India-China barter trade continues smoothly

Despite the Indo-Sino border tension, the annual India-China barter trade at Taklakot mart in Tibet continued smoothly, with both sides exchanging goods worth Rs 20 lakh so far.

Last year, the trade could not take place, for the first time since 1992, owing to protests in Tibet in the wake of Beijing Olympics.

But this year, Navneet Pandey, Indian Trade Officer, told Business Standard that he had not received any complaint from China so far even as there had been some reports of incursions of Chinese troops into the Indian borders.

Pandey said business to the tune of exports worth 12 lakh and imports worth Rs 8 lakh has already taken place at Taklakot where the trade began in July-August.

Due to the delay in the barter trade, the period has now been extended for one more month to end on October 31, Pandey said.

Due to poor infrastructure facilities, Indian traders trek 60 km distance from Pithoragarh crossing inhospitable terrain to reach Taklakot, the trade mart in Tibet where the two sides indulge in barter trade.

The volume of the barter trade has been falling during the past three years with Rs 1 crore business registered two years ago. Indian traders are calling for revoking a ban on the import of some trade items like Chinese raw silk and livestock, which are in demand in India.

The demand for Chinese silk has been growing in India but the Centre feels that its import would affect the local trade.

The import of livestock has been banned since no quarantine facility is available at Gunji, the Indian mart at Pithoragarh. Through the barter trade with their Chinese and Tibetan counterparts, Indian traders exchange goods like jaggery, wool, spices and blankets, among other things.

The Indo-Tibet barter trade, which was resumed in 1992 after a gap of 30 years following the 1962 war, reached Rs 14-crore mark in 2004.

But after the ban of certain items like livestock and Chinese silk, the volume of trade is gradually falling.