India formally bans onion exports, allows import at zero duty

Wednesday December 22, 2010 06:48:17 PM, IANS

New Delhi: In a bid to bring down the spiralling prices of onions, India Wednesday formally notified a ban on its exports while permitting imports at zero duty with immediate effect.

Earlier, the government had doubled the minimum export price of onions from the country, the second largest producer of the commodity after China.

"In supercession of all earlier notifications on export of onions, it has been decided to prohibit export of all varieties of onion with immediate effect and till further orders," said a gazette notification.

"The customs duty on onions has also been cut from 5 percent to zero," Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters here, even as India started imports from Pakistan started flowing in.

Some Amritsar-based importers had placed orders for nearly 1,000 tonnes of onions from Pakistan and at least 30 truckloads had arrived Tuesday, commerce ministry officials said, hoping the remaining 50-odd trucks will arrive over the next few days.

Prices of the tuber had spiralled to Rs.70-Rs.82 per kg in retail markets across India after crop failure in the main producing state of Maharashtra due to heavy rains, prompting the government to take a series of measures to increase supplies.

The Prime Minister's Office too intervened Tuesday asking immediate intervention by the consumer affairs department to monitor the situation and take immediate steps to bring down prices.
 

                                           Home | Top of the Page

Top Stories

India twice successfully tests n-capable Prithvi-II missile

India Wednesday successfully conducted two tests of its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile from a military base in Orissa, an official said.   »

India’s military might and cultural heritage find voice at 61st Republic Day

BrahMos cruise missile achieves supersonic dive

  Most Read

Farmers end protest siege of Bhopal after accord

Thousands of farmers holding a protest siege of the Madhya Pradesh capital to press their  »

Agitating farmers lay siege of Bhopal, jolt MP’s BJP Govt.

Quran written in Saddam's blood locked in Baghdad

A Quran written in the blood of the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein over two years has been locked behind three vaulted doors in Baghdad and not been opened for three years, it was reported here. Over a two year period in the late 1990s, a nurse had drawn 27 litres of Saddam Hussein's   »

  News Pick

Strong earthquake rocks Iran, kills seven

A strong earthquake shook Kerman province late Monday in southeastern Iran, leaving at least seven people dead and hundreds injured, the local governor told Mehr news agency. The 6.5-magnitude earthquake shook   »

Bhopal to host International Quran recitation competition Dec. 22 & 23

The two-day seventh "Aalamee Musabiqa Qirat-e-Qur'an" (international competition of traditional styles of rendition of the Holy Qur'an with Tajweed) will be organized here on   »

45,000 Kerala students to be trained in IT

The Kerala government's IT@School Project starting next week for six days will impart customised information technoloy training to 45,000 school students. IT@School, which is the technology arm of the general   »

NRIs' voting method yet to be decided: Vayalar Ravi

Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi Tuesday said the election commission and external affairs ministry are evolving a method to include NRIs in the country's electoral rolls. "Two rounds of discussions have   »

Over 10,000 violations of Right to Education in Delhi

Just nine months after the Right to Education (RTE) Act was implemented in India, promising free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6-14, over 10,000 cases of violation have been registered   »