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India opens import of Nepali vegetable ghee
KATHMANDU, NOV 12 - After an embargo for about seven months, the Indian government has finally granted permission to its state-level dealers to resume import of Nepali vegetable ghee under the quota provisions of renewed Nepal-India Trade Treaty.
“The export of the commodity to India has been opened after State Trading Corporation (STC), the Indian channelling agency, finalised a new import mechanism after Tihar,” said an official of Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies.
The export of ghee was stalled after the Indian manufacturers challenged previous imports mechanism of the Indian government at Kolkata court and new channelling agency of STC, due to differences with the Nepali exporters, delayed in finalising fresh mechanism.
“However, the STC has incorporated the most of the demands placed by Nepali exporters in the new arrangement,” said Manish Agrawal, proprietor of Shree Krishna Refinery.
It has annulled its previous appointment of Rastogi and Ruchi Soya, two Indian ghee manufacturers, for distributing the vegetable ghee import from Nepal in India and has allowed direct dealings between suppliers and the Indian buyers. The Indian buyers would still need approval letter from the STC for the imports, the source said.
The export would now take place as a tripartite agreement between the STC, the Indian buyers and the Nepali exporters, said he. The STC would still be regarded as the importer and the buyer would function as a dealer of the corporation.
The arrangement comes close to what the Nepali exporters have been demanding. “Most importantly, this will bar the Indian government from fixing the price of the import,” said Agrawal. He further added that the price offered by the dealer is reasonable and better than the STC’s initial offer.
The STC would be issuing a contract for imports to the dealers that reaches procurement agreement with Nepali supplier from New Delhi.
It would be collecting a service charge of Rs 2,560 and Rs 1,440 per ton from dealers respectively from Eastern and Western Indian states.
The service charge for dealers from the Eastern Indian states has been fixed higher on the pressure of the ghee manufacturers there, as they have claimed that the Nepali ghee exports mostly affected the manufacturers from Eastern Indian states.
Also, the STC has made arrangements to inspect the quality of the Nepali vegetable ghee at the customs and not in the destination state that it proposed earlier.
The change has been effected following exporters sticking to the stance that any complications arising in such arrangement would result them a massive loss. “The STC has already deputed its representatives in major customs to facilitate process and monitor the trade, as per the new arrangement,” said the official.
Meanwhile, officials are sceptical over Nepali exporters being able to utilise the export quota of ghee in full for the year. Nepal has mere five months time to export all 100,000 tons of vegetable ghee, as stipulated in the bilateral trade treaty for a year.
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