Besides Delhi, NCCF to sell subsidised onion at Rs 25/kg in other states

Besides Delhi-NCR, cooperative body NCCF on Friday said it will retail onion at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg in other states too in order to provide relief to consumers from the high prices of the key kitchen staple.

On behalf of the central government, the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) started retailing onion at a subsidised rate from September 9 at 100 different locations in and around Delhi.

"In addition to Delhi-NCR, we have increased our coverage to all states from Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala," NCCF said in a statement.

The cooperative body has been selling onion online for the last two weeks through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform through Paytm, MagicPin and MyStore in Srinagar, Jaipur, Varanasi and Delhi-NCR, it said.

So far, 416 vans are plying and have sold 2,219.61 tonnes onion in the retail markets, it added.

Retail onion prices have shot up in the last two weeks up to Rs 80 per kg in different parts of the country amid a delay in the arrival of fresh crops and hoarding of old crops by traders.

NCCF is selling onion from the government's buffer stock of 5 lakh tonnes maintained for the current year.

The all-India average retail price of onion was ruling at Rs 59.56 per kilogram on Friday with a maximum rate quoted at Rs 88 per kg and a minimum rate was Rs 18 per kg. In Delhi, retail onion price was Rs 75 per kg, as per the government data.

The government recently imposed a minimum export price till December-end to improve domestic availability and check price rise.