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It was interesting that over 50 business people elbowed each other to see New Delhi and Hyderabad (Bangalore according to earlier schedule), and were putting up their fight to sideline others. All those 50 businesspersons must have seen New Delhi not less than 15 times and almost 50 percent of them must have visited Hyderabad at least once. Still they wanted to go to those two places because it was not an ordinary trip. All the elbowing was to become a part of the Prime Minister’s official delegation to India.

It is but natural for business people to be a part of such an official foreign visit with the Prime Minister or Head of the Government. Even President Clinton and Prime Minister Blair and other world leaders take a pride to have a horde of businesspersons accompanying them on their state visits. So when our business group accompanied Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala on his official week-long visit to India, it was a pride for the Nepali premier.

President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Pradeep Kumar Shrestha had a tough time sorting out people to reduce the size of the delegation to 30 members. Though he managed to do so, it was still a big group.

Due to the size of the group and the close relationship of each and every businessman with one or the other big business house of India, the trip was expected to be a huge success. Since PM Koirala had gone to Hyderabad, the silicon state of Chandra Babu Naidu (who is also known as the cyber Chief Minister in India), it was expected that Nepal would be able to attract a host of IT projects in the country.

Since the whole visit of the Prime Minister was adjudged successful mainly on the basis of removal of Special Additional Duty (SAD) to all the exports from Nepal, imposed by India by this year’s budget proposals, the business delegation should also be considered successful.

However, except for the withdrawal of 4 percent SAD, the business delegation could not do much. And the SAD was more a political achievement than a business one, despite the fact that FNCCI had sent couple of delegations to India to negotiate on the issue before the PM’s visit.

The business people have many problems related with India. More than political commitment, they wanted to loosen up bureaucratic hassles. But, the Indian bureaucracy showed indifference to Nepali business sector, regardless of the gravity of the Prime Minister’s official visit.

It is learnt that Indian Finance Secretary provided very short time to Nepali business delegation. He was very much tough in behaving with Nepali side, and did not provide a single minute more than the stipulated time. The business people were shocked when the Secretary even returned the tea that had come at the last minute of the meeting saying that the time for the delegation was over. He did not even show the minimal courtesy of bidding farewell to Nepali business delegation. As soon as the meeting was over he said goodbye and showed his back to the delegation.

Until and unless Nepal becomes successful in changing this attitude of Indian bureaucracy it is very difficult for Nepal to see flourishment of its business either with India or with a third country. Nepal has a horde of problems at Calcutta port, Indian customs and many other related places. Such problems cannot be solved without positive attitude of the Indian bureaucracy. For that, just treaties and agreements at political level are not sufficient, the executive level should also be sympathetic towards the problems of Nepal. And this official delegation was very much a failure in solving practical problems of Nepali business sector.

The Indian bureaucrats give high regards to all other countries where they sell their goods. But despite Nepal being one of the largest importers of Indian products, India doesn’t give much importance to Nepal. It is because of geopolitical handicap of Nepal. But the time has come that Nepali business sector makes India realize the importance of a buyer country.

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Talking Thoughts

Attitude of Indian Bureaucracy

Prateek Pradhan analyzes the Indian bureaucracy’s cold attitude and Nepali business delegation's experience in India during the recent official India visit of Prime Minister GP Koirala