Wholesale Price based inflation spikes to 3-month-high at 0.53% in March
The annual rate of inflation based on the all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number has risen marginally to 0.53 per cent for March 2024, the government said on Monday.
Addressing the rising concern of kitchen staple, the government is importing 11,000 tonnes of the staple vegetable from Turkey. State-owned trading firm MMTC has signed a second import order for this and the consignment will reach the country by end of December or the first week of January, sources said.
The MMTC had earlier signed an import deal for 6,090 tonnes from Egypt, and this consignment is expected to reach here in the next 10 days, and help to moderate prices once it is in the market.
On November 20, the Union Cabinet approved importing 1.2 lakh tonnes of onion to improve the domestic supply. A committee, under Home Minister Amit Shah, and comprising the Finance, Consumer Affairs, Agriculture and Surface Transport Ministers, had been set up to keep a watch on onion prices.
Advertisement
According to market sources, the retail price of onion in Delhi-NCR on Sunday was Rs 80-120 per kg. The price, according to the Azadpur wholesale market APMC list, was between Rs 20-62.50 per kg while the arrival of onion stood at 828 tonnes.
This year, heavy rain at the end of monsoon in chief onion-producing states had damaged the kharif season crop and led to a supply shortage.
Union Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had, at a press conference last month, said that the rain damage could see production of onion decline as much as 26 per cent.
The ministry monitors prices of 22 essential commodities (rice, wheat, atta, gram dal, tur (arhar) dal, urad dal , moong dal, masur dal, sugar, gur, groundnut oil, mustard oil, vanaspati, sunflower oil, soya oil, palm oil, tea, milk, potato, onion, tomato and salt) based on data collected from 109 market centres spread across the country.
(With input from agencies)
Advertisement
