India Lifts 20% Export Duty on Onions Effective April 1: Here’s What It Means for Farmers and Consumers:

The 20 percent taxation on onion exports will be removed by the Indian authorities from onions starting April 2023. A notification on the announcement was made by the Department of Revenue through a government press release.

To maintain controlled domestic supply, the government tilted towards the application of a minimum export price, a ban on exports, and a 20% export duty from December 2023 to May 2024. The lift of this export duty, which was set on September 2023, is the first step to a new policy, moving on to new import management objectives.

In 2023, India were still under an export restriction, but managed to ship out 17.17 LMT of onions, and 11.65 LMT the following fiscal year, alongside a surplus increase in monthly exports from 0.72 LMT in September 2024 to 1.85 LMT in January 2025.

The government has moved to stabilize the economy by managing farmer problem and consumers buying power, which alongside lowered rabi crop prices has increased, and eased around the expected surge. During the last month, the alta cost fell by 39% and residential cost by 10%, while remaining higher than the last year.

Onions are being sold at a lower price due to the increase of onion arrivals in major markets like Lasalgoan and Pimpalgaon which have seen an increase this month. The onions were selling for Rs. 1330 per quintal and Rs. 1325 per quintal in Lasalgoan and Pimpalgaon respectively on March 21, 2025.

The rabi onion production for this year is predicted to be at 227 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) for India’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department. This is a projected increase of 18% from last year’s 192 LMT. Considering this increase in production which accounts for 70-75% of the onions grown in India, the prices are expected to be stable in the market until the Kharif crop is harvested in October or November.

The releif measures in this projection come after the struggle of low domestic production coupled with increased international price consumption since August 2023.