Om Prakash Khanal

March 21: It is estimated that a person uses an average of 50 meters of cloth per year. On this basis, textile industrialist Pitambar Kumar Munka claims that 1.5 billion meters of cloths are consumed annually in Nepal. 

Domestic industrialists of Nepal estimate that 100 million meters of cloths are produced annually by 200 big and small textile industries of Nepal. The remaining demand is fulfilled through imports. 

Textile producers claim that about 200 million pieces of cloths enter the country through formal channels while the remaining quantities are entering Nepal unofficially through the open border it shares with India. This shows that around 1.25 billion meters of cloths are imported in an illegal way. 

Some of this comes from shopping in the markets across the border. However, most of them are smuggled with the intention of evading revenue. Entrepreneurs have accused the agencies deployed at the border for being indifferent to the smuggling. 

Although the increasing consumption of textile is an opportunity for domestic industries, the illegal supply of textile has been frustrating them. Industrialist Munka complains that the domestic industries have not been able to increase their capacity due to the cheap cloths smuggled in from the open border. The domestic market is dominated by the international market. 

Director of Nobel Textile Binay Shah says that the climate of Terai region of Nepal is suitable for the textile industry. However, the industry has not been able to take advantage of this opportunity as the government has not taken a policy to protect the domestic industries. 

Furthermore, he says that the domestic industries have not been able to increase investment due to unfavorable government policy even though both production and market are favorable.

Another industrialist Ramesh Gadiya claims that the textile industry can become self-reliant if the government provides them protection. 

"There are examples of countries like the UK, China, Bangladesh moving ahead in industrial development by promoting the textile industry," said Gadiya. 

"Nepal used to export textile to India until 25/30 years ago. However, the situation has reversed now. Most of the textiles are imported from India, majority of them in illegal way," says Munka who is also the director of Crown and Kohinoor Textile.