Steel utensil exports from Nepal have come to a standstill after India mandated a quality logo on the raw materials imported for steel products. Earlier, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) was mandatory only for manufactured goods.

About two months ago, since BIS was made mandatory for the raw materials imported for the production of such materials, the exports of the industries of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) located in Bhairahawa have been affected .

Currently, Vistar Global Private Limited and Panchkanya Steel, which are in SEZ, have been exporting their products . Panchkanya was exporting stainless steel tanks and Vistar was exporting various steel household items . According to Devendra Sahu, General Manager (GM) of Panchkanya Group, exports have come to a standstill after the government of India changed its policy and made BIS mandatory for raw materials. He said that according to the current rules, it seems that it is necessary to bring certified raw materials from India and manufacture the utensils and send them there .

'Until now, we have been sending the goods after taking the production certificate from the industry department and adding the necessary value,' he said, 'Now the raw material is from India, only the industry structure has become like that of Nepal.'

Bhistar, which is exporting its products to India, has taken BIS certificate (logo) for its products. Now, the production of the raw materials being imported by the industry has been stopped as BIS certificate has to be obtained. Vistar is requesting organizations including Siddhartha Udyog Commerce Association to solve the problem. Arvind Tripathi, Head of Accounts at Vistar Global Private Limited, informed that the industry is importing raw materials from China.

'Our raw material comes from China,' he said, 'After bringing it to Nepal, we used to make our own raw material after getting a certificate from the Federation of Commerce and Industry after bringing it to Nepal.' According to him, the industry was producing 400 tons of kitchen utensils per month. Now only 20/30 tons are being produced per month to supply the local market . He said that 200 tons of utensils are now stored in the godown after not being able to export them.

Bhairahawa customs chief Ram Prasad Regmi said that the export of such goods has been stopped for about two months.

'India installed a new software in the steel import system,' he said, 'There is a problem because Nepal is not mentioned in the said software.' According to him, the problem has arisen after BIS has been made mandatory for goods and raw materials. Pointing out that there is a tradition of importing raw materials from countries where raw materials are cheap, he said, 'Currently, we can export only if we bring raw materials from India, otherwise there will be obstacles.' 

According to international norms, he says that the rules implemented by India are not appropriate. There is no such provision in other products being produced in Nepal. Regmi, the head of customs, said that after the import of raw materials was stopped, the industry would automatically shut down.

'The export of such materials is contributing to foreign exchange earnings,' he said, 'Also, it helped balance the international trade .'

According to customs, the contribution of iron or steel utensils is at the sixth number among the top 10 items exported from the country last financial year. Statistics show that 3 billion 87 crore 25 lakh 27 thousand metric tons worth of 73 crore 62 lakh 58 thousand metric tons were exported last year . Netra Acharya, president of Siddhartha Industry and Commerce Association, said that India has created a barrier by implementing new rules due to the import of raw materials from China.