Onion prices pinch pockets in Hyderabad

Onions are back to bringing tears to eyes and burning holes in consumers’ pockets, as the city experiences almost a twofold price hike in desi kitchen’s favorite vegetable. With one kg of bulbs costing around Rs. 80, not just households, but hoteliers, caterers, and even street food vendors are also pushed into a tight spot.

The usual sight of onion heaps in vegetable markets of the city also seems to have dwindled over the last few days, attributed to a lack of supply due to unstable weather conditions. Sold anywhere between Rs 25 to Rs 30 per kg just a couple of weeks ago, onions have experienced a significant price hike, although the quality across markets mostly remained subpar.

“Yesterday the price was Rs 69 per kg, today morning we changed it to Rs 79. In the last few days we have observed a spike in the prices,” says a sales associate at a leading supermarket in



Banjara Hills.

While online grocery delivery apps like Blinkit and Zepto have priced onions around Rs. 70 per kg, increased from Rs. 56 last week, the majority of these e-commerce platforms marked the vegetable to be out of stock on Sunday.

“Two weeks back I bought 4 kgs of onions for Rs. 100. Yesterday, two and a half kgs bad quality onions were being sold for Rs. 150. All we can do is minimize the usage of this vegetable, but that will also be a challenge as it is used in almost all dishes,” says a homemaker, Shamala Khambampati.

The alarming rates of onions and the non-availability are giving city dwellers deja vu, as a few months ago in July, Hyderabad experienced a surge in tomato prices which reached Rs. 200 per kg. Onions at the time were available in surplus with retail prices between Rs 16 to Rs 25 per kg, depending on the size and quality of the onions.