Last year, cement and clinker worth 3.33 billion 55 million were exported in 10 months, but in the same period of the current financial year, it was limited to 2.41 billion 88 million.
India's Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) delays in delivery have reduced exports of key commodities from Nepal. BIS is mandatory for exports. But for no reason India has been tightening up on renewals and new deliveries. Exports of cement, steel and zinc sheets, sanitary pads, plywood, etc. have decreased due to India's failure to issue BIS certificates on time for renewals and new ones.
Exports of cement, clinker, steel and zinc sheets and sanitary pads have decreased in the 10 months of the current financial year. The data of the customs department shows that the export has decreased during the same period of the current financial year compared to the last financial year. According to the data of the department, cement and clinker worth Rs. While during the same period of the last financial year, cement and clinker worth 3.33 billion 5.55 lakh 61 thousand were exported.
In the 10 months of the current financial year, clinker worth 649.2 million rupees and cement worth 1.76 billion rupees were exported, the department said. During the same period of the last financial year, cement worth Rs 1.66 billion and clinker worth Rs 1.66 billion were exported. At present only a few industries producing cement, sanitary pads, plywood and shoes have got the quality certificate, says the industrialist. They say that exports have decreased when quality certificates are made mandatory.
Raghunand Maru, president of Nepal Cement Producers Association, said that the problem of BIS has not been solved yet. The BIS problem has been going on for more than 8 months. Apart from two or three cement industries, others have not received BIS," he said. "It seems that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has made an effort on its part. But India has not given BIS in new and renewed. This has greatly affected exports.'
Pashupati Murarka, the owner of Arghakhanchi Cement, also said that exports were stopped for about 6 months when India did not renew the BIS certificate. "Arghakhanchi Cement alone exported cement worth 1 billion last year. This year, the export target was 1 billion 20 million. But it was not possible," he said, "Earlier India used to renew it for two years. This year it was renewed for 1 year only. Even that cannot be exported more than 5/6 months from the time of application.'
During this period, the export of sanitary pads has also decreased. Sanitary pads worth 359.4 million rupees were exported from July to April last financial year. During the same period of the current financial year, only sanitary pads worth Rs. 11.75 million have been exported. Rakesh Lahoti, founder and chief executive officer of Health and Hygiene Products, said that only sanitary pads have received BIS certificate. We got quality certificate for sanitary pads. But we have not received baby diapers," he said. "BIS is not mandatory for adult diapers. But Indian customs stopped it. The quality certificate has been made mandatory for baby diapers.
Lahoti says that because of the India-Pakistan war, Indian employees do not come for factory audits, so it takes a long time for the BIS certificate. He says that just as India made BIS mandatory to protect its industries, the Nepal government should also adopt the same policy. "We have not been able to export for years due to lack of BIS certificate, but goods from India are coming in," he said, "like India, Nepal should also make Nepal's quality certificate mandatory for imported goods.
According to the data of the Customs Department, in the 10 months of the last financial year, steel and zinc sheets worth 14 billion 682 million rupees were exported, but in the same period of the current financial year, the amount of 13 billion 84 million 13 million rupees. Experts say that with the government suspending the import of milk and dairy products, India has put informal pressure on imports. After that BIS was stopping the distribution.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development decided to suspend the import of dairy products in February 2080 after local production remained in stock. At that time,
had sent a letter to the Department of Food, Technology and Quality Control asking them not to issue import permits until further decision. After that, India has started tightening the BIS. According to the sources, there has been some relaxation in the import of dairy products. Although no formal decision has been made, it has been imported legally and illegally. After that, India has also relaxed some BIS distribution. Jitendra Basnet, spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, said that despite the problems in the
process, some industrialists have now received BIS. “There was a delay in applying after the BIS renewal expired. There was also a delay for new ones. In the last week of December last week, we asked for facilitation at the Nepal-India Commerce Secretary Level Mechanism (IGC) meeting,' he said, 'There has been some improvement after the meeting, now there is not so much problem.' "Only about 25 percent of those who applied have received BIS," he said, "However, only a few have received BIS in the last four months." But the way it should have been exported, it could not happen.'
Rudra Neupane, President of Shoe Manufacturers Association of Nepal, also said that BIS has been distributed in the shoe sector since last November. BIS was stopped for 4 months as it has to be renewed every year. What should have been from July happened only in October. But nothing was revealed about the reason for stopping,' said Chairman Neupane, 'There is not that much problem now.'
