India had imposed the duty, which had seriously hurt Nepali exports, from about a couple of years ago. Nepal had been exporting garments of popular brands like John Players, Peter England and D J &G, among others, to India, before the duty was imposed. [break]
“Formal notification on revocation of additional duty has reached us. We expect it will enable Nepali manufacturers get new orders from India and resume exports of readymade garment,” said Kailash Bajimaya, under secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies.
Going by the new notification that Nepal was informed about a week ago, India has lifted additional customs duty on all range of garment products, except garment parts. The additional duty has also been lifted for telephone for cellular and wireless networks, wrist watches, pocket watches and other watches. Likewise, the duty has also been waived for all kinds of pre-packaged goods.
“Now that the decision to withdraw additional duty has officially come into enforcement, we expect the Indian importers to start placing fresh orders,” said Uday Raj Pandey, vice president of Garment Association of Nepal (GAN).
GAN officials informed myrepublica.com that some of the manufacturers are already in dialogue with the leading retail chains like Warehouse and Reliance. “We expect positive outcome of these negotiations soon,” they said.
Some of the exporters, meanwhile, said that the new step might encourage smaller manufacturers based along the bordering towns than the larger producers, especially as many of them have already folded their industries amid labor instability. Besides, India still continues to impose additional duty on customs for 214 commodities.
During the secretary-level trade talks between the two countries, India had responded positively to Nepal´s call for lifting the duty on all Nepali exports. But it has not made any announcement in this connection yet.
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