“New Industrial Policy is the need of hour”

KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 26: President of the Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI), Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, has argued that the contribution of the industrial section to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  is shrinking due to the absence of a new national industrial policy promoting productive sectors.

He made such an argument while presenting his welcome speech during a special program held yesterday in the capital to mark the “Ninth National Industry Day”.

“We have long been demanding the government to bring a new industrial policy carrying a term of at least 10 years focusing on bolstering the growth of small, medium and large scale industries. And, on this occasion, the CNI once again does the same,” Agrawal said. “Among others, the proposed policy can well identify a minimum of 10 different domestic products as models and promote them so that the country will be fully self-dependent on them.

The current industrial policy enacted as many as 13  years back has already been rendered obsolete and it should be superseded by the new one to discourage imports and spur exports, according to him.

In his speech, the chieftain of the apex body of Nepali industrialists also pointed out the need to monitor and curb the illicit trade. “The rampant smuggling of goods from the open border points with India has long posed a grave challenge to both the domestic industries and the government. “The influx of untaxed (unauthorised) foreign products in the country’s market is eroding the competitive edge of domestic ones that are taxed. This anomaly has also caused a loss of huge amount of revenues for the government.”

In India, a GST rate is fixed at a just 5 percent while the very rate in Nepal stands at a whopping 13 percent. According to him, such a disparity has also made the domestic products dearer than those of India, thus dampening the market competitors of the former compared to the latter.

“The adoption of a multi-rate VAT system can help minimize the smuggling of Indian goods into Nepal,” he recommended.