A large number of informal workers in Valley are Indians: Report

12 September, KATHMANDU: A large number of informal workers in the Kathmandu Valley are reported to be Indian workers. According to the Informal Labour Market: Non-Nepali Labourers in Kathmandu, the prepared by the Department of Labour, about 40 to 50 per cent of workers in the informal labour market of the Valley are Indian nationals.

Among them, more than 50 per cent hail from Bihar. The remaining are from West Bengal, Rajasthan and Orissa. The informal labour market includes  construction workers, jewellery makers, brick kiln workers, carpenters, street vendors, garment workers and scrap pickers in the Kathmandu Valley. A worker is reported to earn Rs 5,000 to more than Rs 100,000 monthly, as per their skills and nature of work.

The report says each Indian worker on an average remits somewhere between Rs 7,000 and Rs 30,000 per month, mostly through informal channels. Moreover,  Rs 7.37 billion that foreigners working in Nepal were remitted to their home countries in the last fiscal year through formal channel. Interestingly,  more than 1,000 Nepalis migrants are leaving the country every day seeking job placements abroad, citing lack of employment opportunities at home.

About 25-30 per cent of 200,000 workers employed in the Valley’s construction sector are Indians. Average savings stand at around Rs 7,000 per month. The ornament sector receives 75 per cent of its estimated 65,000-strong workforce from India.

These migrants working as goldsmiths take home around Rs 5 billion every year, according to the report. Similarly, 50 per cent of street vendors are Indians, selling vegetables, fruits and fast food items, while many carpenters working in the Valley hail from india.

Each of these workers remits Rs 10,000 monthly. Indian workers are largely engaged in brick kilns. They earn Rs 15,000 per month on an average. Similarly, 40 to 50 per cent of people working in textile and garment industries and 33 per cent of scrap pickers are Indians. Each of them remits Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000 every month. Scrap pickers earn Rs 12,000 to Rs 35,000 monthly.