retail sales of subsidised onions at 20 high-footfall locations in Delhi, as supplies due to torrential rains and depleting stocks have firmed up prices of the kitchen staple once again.

People line up to buy onions at a subsidised rate outside Krishi Bhawan, in New Delhi on Thursday. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

“The government will intervene whenever prices go up. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has initiated several types of market interventions to contain inflation. Food prices have come down,” Joshi said.

Cheaper onions will be sold in outlets and mobile vans by the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF), an agency under the ministry of consumer affairs.

An official aware of the matter said at these locations, onions will be available at a subsidised rate of ₹35 a kg — around half the market rate — and more cities will be covered soon. The government will release the vegetable from its stocks in a calibrated manner, targeting centres where prices are high, the official said.

The government has a stockpile of nearly 500,000 tonne of onion. It buys the commodity from farmers at a mutually agreed price.

“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 subsidized onions are released,” Union consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare said.

Last year too, the government had launched sales of subsidized onions in 19 cities at ₹25 a kg through its cooperative agencies as prices spiralled, beginning August 2023. The bulb then was selling for an average ₹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 stocks to cool market prices. By November last year, nearly 170,000 kgs were already sold at a subsidised rate, before another spell of onion inflation took hold.