Onions is used as a key ingredient in various Indian dishes. Not just that, many like to have it as a side dish too. But given the recent inflation in the cost of kanda (onions), it seems that it isn’t just the restauranteurs who will be shelling out more from their pockets, but customers might just have to as well.
What’s More?
The retail price of onions increased by 45% in the last month and it created ripples not only in the market but in households as well. As per reports, the restaurant food has also become costlier because they are unable to keep up with the demand of the consumers.
Onions are currently priced at ₹100 – ₹150 per kg, which business owners would initially buy in bulk at ₹15 – ₹20 per kg. In order to maintain a balance in business, they haven’t been left with any choice but to increase the cost of dishes that has onion as the main ingredient.
Also read: Bangalore Restaurants Take Out Onion Dosas From Their Menus With Rising Prices
Restaurants Taking A Hit
Pradeep Shetty, the Joint Honorary Secretary of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), was recently reported as saying that, ‘onions form a large base of most of our recipes. Due to the prevailing price hike in onions, most medium and large hotels and restaurants are taking a hit of around 2% – 5% on profitability. If the current situation continues, most hotels and restaurants will have no option but to revise rates of most items that have onions as an ingredient.’
Small scale restaurants and local dhabas in Delhi NCR have already increased the cost of some of their dishes, though not by much. Those who like to dine-out are also empathising and not creating fuss over increased costs
Also read: Thieves Steal Onions Worth ₹50,000 From West Bengal Shop; Leave Cash Box Untouched
Cost Check
According to market report, the cost of onions shot up to ₹200 per kg in Bengaluru, due to extreme shortage in the market. They were being sold for ₹130 – ₹150 per kg in Mumbai; ₹108 in Delhi, and ₹120 – ₹165 per kg in Kerala.
Steps To Curb The Kanda Crisis
In order to cub the crisis, the government had taken a few steps and imported onions from Afghanistan and Egypt. The Delhi government is also taking measure in order to make sure that there is no extreme shortage of onions in the region. According to reports, a check on hoarding and black-marketing is also being kept.
While the vegetable expenses for households and restaurant businesses both have seen a hike, let’s hope that it gets normalised soon. Onion is the most commonly used ingredient in dishes, and learning to cook without it, would be a lot of effort. The only thing that we would have to do now is get innovative, now that eating out might soon become an expensive proposition as well.