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To ensure domestic availability, the government has taken measures to check exports using duty
The Government of India has withdrawn the 20 per cent duty on onion export, effective from 1st April 2025. A notification to this effect was issued by the Department of Revenue on the communication of the Department of Consumer Affairs.
To ensure domestic availability, the government had taken measures to check export using duty, minimum export price (MEP) and even to the extent of export prohibition for almost five months, from 8th December 2023 till 3rd May 2024. The export duty of 20 per cent which now stands removed has been in place from 13th September, 2024.
Despite the export restriction, the total onion export during FY 2023-24 was 17.17 LMT and FY 2024-25 (till 18th March) was 11.65 LMT. Monthly onion export quantity had picked up from 0.72 LMT in September 2024 to 1.85 LMT in January 2025.
The decision stands as another testament to the government’s commitment to ensuring remunerative prices to farmers while maintaining the affordability of onion to consumers at this crucial juncture when both mandi and retail prices have softened following the expected arrival of rabi crops in good quantities. Even though the current mandi prices are above the level during the corresponding period of previous years, a decline of 39 per cent is observed in the all-India weighted average modal prices. Similarly, all-India average retail prices recorded a decline of 10 per cent over the past month.