Unable to sell onions imported from abroad to the states, India's central government is now being forced to sell them for as little as 10 rupees a kg.

The government fears that unless the onions are disposed of quickly, the consignments will rot in warehouses at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai.

The central government agency the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC) had been given responsibility for importing the onions.

It has now issued a notice for an e-auction, or electronic auction, of the onions, and uploaded the tender to its website.

Government sources in Delhi told BBC Bangla that only two weeks ago the states were being asked to pay 48-54 rupees a kg for these onions.

But now MMTC is ready to sell them for just 10 to 25 rupees, depending on quality.

The Indian government took this decision at a time when a ban on onion exports from India to neighbouring Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka is still in force.

When India abruptly stopped onion exports to Bangladesh at the end of last September, onion prices there soared.

Nearly five months later, Bangladesh has still not fully recovered from that unprecedented onion crisis.

India has not resumed onion exports to Bangladesh even after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself raised the complaint in Delhi.

Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.