Nashik: Onion traders’ godowns visited by I-T officials

Since September, the spike in onion prices has seen the government taking various measures to control them. After banning exports, the government had prescribed stock limits for both wholesale and retail traders. While wholesale traders were allowed to hold 500 quintals of onions per day, retail traders were allowed 100 quintals a day.

Jaydutt Holkar, chairman of Lasalgaon’s wholesale market, said the I-T officials were checking whether traders had violated the stock storage limit.

An I-T official who did not want to be named said they first visited the wholesale market and took records of the onion traders said was available with them. Later, they went to their storage units to verify their claims.

However, market sources say this is another measure to make onion cheaper, as prices are decided by open auction, and after visits by I-T officials, traders will not quote very high amounts.

While the average traded price of onion in most wholesale markets in Nashik district is around Rs 4,300/per quintal, retail prices in many places — within the state and outside — have crossed the Rs 80/per kg mark.

Back in 2017, I-T officials had raided onion traders in Nashik, but had failed to uncover much stock.