Himachal to impose 1% market fee on all fruits and vegetables; 2014 notification revoked

February 20, 2026

The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to levy market fees on all fruits and vegetables. This fee will be collected from both the market area and all temporary roadside markets. The Agriculture Secretary has issued orders regarding this.

It should be noted that until 2014, a one percent market fee was charged on all fruits and vegetables. During that time, inflation had become a major issue in the country. Subsequently, at the behest of the UPA-2 government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress-ruled states stopped collecting market fees in the markets.

The Himachal government stopped collecting market fees on all fruits and vegetables except apples. This resulted in the APMCs of seven other districts, along with the Shimla, Solan, and Kullu APMCs, losing their source of income.

January 14, 2014 Notification Cancelled

The Congress government, now facing a financial crisis, has rescinded the earlier notification of January 14, 2014, under Section 64(2) of the Himachal Pradesh Agriculture and Horticulture Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2005, which prohibited the collection of market fees on fruits and vegetables.

An Expected Income of 40 to 50 Crore Rupees

Following this decision, the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) in 10 districts of the state are expected to earn 40 to 50 crore rupees annually. This amount will remain with the APMCs and Marketing Boards. This amount will be used to construct roads in markets and rural areas.

Roadside Markets to be Cracked Down

Following this decision, commission agents will be required to pay market fees on all fruits and vegetables. A commission agent selling fruits and vegetables worth 1 crore rupees will have to pay 1 lakh rupees as market fees to the APMC. Till now, the commission agents of the roadside markets used to pay market fees only on apples, but now they will have to pay market fees on all fruits and vegetables.