KATHMANDU: With India stopping importing refined palm oil from Nepal, the Himalayan nation’s top export item, the government has formally asked New Delhi to revoke the ban.

Though the restriction was aimed at Malaysia, which criticized India’s decisions on Kashmir and the new citizenship law, it has also hit Nepal.

Nepal had exported refined palm oil worth over Rs 11 billion to India in the first five months of this fiscal, making it the country’s largest export item, Commerce and Supplies Secretary Baikuntha Aryal told a group of journalists at the Ministry.