Sandeep dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 19
The government delivered onion shipments to three neighboring countries after prices soared due to India’s abrupt decision to ban exports on September 14, the sources said.
It was important to release about 30,000 quintals of onion, whose letters of credit (LC) had been opened to alleviate the public nuisance caused in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
The liberation would also keep Pakistan, Turkey and China at bay, which could have filled the void right away. India does not enjoy good diplomatic relations with these countries and would prefer other regional actors such as Thailand, Egypt, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan to intervene.
Anticipating a rise in prices nationwide, the government had banned onion exports, except cut, sliced and powdered due to excessive rains that affected their harvest in some southern states.
As a result, prices have tripled in Bhutan and show a steady upward trend that threatens to worsen in Bangladesh and Nepal. The sources said that an effort by various ministries overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led to the release and transportation of onion shipments that were deemed to have been sold with the opening of the LCs.
India has become an unreliable exporter for the second year in a row. It had also banned onion exports last year, hitting neighbors like Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, which are almost entirely dependent on Indian onions.
