Onion Wholesale Prices Fall Steeply After Government Raids Dealers Suspected Of Hoarding

Average wholesale price of onion has fallen by over 35 per cent at the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee – the country’s largest wholesale onion market – after as many as 25 premises of seven major onion traders in Lasalgaon and surrounding areas of Nashik were raided by the Income Tax (I-T) department today.

A senior I-T official from the Pune region said as many as 120 officials from the department's Nashik unit were involved in the ongoing search and survey operation.

"We received a specific information that the onion traders of Lasalgaon and adjoining towns are involved in hoarding of onions and planning to create an artificial scarcity in the market to inflate the prices in future," he said.

The official added that as per the input, the traders had been purchasing onions from the farmers since the prices were plummeting.

"To verify any such unaccounted stock of purchase, as many as 25 premises, including houses, offices and warehouses, of seven big onion traders are being searched and surveyed across Nashik district," the officer said. He added that the operation would continue for two to three days.

With inputs from PTI