On Sunday, the central government further reduced the wholesale prices of tomatoes to INR 80 ($0.97), selling them at discounted rates in several regions where the prices were running exceptionally high.
The government re-evaluated the nationwide situation on Friday and decided to buy up tomatoes from other states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra and sell them for INR 90 ($1.10).
The National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) have been selling discounted tomatoes through mobile vans in several cities including Delhi, Noida, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna, Muzaffarpur and Arrah.
However, the prices of tomatoes on the retail market remain high between INR 100 ($1.22) to INR 150 ($1.83) per kg.
The government will be expanding the distribution of the discounted tomatoes to other cities in the coming week, based on prevailing market prices.
What's Behind the Tomato Price Hike
While tomatoes are produced in nearly every Indian state, the southern and western regions like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and others account for nearly 60 percent of the country's total production. Their surplus produce is then used to ensure continuous supply to other parts of India.
While the peak harvesting of tomatoes starts from December to February, the months of July-August and October-November record lean production.
The supply of tomatoes also gets disrupted due to the monsoon season, leading to a rise in prices.