Nathula opens wider: Sikkim’s border trade enters a cautious new phase

The Nathula Pass, where Sikkim meets Tibet at 14,000 feet, added two trading days to its weekly calendar this season, a small but symbolic widening of the world’s highest border bazaar.

Volumes remain modest — largely prayer goods, carpets and local handicrafts in exchange for Chinese manufactured items — and the trade is restricted to a handful of licensed dealers.

For Gangtok’s business community, the hope is that a wider channel would transform the state’s economy; the reality, for now, is a winter that closes the pass for nearly half the year.