By Shailesh Yadav
New Delhi [India], July 21 : The Centre is in talks with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to offer tomatoes online to consumers at a subsidised rate of Rs 70 per kg, according to sources.
Sources said that the government’s agricultural marketing agencies – the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) – are in talks with the ONDC.
Incorporated on December 31, 2021, ONDC goes beyond the current platform-centric digital commerce model where the buyer and seller have to use the same platform or application to be digitally visible and do a business transaction.
Sources toldthat currently, the online sale of subsidised tomatoes is in testing mode.
“If all goes well, the government will soon announce an online sale of tomatoes which will be delivered to your doorsteps for a price of Rs 70 in Delhi-NCR (at first),” one of the sources said.
Currently, e-commerce companies are providing doorstep delivery at about Rs 170-180 per kg.
The sharp rise in tomato prices was reported across the country and is not just limited to a particular region or geography. In key cities, it rose to as high as Rs 150-200 per kg.
In its bid to give further relief to consumers, the central government on Wednesday said it has directed its marketing agencies – NAFED and NCCF – to sell tomatoes at Rs 70 per kg instead of Rs 80.
The tomatoes procured by the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) had been retailed, initially, at Rs 90 per kg and then reduced to Rs 80 per kg from July 16, 2023, to now Rs70.
Amid a sharp spurt in tomato prices across the country, the agencies NCCF and NAFED – had commenced the procurement of tomatoes from mandis in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for simultaneous disposal in major consumption centres where retail prices have recorded maximum increase in last one month.
The government attributed the rise in prices to the monsoon season, saying that it added to further challenges related to distribution and increased transit losses.
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