As a goodwill gesture to Nepal following the latest political development of the country, India has revoked the additional four percent duty, levied since last March, on a majority of Nepalese goods exported to India.
The Union Finance Ministry in a public notice on Tuesday evening said the additional four percent duty on Nepalese goods has been revoked. Nepalese exports to India were affected for the past five months due to the additional four percent duty.
During Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s visit to India on the first week of June, it was agreed that India would cancel the additional four percent duty on the goods imported from Nepal, manufactured in Nepal using raw materials from Nepal itself.
A press statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said, “The exemption has been made exclusively for Nepal, keeping in view the readiness expressed by the government of India to do so, during the visit of Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to India in June 2006.”
“The decision to revoke the additional duty today is positive,” reports quoted industrialist Diwakar Golchha as saying.
According to the release, the Indian government issued a notification granting exemption of the duty on Tuesday. It had pledged duty exemption on primary goods in June 2006.