India bans export of onions till March 2024 to meet domestic demand

The Indian government has banned the export of onions till March 2024 to ensure increased availability domestically as well as to keep its prices in check. “Export policy of onions… is amended from free to prohibited till March 31, 2024,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. Onions are currently being sold at Rs 70-80 per kilogram in New Delhi. In October, the central government decided to step up the sale of buffer onion stock at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg in retail markets to provide relief to consumers. To keep the prices of onions in check, the government has in the past taken several steps including the imposition of a minimum export price (MEP) of $800 per tonne on onion exports from October 28 till December 31 this year. Apart from this, the government also imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions till December 31. The DGFT also said that the exports of onion, however, will be allowed based on permission granted by the government to other countries based on their request. It added that shipments of onion, whose loading had commenced before this notification, are allowed to be exported. Exports of onion are also permitted if “consignments of onion has been handed over to the customs before this notification and is registered in their system/ where onions consignment has entered the customs station for exportation before this notification and is registered in the electronic systems of the concerned custodian of the customs station with verifiable evidence of date and time stamping of these commodities having entered the station prior to December 8”. FY23 saw the export of 9.75 lakh tonnes of onions between April 1 and August 4. Countries that import the most onions from India are Bangladesh, Malaysia and the UAE. According to the WPI data released on November 14, while inflation in vegetables and potatoes cooled to (-) 21.04 per cent and (-) 29.27 per cent respectively, the annual rate of price rise in onions continued to rule high at 62.60 per cent in October. With inputs from PTI