In one month, over 45,000 kg tomatoes sold through ONDC, says platform chief

In one month since ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) began selling tomatoes at discounted prices.

The platform has fulfilled approximately 22,500 orders worth 45,000 kg of the vegetable in and around Delhi-NCR, its chief T Koshy said on Monday.

On July 21, ONDC began selling tomatoes in the face of soaring rates of the vegetable.

“Till date, we have facilitated the delivery of approximately 22,500 orders for 45,000 kg of tomato around the Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region). We make these available at 9am every day, and in a matter of minutes, these get sold out,” Koshy told Monecyontrol.

He further stated that in the initial days, 2000 kg was being sold each day, with this being the daily limit fixed for it by the National Cooperative Consumer Federation (NCCF), adding that the stocks lasted only for only a few hours.

“Within a week, however, we started seeing enhanced sales, with the stocks flying off our shelves within minutes of being made available,” he said.

Koshy also noted that it it is for the NCCF to decide for how long the latter wants the association to continue. On July 14, NCCF and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) began retail sales of the vegetable in Delhi-NCR, when the commodity’s rates, in an unprecedented rise, reached ₹250 per kg in several markets of the country.

ONDC and NCCF then joined hands to make tomatoes available at discounted prices. The rates were fixed at ₹90 per kg; on August 15, however, it was priced at ₹50 per kg, and ₹40 per kg starting August 20.