India to raise marble import quota

The Indian directorate of foreign trade has increased the import limit of marble from Bhutan, according to Indian media reports.

Reports say this was done on August 4 when the government of India released the policy for issue of import licences of rough marble blocks for 2011 and 2012.

The policy has trebled the import quota from 1,847 tonnes to 5,882 tonnes.

Bhutanese trade officials say they have not yet received any official intimation from India on the issue. However, increasing the import quota of marbles was one of the requests made by the Bhutanese delegation during the bilateral trade talks held earlier this month in New Delhi between the two countries.

The Bhutanese delegation had requested the government of India to lift annual Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) in view of existing trade relations and considering that there is only one unit in Bhutan engaged in marble processing.

In March 2009, the Indian government had imposed an annual TRQ of 314,000 sq ft per annum for Bhutanese marbles.

According to Bhutan Trade Statistics 2010, the country exported a total of 222,036.87 sq ft of marbles, travertine, and alabaster amounting to Nu 60,463,775.

Rinchen Dorji, the managing director of RSA Pvt. Ltd., the only unit producing marble in the country, said that although there has not been any official confirmation as yet, such a move would surely enhance the future prospects.

“This will be good for the viability of the industry,” he said.

By Pushkar Chhetri