The Rising Nepal
By Siraj Khan/Laxman Paudel
Nepalgunj/Bhairahawa, Sept. 11: The festivals of Dashain and Tihar are fast approaching. With the festival season nearing, Nepalis have started shopping different necessary goods.
The festival season commencement has excited locals across Terai districts to cross over to the nearby Indian market and buy goods for cheaper price. It has resulted in shops within the country deserted.
Locals from Banke, Bardiya, Dang and Surkhet districts are reaching Rupaidiha, an Indian market area bordering with Banke district. The shops in Nepalgunj, a major city in the region, and other Nepali cities wear a deserted look.
“Compared to Nepalgunj, same goods available in Rupaidiha are far cheaper. We need goods in larger quantity during festival season due to which I came here,” said Firdaus Jahan Khan, a resident of Ward No. 11 of Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City Similarly, Nepali consumers in Rupandehi district are also reaching Sunauli Bazaar in India to buy goods at cheaper price leaving the local shops deserted.
“The price of goods has increased even in Sunauli this year. However, it is still cheaper than in Nepal,” said Samita Dawadi who had reached Sunauli to buy clothes.
“Compared to earlier days, our sales have increased by threefold. We don’t have a minute’s peace. People from Nepalgunj, Kohalpur, Ranjha, Khajura, Bardiya, Dang and Surkhet arrive here for shopping,” said Om Kumar Baisya, a businessman in Rupaidiha. There is no concrete data on how many and how much goods Nepali consumers buy from Rupaidiha. However, businesses expect that Nepalis buy around Rs. 30 million worth of goods daily during normal days and it rises to over to Rs. 50 million during the festival season.
Meanwhile, businesses in Sunauli Bazaar said that the number of Nepali consumers has not started to rise as expected yet.
“Sunauli also engages in every festival celebrated by Nepalis in Terai region as people come for shopping for the respective festival. However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Nepali consumers arriving here has declined,” said Surbir Mehta, a cosmetic shopkeeper in Sunauli.
Yet, Nepali consumers are still majority of buyers for the businesses in Sunauli. “Ninety per cent of our customers are Nepalis,” said Nanda Gopal, owner of Uttamshree Clothes Collection in Sunauli.
Businesses in Rupandehi informed that around 5,000 Nepalis reach Sunauli daily and spend around Rs. 50 million.
On the other hand, businesses on Nepali side are saddened as hardly any customer arrives there for shopping.
“Dashain is near but we don’t see any consumers on the road. It doesn’t seem like festival season commencing to us,” said Kedar Gupta, a shopkeeper selling clothes at Sadarline, Nepalgunj.
Nepalgunj Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) argued that the inability of the Customs to collect tax effectively had led to the desertion of Nepalgunj shops.
“Law states that tax should be paid while bringing any goods over Rs. 1,000 from across the border. It should be implemented effectively,” said Abdul Wahid Mansuri, chairman of Nepalgunj FNCCI.
Meanwhile, the Customs Office said that they have intensified tax collection on goods bought in Rupaidiha.
“We check the goods bought by locals from Rupaidiha while entering Nepal and collect tax as needed,” said Prabin Limbu of Nepalgunj Customs Office.
According to Limbu, they only collected 88 per cent of expected tax in previous fiscal year 2021/22.
In the first month of current fiscal year 2022/23, Nepalgunj Customs have collected only 75 per cent of projected tax target.
