Sourcing corporate merchandise from India: a practical guide for Nepali buyers
Most Nepali corporate merchandise is manufactured in India, and buying it well is a sourcing problem rather than a shopping problem. The three things that decide whether an order works are the written specification, the landed cost calculation, and screening out categories that need licences or clearances before they reach the border.
- Published
- Updated
- Read next
- Need a quote?
- Request one →
Specify in writing, always
The most common failure in cross-border merchandise buying is a specification agreed over a phone call and a photograph. Write down material and weight, dimensions, hardware, lining, decoration method, colour reference, packing and labelling. Then approve a physical sample against it.
The specification is also what protects you at customs. A description that matches across the invoice, packing list and declaration is the difference between clearance in hours and clearance in days.
Buy on landed cost, not ex-factory price
Nepal charges customs duty of 0% to 80% plus 13% VAT on CIF value, and CIF includes freight. A cheaper product shipped inefficiently can land above a better product shipped well. Ask every supplier for a delivered price to your actual delivery district, and compare those numbers rather than the quoted unit prices.
Consolidate
Separate orders for bags, bottles, diaries and uniforms mean four freight legs, four customs entries and four colour interpretations of your brand. One consolidated shipment removes three of each. This is the single largest cost saving available to most Nepali merchandise buyers, and it costs nothing to implement beyond agreeing a calendar.
Screen the categories that will stall
Some goods are prohibited or licence-restricted into Nepal: arms and ammunition, wireless communications equipment, precious metals and jewellery, beef and beef products, and liquor above 60% alcohol. Others need food-safety, plant-quarantine or drug-regulator clearance that cannot be arranged inside a normal order timeline.
It is also worth avoiding high-tariff finished consumer goods sitting in Nepal's protective 30–80% bands unless the margin genuinely supports it. The categories that work are those where Nepal has no domestic industry and the duty slab is moderate.
Nepal Department of Customs Tariff. US Commercial Guide, Nepal (prohibited and restricted imports). Verify licence requirements before ordering.