₹35/kg onions coming to more cities as govt starts buffer stock sale to check price rise

In a bid to check seasonal price pressures during the upcoming festive and wedding season, the government has started a calibrated release of onions from its buffer stock to major consumption centres.

According to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, onion production is estimated at 307.37 lakh tonnes (LMT) in 2025-26, largely similar to 307.67 LMT in the previous year.

The government is using a hybrid transportation model involving railway rakes and road transport to move buffer onions from producing regions to consumption centres based on prevailing market conditions and price trends.

The first Kanda Express carrying onions has left Nashik for New Delhi and is expected to reach the Delhi-NCR region, the government said on late Wednesday evening.

Road consignments are also being sent to major consumption centres including Chennai, Kolkata, Ernakulam, Guwahati, Varanasi, Lucknow, Patna, Chandigarh, Jammu and Amritsar.

The government said the quantity, coverage and channels for releasing buffer onions would be widened depending on market conditions.

Retail sale of onions at ₹35 per kg will be undertaken through mobile vans and outlets of the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation (NCCF), National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), Safal and Kendriya Bhandar.

NCCF will sell onions through nine outlets and 40 mobile vans, while NAFED will use 13 outlets and 50 mobile vans.

Around 100 Kendriya Bhandar outlets will also participate in the retail intervention.

As of August 26, the all-India average retail price of onion stood at ₹37.87 per kg, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs.

The government has set a procurement target of 2 LMT of Rabi onion for the Price Stabilization Fund buffer for 2026-27.

Procurement began on May 15 through NAFED and NCCF, with around 1.21 LMT procured so far.

The Central Warehousing Corporation, for the first time, has been engaged as the storage agency for the PSF onion buffer during 2026-27.

The government said onion prices typically face seasonal pressure around Onam, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Dussehra and Diwali, as well as during the wedding season, due to higher demand and supply-chain factors.

The Kanda Express initiative has increasingly been used to transport buffer onions by rail.

In 2024-25, 14 railway rakes carried nearly 12,000 tonnes of onions to five cities, and rose sharply in 2025-26, when 86 rakes transported around 88,000 tonnes to 16 cities.

The Department of Consumer Affairs monitors daily prices of 41 essential commodities, including onion, across 579 centres.

The government said it would continue to monitor onion prices, arrivals and availability and undertake further interventions wherever necessary to prevent unwarranted price increases.