The first Kanda Express carrying over 450 tonnes of onions from Nashik, Maharashtra, has reached Delhi early this morning. The Consumer Affairs Ministry said that the government has undertaken a calibrated and targeted release of buffer stocks to ensure adequate availability and support price stability during the seasonal demand period. The Ministry said that the Kanda Express initiative has emerged as an effective logistics intervention for moving buffer onions from producing regions to consumption centres.

The supplies are being moved through road transport to other major consumption centres, namely Chennai, Kolkata, Ernakulam, Guwahati, Varanasi, Lucknow, Patna, Chandigarh, Jammu and Amritsar. The Ministry informed that onion availability is comfortable to meet domestic demand in the coming months, supported by estimated production of over 307 lakh tonnes in 2025-26. The retail sale of onions at 35 rupees per kilogram was launched yesterday through mobile vans and retail outlets of NCCF and NAFED, as well as through Safal and Kendriya Bhandar outlets.