Centre slashes onion stock holding limit for retailers, wholesalers to curb skyrocketing prices

The Consumer Affairs Ministry on Tuesday said the stock limit for retailers have been halved to 5 tonnes of onions while for wholesalers the stocks limit has been halved to 25 tonnes of onions.

In an apparent effort to curb the hoarding of onions, the Consumer Affairs Ministry on Tuesday (December 3) revised the stock limit onions whose wholesale prices have gone past the Rs 100 a kg mark.

Union Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan posted a tweet saying that the stock limit for retailers have been halved to 5 tonnes of onions while for wholesalers the stocks limit has been halved to 25 tonnes of onions. 

"In order to augment availability of onion in open market, stock limits for onions have been revised with immediate effect. Now wholesalers and retailers can keep onions upto 25MT and 5MT respectively. The importers of onions are exempted from the stock limits," tweeted Paswan.

In order to augment availability of onion in open market, stock limits for onions have been revised with immediate effect. Now wholesalers and retailers can keep onions upto 25MT and 5MT respectively. The importers of onions are exempted from the stock limits. — Ram Vilas Paswan (@irvpaswan) December 3, 2019

Government sources said that the Consumer Affairs Ministry is keeping a close watch over the prices of onions which is rising rapidly due to short supply in the market. The supply of onions has been hit badly due to heavy rains in the onion growing states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Experts maintain that around 26% crops have been damaged due to heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the Centre has ordered for an immediate import of onions and it is expected that 6090 tonnes of onions will arrive in India from Egypt in the second week of December, while 11000 tonnes is expected to reach India from Turkey in January 2020.

On Thursday (November 28), Imran Hussain, the Minister of Food and Civil Supplies in the Delhi government, wrote to Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan requesting him to direct National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) to continue supplying onions at Rs 15.60 per kilogram in the national capital in the larger public interest.

On November 20, the Union Cabinet approved importing 1.2 lakh tonnes of onion to improve the domestic supply and control prices that have skyrocketed to Rs 75-120 per kg across major cities now. The Centre has already banned exports and imposed stock-holding limit on wholesalers and retailers for an indefinite period.