Fiscal Nepal
First Business News Portal in English from Nepal
KATHMANDU: Import of decorative lights for this year’s Tihar has declined by 70 percent. Entrepreneurs have said that the coronavirus pandemic has significantly affected the market of decorative lights this year.
According to Sudarshan Prasad Paudyal, president of the Federation of Electrical Entrepreneurs, decorative lights worth Rs 180 million have been imported for the ‘Festival of Lights’ this year. Last year, the country had imported sparkling lights worth Rs 400 million to Rs 500 million.
Such lights are imported mostly after the Dashain festival targeting Tihar and Christmas from India and China. Around 85 percent of the lights are imported from China with the remaining 15 percent from India.
Tihar is the peak time for traders to sell the decorative lights. People usually start decorating their houses with the lights after Dashain. Traders have mentioned that there is not much excitement among the people this year due to which the market has been hit hard.
In previous years, importers used to bring the lights by even visiting China and India themselves. Shankar Agrawal, a trader of such decorative lights, said that the traders themselves used to check the standard of the lights and then place the order. However, this year, they were unable to visit either India or China due to which they have been placing online orders.
According to the Department of Customs, decorative lights worth Rs 12.4 million have been imported in the first three months of the current fiscal year. The country imported lights worth Rs 29.6 million in the last three months.
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