Nepal should tap Indian market
NEW DELHI:
Nepal’s economic growth can be propelled, if Nepal exploits the expanse of the North Indian market which is easily accessible to Nepal due to the open border, according to an Indian bureaucrat.
“Nepal needs to tap opportunities provided by the open border to market its goods and services to the bordering areas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that is home to more than 250 million people,” said joint secretary in India’s Ministry of External Affairs Satish Mehta, addressing a group of Nepali economic journalists during the closing session of two-week training programme organised by Indian Institution of Public Administration (IIPA) in New Delhi.
Nepal’s trade deficit with India is ever growing, which has worsened in the last few years. In the last fiscal year 2009-10 the exports to India declined by 2.2 per cent in contrast to a growth of 6.4 per cent a fiscal year ago. On the other hand, merchandise imports from India had increased by 34.2 per cent compared to a growth of 14.1 per cent a fiscal year ago.
The trade deficit with India rose by 46.5 per cent in 2009-10 compared to a growth of 17 per cent a year ago. “Thus catering to the North Indian population can be a major move in order to fight the ever widening trade deficit,” he added.
“India is working on improving connectivity with Nepal to facilitate cross border trade and movement,” he informed, citing the examples of establishment of Integrated Check Posts (ICP) in four custom points, link roads between bordering cities of India and Nepal and development of railway line that will connect Nepal railway with the Indian railway network.
The four Integrated Check Posts that will be established at Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj is supposed to facilitate trade and transit between Nepal and India so that custom clearance can be well managed and undertaken within a short period.
“The better connectivity between these two countries mean improved trade as the transaction cost and time taken to transit could be reduced,” he added.
Despite the existence of challenges and impending factors, he said, Nepal has a potential for being one of the richest countries in South Asia being endowed with unparallel resources in terms of water, herbs and fertile land.
After the 1996 Trade Treaty between Nepal and India, the bilateral trade between the South Asian neighbours grew from Rs 28.1 billion in fiscal year 1995-96 to Rs 204.8 billion in 2008-09. During these years, Nepali exports to India increased by almost 14 times to Rs 40.9 billion from Rs 3.7 billion, while Indian exports to Nepal grew from Rs 24.4 billion to Rs 163.9 billion.
Nepali ambassador to India Rukma Shamsher Rana also lamented that Nepal has not been able to exploit the opportunities provided by the bilateral trade treaty with India.
“The idea was to bring horizontal expansion of industrial sector in Nepal however Nepal only focused on short-lived mania like Vanaspati Ghee and copper wires so that other sectors did not prosper,” he said.
Source: THT
Nepal’s economic growth can be propelled, if Nepal exploits the expanse of the North Indian market which is easily accessible to Nepal due to the open border, according to an Indian bureaucrat.
“Nepal needs to tap opportunities provided by the open border to market its goods and services to the bordering areas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that is home to more than 250 million people,” said joint secretary in India’s Ministry of External Affairs Satish Mehta, addressing a group of Nepali economic journalists during the closing session of two-week training programme organised by Indian Institution of Public Administration (IIPA) in New Delhi.
Nepal’s trade deficit with India is ever growing, which has worsened in the last few years. In the last fiscal year 2009-10 the exports to India declined by 2.2 per cent in contrast to a growth of 6.4 per cent a fiscal year ago. On the other hand, merchandise imports from India had increased by 34.2 per cent compared to a growth of 14.1 per cent a fiscal year ago.
The trade deficit with India rose by 46.5 per cent in 2009-10 compared to a growth of 17 per cent a year ago. “Thus catering to the North Indian population can be a major move in order to fight the ever widening trade deficit,” he added.
“India is working on improving connectivity with Nepal to facilitate cross border trade and movement,” he informed, citing the examples of establishment of Integrated Check Posts (ICP) in four custom points, link roads between bordering cities of India and Nepal and development of railway line that will connect Nepal railway with the Indian railway network.
The four Integrated Check Posts that will be established at Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj is supposed to facilitate trade and transit between Nepal and India so that custom clearance can be well managed and undertaken within a short period.
“The better connectivity between these two countries mean improved trade as the transaction cost and time taken to transit could be reduced,” he added.
Despite the existence of challenges and impending factors, he said, Nepal has a potential for being one of the richest countries in South Asia being endowed with unparallel resources in terms of water, herbs and fertile land.
After the 1996 Trade Treaty between Nepal and India, the bilateral trade between the South Asian neighbours grew from Rs 28.1 billion in fiscal year 1995-96 to Rs 204.8 billion in 2008-09. During these years, Nepali exports to India increased by almost 14 times to Rs 40.9 billion from Rs 3.7 billion, while Indian exports to Nepal grew from Rs 24.4 billion to Rs 163.9 billion.
Nepali ambassador to India Rukma Shamsher Rana also lamented that Nepal has not been able to exploit the opportunities provided by the bilateral trade treaty with India.
“The idea was to bring horizontal expansion of industrial sector in Nepal however Nepal only focused on short-lived mania like Vanaspati Ghee and copper wires so that other sectors did not prosper,” he said.
Source: THT
