Goldstar Shoes, Nepal's Biggest Footwear Brand, Begins Layoffs, Closes Operations After Unable To Get BIS Certification in India: Report
Nepal's leading footwear brand, Goldstar Shoes shut down its operations and laid off employees after not getting BIS certification from India, its largest buyer.
Kathmandu, October 9: Goldstar Shoes, Nepal's biggest footwear brand, has begun shutting down its operations and laying off employees after it is unable to get a BIS certification from India. Without this certification, the Nepali footwear brand cannot begin exporting to India. A report said that over 100 trucks loaded with shoes were struck at the border because of not getting the certification.
According to a report by Khatapana, Nepal's leading footwear company, Goldstar Shoes, did not get the certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards to export its shoes to India. The report mentioned that India is one of the company's major markets, with around 60% of its total production bought there. BeepKart Layoffs: Bengaluru-Based Used Two-Wheeler Marketplace Reduces 40% of Its Workforce, Shuts Down 11 Stores To Cut Rising Costs.
The report said that the process of getting India's BIS certification lingered for almost a month without any solution. For decades, Goldstar Shoes had been exporting its products to India and always met standards as per the market. However, due to the "stricter enforcement" of the BIS certificate, Nepal's brand has been facing huge setbacks.
As a result of not getting the BIS certificate, the company reportedly had its shut down its Bhairahawa factory and laid off thousands of workers. Besides this, the company's shipments are stuck, said the report and also mentioned, "There's been no official word from India explaining why."
The report said that Goldstar Shoes layoffs already had affected 1,200 workers, and 1,000 more might have been laid off, making a total of 2,200 families suffering job loss. This happened before Nepal's biggest festival, Dashain. The report highlighted that Nepal-sourced raw materials from China and India might have blocked the company for that reason. PubMatic Layoffs: US-Based Adtech Company Lays Off Employees To Focus on Growth Areas, Plans To Increase Workforce by 15% This Year.
India also blocked imports from Bangladesh but reversed its decision amid pressure from the country. Nepal imported goods from India worth INR 996.68 billion and exported INR 103.17 billion worth of products. This reportedly caused a massive trade deficit of INR 893.50 billion to the country. The report said that India had been one of the largest trading partners of Nepal, which accepted 68% of exports and provided 62% to the country as imports.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 09, 2024 02:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).