Govt fixes price of China-granted induction stoves at Rs 4,000 each

Kathmandu, May 26

The government has finally decided to sell the Chinese government granted induction heaters at Rs 4,000 per set in the domestic market.

The board meeting of National Trading Ltd (NTL) today finalised the price of 11,300 induction heaters, which the Chinese government had granted more than a year ago, at a steep discount of over 50 per cent of the cost price of the heaters at that time.

As an immediate relief to fuel-strapped Nepal, the Chinese government in March last year had granted these induction heaters (which cost Rs 11,995 each) to Nepal under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of China to Nepal.

However, NTL — the government authorised body to sell these induction heaters — has been unable to sell these induction stoves as demand sapped after the fuel supply situation gradually normalised. These Chinese induction stoves also could not compete with similar products available in the market in terms of price.

Though a price-setting committee of NTL had earlier recommended its board to fix the price of induction stoves at Rs 4,500 each, NTL board has set the price at Rs 4,000 per set to make them price competitive, according to Laba Raj Joshi, general manager of NTL.

“We were obliged to keep the price of these Chinese induction stoves as low as possible to compete in the domestic market,” Joshi said, adding that NTL would start selling them in the domestic market very soon.

However, Ministry of Supplies (MoS) will have to authenticate the new rate of induction stoves before NTL starts selling them in the market.

NTL has 1,300 of the China-granted induction stoves in its warehouse, while the remaining 10,000 are still at the Customs Office, as per Joshi.

NTL plans to sell the induction cookers received as Chinese grant through its various outlets across the country, including in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan.

Meanwhile, NTL has also urged the government to waive off all customs duty and demurrage charges on these induction stoves. “These stoves have been lying in the customs warehouse for more than a year and the customs and demurrage charges have ballooned to over Rs 40 million,” Joshi said, adding that such extra cost would add to the financial burden of NTL.

NTL, one of the many loss-making state entities, owes more than Rs 1.5 billion to the government.