Nepalgunj, December 12

Nepalgunj customs has missed the revenue target for the first quarter of the current fiscal.

According to Nepalgunj Customs Office Chief Shantiram Niraula, his office collected Rs 3.75 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal. This is the first time in recent years that the customs has failed to meet its revenue target.

The Department of Customs had set a target of 5.55 billion rupees for Nepalgunj Customs Office for the first quarter of this fiscal, but it has failed to meet the target by a figure of 1.80 billion rupees.

The customs chief attributed the shortfall in revenue collection to slackened import of goods and commodities from India.

“Among other causes, the decrease in petroleum import and stalled export of herbal products from Nepal were mainly to blame for the shortfall. As the import of petroleum has now increased and herbs export has resumed, we hope the gross revenue collection will start falling in line with the target from the second quarter of the current fiscal,” Niraula said.

Potatoes, petroleum products, industrial machinery, food and clinker make up the bulk of imports via customs office here. There are seven chhoti customs offices in Banke, but all of them had shut down since the time of the Maoist insurgency.