March 15: Bhutan will receive an excise duty refund of over Nu. 900 million from the Indian government for 2005. An agreement to this effect was signed yesterday in the capital.

The agreement was signed by the Director of the Department of Revenue and Customs, Choyzang Tashi, and the Director General of Inspections, Customs and Central Excise of India Mr. Anil Bhatnagar.

Choyzang Tashi said there has been an increase of Nu. 175 million in the excise duty refund in 2005 compared to the previous year. He said the excise duty refund for 2004 was Nu. 725 million. Excise duty refund is the refund given by the government of India to the government of Bhutan on excisable goods manufactured in India and imported to Bhutan.

He said the increase can be attributed to proper compilation of bills of imported products, improvement in the documentation of the bills, and increase in trade volume between the two countries.