Nepal’s multiple requests to India to ease Nepal’s export restrictions by easing the Bureau of Indian Standards certification process have gone unanswered, according to two officials who are aware of the development.

Government officials say the restrictions began two years ago with export barriers on cement, and multiple requests have been submitted to India seeking to address the matter.

“Since the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) certificate issues started hindering Nepali manufacturers and exporters, the Ministry of Industry, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has regularly informed its Indian counterpart about the issue and requested changes to the process. But there has been no response,” a top official of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies told the Post on condition of anonymity.

According to the Cement Manufacturers’ Association of Nepal, a dozen Nepali cement factories applied for BIS certification in 2022 to make their products eligible for export, particularly to India.

According to the manufacturers the Post spoke to, the certification should be issued two months after the manufacturers' applications are processed.

But none of them have been able to get it.

Export of Nepali cements has been stalled time and again over BIS-related issues.

“The issues started with cement, and since then, Indian authorities have expanded restrictions to include many other goods like Goldstar shoes. They have halted exports of all products. There has been no development on the issues to date,” said the official.

The Post’s attempts to get a comment from the Indian Embassy in Nepal were unsuccessful.

In 2020, the Indian government asked the BIS to prescribe mandatory standards for imported goods in line with international quality norms. The move aimed to prevent Chinese goods from entering India through neighbouring countries.

After banning Chinese apps, the Indian government imposed import restrictions on more than 370 Chinese products.

Insiders say India does not want any products from Nepal with Chinese components, including Nepal’s hydroelectricity, which is greatly worrying top Nepali exporters.

India is Nepal’s largest export destination. The country exported goods worth Rs103.18 billion in the last fiscal year, which ended in mid-July.

Similarly, Nepal’s imports from India are massive, amounting to Rs996.68 billion, out of the country’s total imports of Rs1.59 trillion.

Nepal majorly exported zinc sheets, shoes and sandals, textiles, tea, polyester yarn, jute goods (hessian and sacking), and fruit juice.

According to Nepali authorities, they have been closely watching the issue in other southeast Asian countries.

They say Vietnam is also a victim of India’s new rule curbing Chinese components in exports.

According to media reports, in May, Vietnam's trade ministry wrote to New Delhi to expedite BIS certification for 26 companies, stating that the delays are hurting business. Most of these companies are engaged in the trade of shoes or steel.

The reports say that manufacturers from other countries, especially Chinese companies, are also facing delays in securing BIS certification.

In Nepal, domestic manufacturers of sanitary pads and diapers, footwear, cement, and plywood said that despite completing all the processes to obtain a BIS certificate to export their products months ago, they have not been able to get it.

Nepal has raised the issue many times with India and even the domestic private sector communicated directly with the BIS, but the Indian side has not responded.

The producers said despite completing lab tests and paying fees for BIS certification, no team from India has visited to inspect their factories.

According to The Indian Express, India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal stated on October 16 that quality control orders (QCOs) restricting the import and sale of substandard items in the country have been extended to 732 products to align with international standards and boost exports.

“QCOs are a key mechanism through which India is not only raising quality standards to enter the global value chain but also restricting imports from China,” according to the media reports. “Imports from China have already crossed $60 billion during the first seven months of 2024, which is 10 percent higher than the $55 billion recorded during the same period last year.”

Goyal stated that, until 2014, only 14 QCOs were covering 106 products. However, in the past 10 years, the government has issued 174 such orders, now covering 732 products.

Insiders from Nepal’s private sector trade body said India stopped Bangladeshi goods, citing the BIS certification requirement. When Bangladesh threatened a reciprocal action, India promptly issued the BIS certificate.

“We even wrote to the Indian authority multiple times, but our requests have fallen on deaf ears,” Dol Raj Adhikari, president of the Nepal Sanitary and Diaper Association, told the Post in a recent interview.

As per the provision, once the Indian inspection team gives a green signal after factory inspection, goods can be exported to India.

The BIS deals with the marking and certifying goods, incorporating quality standards and information on international norms to be followed while importing.

According to the Nepal Sanitary and Diaper Association, Rs250 million worth of sanitary pads and diapers has been stranded in the warehouses for the past three months.

Likewise, a big consignment of Goldstar shoes failed to get export clearance after India refused to issue the BIS certificate, putting Nepal’s homegrown shoemaker on the brink.

Exports from the cement makers in Rupandehi—such as Arghakhanchi Cement, Sarbottam Cement, Palpa Cement, and Balaji Cement—have completely stopped for nearly two months. Cement plants in Rupandehi are on the verge of shutting down or running under-capacity.

India even stopped importing plywood from Nepal due to the BIS issue, but later, it provided certification-free exports until March 2025.

Plywood manufacturers said that India is not renewing their quality certificate or providing a BIS certificate even after completing the process in June.

Goods under the BIS with compulsory certification are any variety of cement manufactured or sold in India, steel and iron products, chemicals, fertiliser, polymers and textiles, cables, flat transparent sheet glass, cattle feed, footwear, centrifugally cast (spun) iron pipes, jute bags, viscose staple fibres, geotextiles, portable water bottles, plywood, and wooden flush door shutters, among others.

The private sector said that the BIS certificate issue has put the industries in Rupandehi in a big dilemma. They were opened to export goods to India.