Desperate Indians queue up for cheap onions or buy half rotten ones as prices soar

• Mumbai’s residents are paying ₹140 per kilogram for good quality onions and many are also buying half rotten products at a lower price.
  
  
• In Hyderabad, government owned farmer’s markets are selling limited quantity of onions at subsidized rate.
  
  
• The high price of onion and garlic has affected the sale and prices of meat and meat products.

When people in Maharashtra are not worrying about who is their chief minister, they are bothered with rising prices of onions. And there is a reason. The city of Mumbai is saddled with the costliest market price of this staple food—at ₹140 per kilogram (kg). This of course is for good quality onions. There is a large market for partly squashed and rotting onions as well, which is going at an exorbitant price of ₹80 a kilo.

For good quality onions though, the wholesale price itself hit a ₹100. All the other major cities too are buying onions at around ₹100 a kg as indicated in the table below. Traders, however, say that customers too have significantly reduced onion consumption.

In the city of Hyderabad however, government owned farmer’s markets called Rythu Bazaars are selling onions ₹30 below the market rate. “But for that we have to stand in line for hours together and show Aadhar cards. Even after that, only a limited quantity of onions is given like one or two kgs,” Jaya RaviShankar, a homemaker from the city, told Business Insider.

The high price of onion and garlic, which is also above ₹120 a kilo, has affected the sale of meat and meat products. The retail prices of chicken came down by ₹10 as per data collected from Navi Mumbai market in Vashi.

The price of onions went up considerably after erratic rains affected crops in major onion producing states like Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra. Rains have been affecting the supply and consumption of many fruits and vegetables but the rising cost of staples has been disrupting Indian home economics.

Last month, tomato prices have peaked to around ₹70 per kilo. That had forced Delhi government to peddle tomato puree as an alternative—especially during the festive season.

Source: Retail markets from each city