'Kanda Express' with 453 tonnes of onion from Nashik reaches Delhi to help cool prices

The first 'Kanda Express', ” a dedicated rail rake, carrying about 453.65 tonnes of onion from Nashik in Maharashtra arrived in Delhi on Friday, as part of the government's efforts to boost supplies in the national capital and nearby cities and rein in prices.

"The first Kanda Express, carrying 453.65 tonnes of onion in 21 wagons, reached the national capital in the morning," Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare told PTI.

The onion, stored at Nashik, will be sold at a subsidised rate of ₹ 35 per kg in Delhi-NCR. Some of the stock will also be sent to nearby cities such as Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Jammu, she said.

The Centre currently holds about 1.21 lakh tonnes of onion as buffer stock under the Price Stabilisation Fund.

Khare said a Kanda Express rake bound for Chennai would be loaded on Friday, followed by rakes for three other destinations -- Madurai, Ernakulam and Guwahati --” one after another. The impact of the buffer stock release is expected to bring down retail onion prices in Delhi within a week, she added.

Retail onion prices in the capital rose 88 per cent to ₹ 62 per kg on Thursday, up from ₹ 33 per kg a year earlier, according to data from the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

The all-India average retail price stood at ₹ 46.58 per kg, while the wholesale rate was ₹ 38.29 per kg on the same day.

Despite the spike in prices, Khare said onion availability remains comfortable to meet domestic demand in the coming months, supported by an estimated production of 307.37 lakh tonnes in 2025-26,” broadly on par with 307.67 lakh tonnes produced the previous year.

The Kanda Express initiative, launched in 2024-25 to improve logistical efficiency for large-scale onion movement, has been scaled up significantly.

In 2024-25, 14 railway rakes carrying nearly 12,000 tonnes of onion buffer stock were dispatched to five cities. In 2025-26, this expanded sharply to 86 rakes carrying about 88,000 tonnes of onions to 16 major cities across the country.