Onions are selling at 300 per cent higher prices in Rajasthan's markets.
Rajasthan faces a unique conundrum: a bumper output of onion crop coupled with spiraling prices of the essential food item.
Rising demand from other states, speculators betting on the possibility of a drought year and farmers holding onto their stock for a few months are among the many reasons that are making the prices accelerate.
Most farmers in the state are happy about the rising prices.
Mohan Lal Kadwa is going to sell a truck full of onions at prices that are more than 300 per cent higher than the usual rates.
At Muhana Mandi, the largest wholesale market for vegetables on the outskirts of Jaipur, Mr Kudwa will sell the vegetable at Rs 15 per kilo; he earlier used to sell it at Rs 3 to 4 per kilo.
But customers are understandably not happy; each kilo of onions has become dearer by Rs 10.
"We expected the new government to rein in prices," said one disgruntled customer.
Shiv Shankar, president of the Muhana Mandi, says, "Onions from Rajasthan are being supplied to Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab and South India. With such widespread demand, the prices of onions are high even in Rajasthan".
Speculators, who are placing their bets on a weak monsoon, are also driving the prices higher. Some traders at the wholesale market confessed to NDTV that many farmers were holding on to their stock of onions as they are hopeful about making a quick buck.
"In case of a drought, the price of onions will go up, so why sell now? If we sell onions a month later, we will get a better rate," said a trader.
Ironically, a state government measure taken to encourage agriculture - setting up special storage units for onions - has inadvertently backfired. Farmers are storing their stock of onions at these units and waiting for a better time to sell.
"We have set up 3,500 onion storage warehouses in the state. We cannot pressurise farmers to sell their stock, they have the right to sell when they want to," said Rajasthan's Agriculture Minister Prabhu Lal Saini.
The next cycle of onion production will start two to three months from now. In the meantime, if the spiraling prices of onions are not brought under control, they are likely to make consumers more teary-eyed.