Ministry of Commerce and Supply
(MoCS) has pushed for a rise in tariff of beetle nut in order to curb
its unauthorized re-export to India.
The MoCS, which blames huge difference between import duty in Nepal and India for the illicit trade, had decided to hike the tarrif in January and written to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for further action.
According to the MoCS, Nepal presently imposes 25 percent duty on import of beetle nut, whereas India has set it at as high as 108 percent. This difference was creating strong incentives to the traders to re-direct the imported product to India in unauthorized manner.
“We had forwarded the ministerial level decision to the MoF, as the illicit trade is creating undue nuisance in bilateral trade,” said Secretary Purushottam Ojha, who was recently transferred to Prime Minister´s Office from MoCS.
However, Shanta Raj Subedi, joint secretary and chief of Revenue Division said he had not yet received the letter. "I also have no knowledge of any discussions on its (beetle nut´s) tariff rise," he said.
Along with tariff hike, MoCS had also taken five decisions to deal with complaints by Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) against the illigal trade and pressure exerted to local chambers for issuing Certificate of Origin (CoO) by different political forces and government officials.
“Decisions focused on controlling illicit export of beetle nut to India,” said a source, elaborating that one major decision of the MoCS then was to seek actual data of domestic production and demand of beetle nut from Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC). Other decision was to monitor the CoO issued by the chambers every month.
MoCS also pushed the local chambers to make submission of recommendation letter of District Agricultural Development Office (DADO) of the beetle nut producing district mandatory for issuing CoO.
As its push for tariff hike failed to draw MoF´s attention, officials at MoCS said they were coordinating with the MoF yet again for increasing its tariff.
Commerce Secretary Lal Mani Joshi said that MoCS would follow up on all the past decisions, as those were important decision to prevent illegal trade.
In a recent anomaly, Republica had disclosed Agriculture Minister Nandan Kumar Datta of exerting pressure on the Siddharthanagar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) to issue CoO for 3000 tons of beetle nut and facilitating Excel Trading Concern based in Bhairwaha to export beetle nut which was not produced locally. The consignment held by the trading firm was estimated at Rs 900 million.
The MoCS, which blames huge difference between import duty in Nepal and India for the illicit trade, had decided to hike the tarrif in January and written to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for further action.
According to the MoCS, Nepal presently imposes 25 percent duty on import of beetle nut, whereas India has set it at as high as 108 percent. This difference was creating strong incentives to the traders to re-direct the imported product to India in unauthorized manner.
“We had forwarded the ministerial level decision to the MoF, as the illicit trade is creating undue nuisance in bilateral trade,” said Secretary Purushottam Ojha, who was recently transferred to Prime Minister´s Office from MoCS.
However, Shanta Raj Subedi, joint secretary and chief of Revenue Division said he had not yet received the letter. "I also have no knowledge of any discussions on its (beetle nut´s) tariff rise," he said.
Along with tariff hike, MoCS had also taken five decisions to deal with complaints by Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) against the illigal trade and pressure exerted to local chambers for issuing Certificate of Origin (CoO) by different political forces and government officials.
“Decisions focused on controlling illicit export of beetle nut to India,” said a source, elaborating that one major decision of the MoCS then was to seek actual data of domestic production and demand of beetle nut from Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC). Other decision was to monitor the CoO issued by the chambers every month.
MoCS also pushed the local chambers to make submission of recommendation letter of District Agricultural Development Office (DADO) of the beetle nut producing district mandatory for issuing CoO.
As its push for tariff hike failed to draw MoF´s attention, officials at MoCS said they were coordinating with the MoF yet again for increasing its tariff.
Commerce Secretary Lal Mani Joshi said that MoCS would follow up on all the past decisions, as those were important decision to prevent illegal trade.
In a recent anomaly, Republica had disclosed Agriculture Minister Nandan Kumar Datta of exerting pressure on the Siddharthanagar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) to issue CoO for 3000 tons of beetle nut and facilitating Excel Trading Concern based in Bhairwaha to export beetle nut which was not produced locally. The consignment held by the trading firm was estimated at Rs 900 million.
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