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Journalism of Courage
With onion prices continuing to rule high across the country,fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) is seeking information from state governments to check whether market entities are indulging in cartelisation.
CCI,which keeps a tab on anti-competitive practices,is looking into the issue of persisting high prices of onion in the recent months. Currently,they are hovering in the range of Rs 65-80 per kg in the retail market.
Sources said the commission has started writing to state governments seeking information on their onion markets. Maharashtra,Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are among the major onion producing states.
CCI chairman Ashok Chawla said the Commission is looking at whether the issue needs to be investigated. We will see how it plays out further. We will see whether it warrants an examination or not. Chawla said.
According to sources,CCI will need strong evidence on anti-competitive practices if it is to investigate the issue.
This is an issue on which the Commission had spent some time in the past…and came to a conclusion that the markets dont seem to be functioning very well. But there was no evidence of cartelisation, Chawla said.
