Date: 21/11/2022 Shift: 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM Q. No: 228

Indian onions are in huge demand, both in India and abroad thanks to their strong pungent flavour. In fact, more than 15 lakh metric tonnes of onions worth ₹2,826.50 crores were exported during the year 2020-21. Indian onions are usually made up of kharif and rabi onions. Kharif onions are planted between July to August and harvested between October to December. Rabi onions on the other hand are planted between December to January and harvested from March to April, the summer months. About 60% of onion production happens during rabi season and these onions are stored to meet domestic as well as export demand till the arrival of the kharif onion crop. As a general rule, rabi onions store well and are preferred for exports. This is because rabi onions tend to be dry and therefore can withstand transportation via rail, road or freight shipping.
Some of the most common varieties that are exported are White Onion, Red Onion, Bangalore Rose, Podisu and Krishnapuram Rose. Certain varieties of yellow onion such as Suprex, Granex 55, Granex 429, Arad- H, and Tana F1 are exported to European countries.
India exports both fresh and dehydrated onions to other countries. However, fresh onions constitute around 70% of the total onions exported from the country. Bangladesh is our biggest customer, consuming 30-35% of the total Indian onions exports. This is closely followed by Malaysia which imports Indian onions worth ₹400 to ₹500 crores every year. UAE comes in third with an annual import of onions worth ₹300 crores. The other major export destinations are Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nepal and Singapore.
The huge demand for Indian onions is driven by the Indians settled in these countries. Bangladeshis have food preferences similar to Indians and therefore are huge consumers of Indian onions. Qatar and UAE have a huge percentage of Indians living there. A major chunk of these exported onions goes into the hotel, restaurant and catering sector of these countries.