Cooperative NCCF will commence retail sale of onion from the government buffer stock at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg in the national capital from Monday to give relief to consumers from high prices of the kitchen staple, its top official said on Sunday.

The National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) is already selling tomatoes on behalf of the central government at a subsidised rate and it has now been mandated to retail buffer onion.

The government has created a buffer stock of 3 lakh tonne of onion for 2023-24 fiscal. It has also decided to procure additional 2 lakh tonne onion for the buffer this year.

"To begin with, we will start retailing buffer onions in Delhi. We will sell at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg through our mobile vans and two retail outlets," NCCF Managing Director Anice Joseph Chandra told PTI.

Around 10 mobile vans will be dispatched on Monday in the national capital and more areas will be covered gradually. NCCF will also sell the commodity through its two retail outlets located at Nehru Place and Okhla in the national capital, she said.

NCCF also plans to sell onion online via ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) platform and it is working out modalities, she added.

The government has identified Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and Assam for the market intervention. The availability is being enhanced in these five states by disposing of buffer onion both in the wholesale and retail markets.

At wholesale markets, buffer onion is being sold at mandi rate, while in retail markets at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg. Retail sales will commence in Delhi from Monday, while in other four states it will start after two days, she said.

As per the official data, all-India average retail price of onion has increased by 19 per cent to Rs 29.73 per kg on Sunday, from Rs 25 per kg in the year-ago period.

In Delhi, retail price of onion has increased to Rs 37 per kg from Rs 28 per kg in the same period.

NCCF has been selling tomatoes at subsidised rates since last one month in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It started selling initially at Rs 90 per kg when prices were ruling over Rs 250 per kg in the retail market. Now that the arrivals have improved, the subsidised rate has been reduced to Rs 40 per kg.

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