Bengaluru restaurants increase usage of onions after its prices fall

Some hotels and restaurants in Bengaluru have increased the usage of onions in their dishes due to the recent downfall in the prices of the kitchen staple in the city.

Onion prices have reduced to Rs 80-90 from Rs 150-160.

"Onions have come down to Rs 80-90 from Rs 150-160. So, some hotels have again started using it," Treasurer of Bangalore Hoteliers Association, V Kamat, told ANI.

To deal with the current onion crisis, the Centre on Thursday said it will import an additional 12,660 metric tonnes of onions which shall begin arriving in the country from December 27 onwards.

With this additional quantity, the total quantity of imports that have been contracted so far reaches approximately 30,000 metric tonnes.

On December 9, the central government had revised the stockholding limits on retailers from 5 metric tonnes to 2 metric tonnes.

The stock limits were only revised for retailers and it was kept unchanged for wholesalers at 25 metric tonnes. Importers continue to remain exempted from these stock limits for imported onions.

Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had also written a letter to all Chief Ministers asking them to carry out immediate anti-hoarding operations to ensure the supplies in the markets are augmented and stock holding limits are strictly enforced.

Protests have broken out in several states of the country after the prices of onions spiked.

At various places, the rates of the kitchen commodity have breached the Rs 100 mark, with the prices reaching as high as Rs 200 in some places like Madurai in Tamil Nadu and a whopping Rs 300 in Hyderabad.