Border Trade Hit as Nepal’s Gen Z Stir Spills Into India

New Delhi: Widespread protests in Nepal, led by the Gen Z movement, have begun to disrupt cross-border movement into India, causing long delays in the transport of goods and people. The bottleneck at checkpoints in West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh is already impacting trade, prompting India to scale up security along sensitive stretches.

Officials reported instances of violence and jailbreaks across Nepal’s Saptari and Birgunj regions, while fires were sighted in villages near Panitanki in Darjeeling district. Similar disruptions have been reported from border points adjoining Uttar Pradesh. At many entry gates, traffic has slowed to a trickle, restricted only to urgent cases.

The disruption comes at a time when India remains Nepal’s largest trade partner. Data from Nepal’s embassy in New Delhi shows bilateral trade touched NPR 1,134.53 billion (over USD 8 billion) in 2022–23, with imports from India crossing NPR 1,027.84 billion (over USD 7 billion) and exports at NPR 106.69 billion (around USD 755 million).

Key commodities such as petroleum products, fertilisers, machinery, rice, medicines, and electronics flow into Nepal from India, while Nepalese goods enjoy duty-free access to the Indian market under the 1996 Trade Treaty, except for a short negative list.

Trade and transit between the two nations are governed by a series of agreements, including the 1992 Treaty of Transit, the 2009 Cooperation Agreement to Control Unauthorised Trade, and the 2004 Rail Services Agreement. These frameworks enable Nepal to use Indian ports like Kolkata, Haldia, and Visakhapatnam and to access Indian rail networks for cargo movement.

Earlier this year, the Inter-Governmental Committee on Trade, Transit, and Cooperation met in Kathmandu to discuss tariff harmonisation, customs documentation, and joint infrastructure projects. The meeting underscored the importance of ensuring uninterrupted access for Nepal’s imports and exports, which rely heavily on Indian routes.

Despite the present unrest, traders and business groups on both sides of the border remain optimistic that the crisis will be temporary and that normal trade flows will soon resume.