Kathmandu, December 8
India has expressed unhappiness with Nepal imposing high customs on Indian products.
During a virtual meeting between commerce secretaries of the two neighbours on Monday, Indian officials complained Nepal resorted to high taxing on Indian products although 99 per cent of Nepal’s exports to India were enjoying concessional tax rates there.
“We want Indian goods to compete in Nepal, but high customs and other taxes have made it problematic,” the Indian delegation leader, Guru Prasad Mohapatra, reportedly told the Nepali delegation, “We wish Nepal would withdraw the high taxation that is in effect now.”
Currently, Nepal is imposing around 35 per cent customs on average on Indian goods. Nepali traders have been asserting that the tax rate should be quite high so as to enable Nepali products for competition.
In the previous meetings, India would demand concessions in the tax imposed on agricultural products.
Meanwhile, the Nepali delegation leader, Commerce Secretary Baikuntha Aryal, told the Indian side that the tax rate was fixed considering an agreement between the prime ministers of the two countries to help Nepal reduce its trade deficit with India.
