Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar hail Centre's decision to withdraw 20pc export duty on onions

Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah for the Central government's decision to completely withdraw 20 per cent export duty on onions. The decision will be implemented from April 1 this year.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister in his post on X said: "A large quantity of onions are from Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon and this decision will provide great relief to onion growers in Maharashtra. I am extremely grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amitbhai Shah for taking this very important decision and providing great relief to the onion growers of Maharashtra.”

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar hailed the Centre's decision, saying that it will provide relief to lakhs of onion farmers in the state.

"This decision of the Central government is very important for the farmers of the state. The withdrawal of the 20 per cent export duty levied on onion exports has paved the way for the farmers to get a fair price for their goods. To resolve this issue, I had directly communicated with the Union Minister for Cooperation Amit Shah and requested him to look into this matter.

"Considering the problems of the farmers of the state and the need to take urgent measures for them, he took the initiative and played an important role in taking this decision under the guidance of the country's popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

“For this, I sincerely thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the entire Union Cabinet. The state government is committed to the welfare of the farmers in the state and decisions in the interest of the farmers will be taken in the future as well,” he said.

Former minister and NCP legislator from Yeola assembly seat from the onion-rich Nashik district Chhagan Bhujbal also thanked the Centre for its decision.

Bhujbal said he had earlier this week demanded in the state Assembly that the 20 per cent export duty should be withdrawn immediately to avoid further hardship on the onion-growing farmers.

He added that he had demanded that the chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and two DCMs, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, need to approach the Centre demanding immediate withdrawal of the export duty as the farmers are already facing financial problems due to rising gap between the cost of production and the selling price of onions.

Earlier, the Centre, in its release said: "To ensure domestic availability, the government had taken measures to check export by means of duty, minimum export price (MEP) and even to the extent of export prohibition for almost five months, from December 8, 2023 till May 3, 2024. The export duty of 20 per cent which now stands removed has been in place from September 13, 2024. Despite export restriction, the total onion export during FY 2023-24 was 17.17 LMT and FY 2024-25 (till March 18) was 11.65 LMT. Monthly onion export quantity had picked up from 0.72 LMT in September, 2024 to 1.85 LMT in January 2025."