Since September, Tamil Nadu has sold onions at ₹35 a kilo through ration shops and cooperative outlets while the market price ran above ₹50. Coverage reported each new phase and each new tonnage. Nobody divided the tonnage by the number of family cards.
The numbers
What was reported
DT Next reported that the sale began on 3 September 2026 at 8,914 outlets, mainly urban fair price shops, cooperative stores and Farm Fresh shops, with a limit of 1 kg per family card. On 9 October it reported a third phase of 700 tonnes, launched by Cooperation Minister Gandhi Rajan at the Tondiarpet goods terminal. Business Standard reported on 13 October that Tamil Nadu’s retail inflation was the highest of any state in September, at 6.81%, with food inflation at 10.62%.
The three phases, added up
The onions came from the Centre’s price stabilisation buffer, procured by NAFED and NCCF. All India Radio reported on 27 August that the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry had set a target of 2 lakh tonnes of rabi onion for the 2026-27 buffer, with about 1.21 lakh tonnes procured, and would release it at ₹35 a kilo.
| Phase | NAFED (tonnes) | NCCF (tonnes) | Total (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1, from early September | 910 | 65 | 975 |
| Phase 2 | 1,414.33 | 460 | 1,874.33 |
| Phase 3, from 9 October | None reported | 700 | 700 |
| Total | 2,324.33 | 1,225 | 3,549.33 |
Source: DT Next, 9 October 2026, phase figures; totals calculated for this article.
Divided by the cards
The state’s Food and Consumer Protection Department counted 2,24,13,920 smart family cards as of 31 May 2024, the latest figure in its policy note. At 1 kg a card, 3,549.33 tonnes is enough for about 35.5 lakh purchases. If no household bought twice, that would reach about 16 in every 100 cardholders, once, across more than five weeks of high prices.
The share of Tamil Nadu’s 2.24 crore family cards that could have bought one kilo each from the three phases combined: 35.5 lakh kilos divided by the card count in the 2024-25 policy note.
Per outlet, the third phase works out to about 78 kg for each of the 8,914 shops, or 78 cardholders per shop at the 1 kg limit. The state has 36,954 fair price shops in all, according to the same policy note, so the sale points were roughly a quarter of the network. The state said in September it would extend the sale to all ration shops and Farm Fresh outlets “within a couple of days”; the outlet count reported for the third phase was still 8,914.
What the shopper saves
When the third phase began, DT Next reported onions at over ₹50 a kilo wholesale at Koyambedu and from ₹60 retail. A card holder who gets the ration-shop kilo saves at least ₹25 on that kilo. The household’s remaining onions, for the rest of the month, come at the market price.
That is why the official index still shows the spike. The NSO’s September data, as reported by DD News, put all-India onion inflation at 108.09%, the steepest rise of any major item. Onion carries a weight of 0.7006 in the new CPI basket, the July 2026 release shows, so a doubling in price on its own lifts the national index by something in the region of seven-tenths of a percentage point. The index is built from prices collected in 1,407 urban markets and 1,465 villages across the country, according to the same release, so it reflects what most shoppers pay in the open market.
It’s often said the ₹35 sale brought onion prices down in Chennai.
The record shows the sale gives a capped quantity to the households that reach a participating outlet; it does not change the price elsewhere. Koyambedu’s wholesale price was still above ₹50 on 9 October, a month after the sale began.
The last time
Tamil Nadu has done this before at a much smaller scale. The 2024-25 policy note records that during the onion price rise of November and December 2023, onions were sold at affordable prices through cooperative Farm Fresh outlets, wholesale stores and selected fair price shops, and that the Amudham stores alone sold 9,396 kg. The state also keeps a ₹100 crore price stabilisation fund for such interventions, the note says. This year’s sale, at over 3,500 tonnes and fed by central buffer stock, is far larger, but the design is similar: a limited quantity at a fixed price through state outlets.
The quiet loser in the design is the rural household. The sale began at urban outlets, and no figure has been reported for how many rural fair price shops later received stock. Rural households also faced faster price rises nationally: all-India rural inflation was 6.08% in September against 4.88% urban, DD News reported.
What this means for you
- The ₹35 onion is limited to 1 kg per card per phase; ask your ration shop whether the current phase stock has arrived.
- Expect to buy most of your onions at market prices; the scheme covers a small share of household need.
- Rural cardholders should check with their taluk supply office whether village shops are included in the next phase.
- Market prices, not the ration price, decide the official inflation figure.
What to watch
12 November 2026
October 2026 CPI release, showing whether onion inflation and Tamil Nadu’s food inflation have eased, as stated by DD News.
Pending
Any fourth phase of buffer onions for Tamil Nadu, and whether it reaches rural fair price shops.
Pending
Arrival of the kharif crop in markets, which the Centre’s buffer release was meant to bridge.
Checked against official sources on 4 November 2026. Details may change; confirm on the linked official pages.
Sources
- Policy Note 2024-25, Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection Department (Government of Tamil Nadu)
- Centre begins targeted release of onions from buffer stocks (All India Radio News, Prasar Bharati, 27 August 2026)
- CPI press release for July 2026, base 2024, item weights (NSO, MoSPI, via PIB, 12 August 2026)
- Retail inflation rises to 5.54% in September (DD News, Prasar Bharati, 12 October 2026)
- Tamil Nadu government begins onion sale at Rs 35 a kg (DT Next, 3 September 2026)
- Tamil Nadu ration shops to sell 700 tonnes of onions in third phase (DT Next, 9 October 2026)
- Tamil Nadu overtakes Telangana with highest retail inflation in September (Business Standard, 13 October 2026)
