Nathu la trade to start from May 1

The annual trade between the traders of India and China at Nathu La would start from May one this year, a Sikkim government official said on Tuesday.

"We are in the process of verification of the applications of the traders before issuing them passes for participation in the trade at Nathu La," the District Collector (East) Vishal Chauhan told PTI.

A function would be held at Nathu La frontier to mark the formal inauguration of the annual trade on May 1 and thereafter, the traders of the two countries would participate in trade of various commodities as per the list of goods released by the two countries for export and import, he said.

Meanwhile, the Indo-China Traders Association of Sikkim (ICTAS) demanded an upward revision in the number of items to be exported by the Indian traders at Nathu La mart in order to make the business financially viable for the traders.

"We had put up a demand with the Union Commerce ministry for an increase in the list of items from the present 29 to 100 in order to make the border trade more viable for our traders," the ICTAS president Anil Kumar Gupta said.

The low volume of business was the major concern of the Indian traders over the past two years which should be addressed by the concerned authorities by expanding the lists of items, he said.