The Hindu Business Line : Trade thru Nathula scheduled for May 1

Gangtok, April 27 Ending the winter break, the India-China border trade through Nathula for this year is scheduled to begin from May 1. This has been notified in a letter sent by the Union Ministry of Commerce to the State Commerce and Industries Department recently.

According to a source, a simple function will be held at Sherathang on May 1 where Indian traders will give their Chinese counterparts a befitting welcome.

The Director of State Commerce and Industries Department, Mr Ujwal Gurung, said the Commerce Ministry said last year that trade would take place from May 1 to November 30. “The dates remain the same and the pass will open as scheduled,” he added.

Sources here say that Indian traders are not too enthusiastic about the commencement of the trade this year owing to the low trade volume last year. Last year, business transactions of only around Rs 30 lakh were recorded which, traders feel, is much less that what was expected. The border trade in the first year saw a business of Rs 20 lakh. However, despite all odds, traders are hopeful that the volume will increase this year.

list revision

“The revision of the trading list of 29 items is our long-pending demand but the Commerce Ministry is yet to take any concrete action in this regard,” said the President of Indo-China Traders Association of Sikkim, Mr Anil Kumar Gupta. According to him, one of the reasons for low business volume is the alleged harassment of local traders by Customs officials. “

The District Collector (East), Mr Vishal Chauhan, told Business Line that the issuance of application forms for trade passes had already started from the District Office here. “Although there have been few applicants till now, we are sure that there will be a good number of them with time,” Mr Chauhan added.

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