12 firms paid more than Rs 1b each in customs revenue

More than a dozen companies paid customs revenue of more than Rs 1 billion while importing goods from Birgunj customs in 2012/13. According to Birgunj Customs Office, firms involved in import of fuel, vehicles and machineries were among the highest contributors to customs revenue in 2012/13. Loss-making Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) topped the list, paying Rs 12.83 billion as customs duty while importing petroleum products worth Rs 68.66 billion in the last fiscal year. Similarly, Sipradi Trading, the authorized distributors of Tata vehicles, stood in the second position. Sipradi paid Rs 7.17 billon in customs revenue to the government during the review period. Similarly, Hansaraj and Hulashchand & Company - the authorized distributor of Bajaj motorbikes and Syakar Trading, which sells Honda products in Nepal stood in the third and fourth position, paying Rs 3.35 billion and Rs 2.40 billion, respectively. Laxmi Intercontinental (Rs 2 billion), Dabur Nepal (Rs 1.69 billion), Agni Incorporated (Rs 1.68 billion), Morang Auto Works (Rs 1.53 billion), Surya Nepal (Rs 1.37 billion), Nepal Telecom (Rs 1.2 billion), GO Automobiles (Rs 1.07 billion) and Nepal General Marketing (Rs 1.03 billion) were the other companies paying customs revenue of more than Rs 1 billion. Birgunj Customs Office collected revenue worth Rs 67.87 billion during the year, which is 16 percent higher than what it collected in 2011/12.