Envoy Upadhyay correct about Nepal’s trade dependency on India

Sujit Mainali / March 29, 2016

Cargo trucks at Birgunj customs in 2001.                                                                                 Photo: Southasiacheck

Nepal’s ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay speaking on a talk show titled “STV Chat” broadcast on Sagarmatha TV said:

“If you look at [the statistics], you will find that [Nepal’s] trade dependency on India 16-17 years ago was 30 percent, and now this has reached 70 percent.”

The increasing trade deficit with India is taken seriously in Nepal. In this context, it is assumed that ambassador Upadhyay’s mention of “Nepal’s trade dependency on India” implied Nepal’s dependency on imports from India.

South Asia Check has examined whether ambassador Upadhyay’s statements are fact-based or not.

We have examined the following two statements of the ambassador:

1. 16-17 years ago, imports from India would constitute 30 percent of Nepal’s total imports.
2. Now 70 percent of Nepal’s total imports are from India.

First Statement: 16-17 years ago, imports from India would constitute 30 percent of Nepal’s total imports.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in the fiscal year 1998-1999, Nepal’s total imports stood at Rs 87.52 billion (Rs 87,525,300,000). Of this, imports worth Rs 32.11 billion (Rs 32,119,700,000) or 36.69 percent was from India.

Similarly, in fiscal year 1998-1999, Nepal’s imports totaled Rs 89 billion (Rs 89,002,000,000) and imports from India amounted to Rs 27.33 billion (Rs 27,331,000,000), which was 29.58 percent of the total.

Therefore, ambassador Upadhayay is almost correct in saying that 16-17 years ago imports from India constituted 30 percent of Nepal’s total imports.

Click here for further information about Nepal-India trade.

Second Statement: Now 70 percent of Nepal’s total imports are from India.

The latest yearly report on Nepal’s imports is “Nepal Foreign Statistics 2014/15” prepared and released by the Ministry of Finance. According to the report, in FY 2014-15, Nepal’s total imports stood at more than Rs 786 billion (Rs 786,191,403,000). From India alone, goods worth Rs 507 billion (Rs 507,561,578,000) were imported that year and this was 64.55 percent of the total imports.

Therefore, ambassador Upadhyay is fairly correct in saying that imports from India now constitute 70 percent of Nepal’s total imports.

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