KATHMANDU: Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri has said that Nepal doesn’t need to worry much about a trade deficit with India as Nepal’s export to India is also growing. He assured Nepali businessmen that the Indian government was ready to facilitate easy access of Nepali goods to India.

“Your major import is fuel and no matter from which country you will import; you have to pay the price. Nepal is not importing any sorts of grand luxurious goods. Life is getting better here and thus people are consuming more. You need to import and if not with India, you can have a trade deficit with any other country,” he said an interaction on ‘Prospects of Nepal-India Trade and Business’ jointly organized by BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation Embassy of India and Khabarhub at the Durbarmarg-based Pavilion Hall on Thursday.

He said that Nepal needs to work hard on hydro-power and tourism as they have not been well explored, adding that Nepal has opportunities but it needs to leverage it.

Talking about Raxual-Kathmandu Railways, envoy Puri said that it is technically and financially challenging.

“Railway is a highly capital-intensive investment. We have presented a preliminary survey report to the Nepali government on Raxual- Kathmandu Railways. It is a huge technical challenge and not an easy task. It’s a huge financial challenge too,” he said.

On the occasion, Economist at the Institute of Strategic and Socio-Economic Research (ISSR), Dadhi Adhikari, presenting his views, said that Nepal’s economy is dependent on India as Nepal imports petroleum products, iron and steels and many other products from the southern neighbor.

He said that Nepal’s trade deficit with India is huge, adding that Nepal needs to expand infrastructure for goods and service productions.

Former President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Pradeep Kumar Shrestha suggested India to pay special attention to goods exported by Nepal.

On Indian investment in Nepal, he said that Nepal can attract Indian investment in tourism, hydro-power and agriculture among others while highlighting the ‘historic relations’ between the two countries.

Likewise, President of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Satish Kumar More, said that trade deficit with India is growing as Nepali currency is pegged with the Indian currency and it has remained unchanged for the past two decades.

He said that Nepal can lower trade deficit by increasing Indian tourists to Nepal.

Likewise, Senior Vice Chairman of FNCCI, Shekhar Golchha said that Indian investment should be increased in Nepal to lower the trade deficit. He maintained that India should provide easy access to goods and service exported from Nepal.

Similarly, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, said that Nepal needs to focus on tourism to limit the escalating trade deficit with India. He said that they are expecting very much from the railway link.

Speaking at the program, Chairman of Pavilion Group, Naresh Shrestha said that Nepal has an investment-friendly environment in place and as currently there is a liquidity crunch, Nepal needs to attract foreign investment.