August 22: A day after India increased the customs duty on export of onions, the price of onions skyrocketed in the Nepali market due to black-marketing. A monitoring conducted by the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection found that the price of onion increased by Rs 20 per kg in a single day.

The Department of Commerce has started market monitoring due to the sharp rise in prices of onion stocks that entered Nepal before India hiked the export tax.

Director General of the Department of Commerce, Gajendra Kumar Thakur, said that they deployed three monitoring teams on Monday and inspected major vegetable markets and retail shops including Kalimati, Balkhu, Ekantakuna in a bid to curb artificial price hike.

Thakur said that they monitored the market after receiving complaints that the traders increased the price of old stocks of onion on the pretest that India had increased the tax. Some traders who were found involved in black marketing were prosecuted, according to Thakur.

“As soon as we got the information about the black marketing and sharp increase in price of onions, the department mobilized three teams throughout the day to monitor the market prices. Three traders were fined Rs 20,000 each and two traders were fined Rs 50,000 each, while four importers and traders have been asked for documents for further investigation,” said Director General Thakur.

The price of onion, which was being sold at the rate of Rs 60 per kg on Sunday in the Katimati Fruit and Vegetable Market, increased by Rs 20 per kg and reached Rs 80 per kg on Monday.

“But after monitoring by the department, the price of onion in Kalimati vegetable market has decreased by Rs 10 per kg,” added Thakur.

According to the department, during the monitoring conducted at 21 different places in the valley, the authorities took immediate action against five, documents were requested for further investigation from four traders, one was instructed to appear in the department within 24 hours and the rest were given general instructions.

Director General Thakur also said that the department has been conducting a detailed study on the VAT bill with different prices and the prices sold by importers to retailers.

India's Ministry of Finance on Saturday decided to increase the customs duty on onion exports by up to 40 percent. According to the Ministry of Finance of India, the customs duty has been increased due to the increase in the price of onion in the domestic market of India. This tax will be levied till December 31.

Recently, when India banned the export of rice other than basmati, the price of rice in Nepal also increased due to black marketing. According to Director General Thakur, the increase in prices has been controlled to some extent after extensive monitoring by the Department of Commerce.