NCCF to sell tomatoes at Rs 70 per kg through ONDC platform

The ONDC managing director said the service will be available only in Delhi and it will start from July 22.

The National Cooperative Consumers' Federation (NCCF) will sell tomatoes at a subsidised rate of Rs 70 per kilogram through Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform in Delhi beginning from Saturday, a senior official said.

“NCCF will provide tomatoes at Rs 70 per kg. For the buyers there will not be any additional charge,” said T Koshy, managing director of ONDC.

He said the service will be available only in Delhi and it will start from July 22. A customer can place the order through Paytm app. The maximum quantity that can be ordered through the platform is 2 kg per customer.

There has been a sharp jump in the prices of tomatoes in the past one and half months. The prices have soared past Rs 200 per kg in several parts of the country, including the national capital.

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In order to provide relief to people from the soaring prices, the central government last week directed the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) to sell tomatoes at a subsidised rate. Initially, the government announced to sell tomatoes at Rs 90 per kg. The price was reduced to Rs 80 per kg from 16th July and cut further to Rs 70 per kg effective from 20th July.

Koshy said ONDC, Paytm and other stakeholders have decided not to charge any fee and thus the tomatoes will be delivered to the customers at the government’s determined price of Rs 70 per kg.

Meanwhile, ONDC on Friday launched a training programme targeted at merchants who are not familiar with e-commerce. The ONDC has tied up with NSE Academy for the training programme. As part of the deal NSE Academy will provide certification for the training.

Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of NSE, said the ONDC is set to revolutionise India’s e-commerce sector and the training would play a crucial role in ensuring that the benefits reach to small merchants.