Kodak Is giving Nepal one last chance. The US$ 6 million US-India joint venture in Nepal may decide to pack up and leave in a few weeks if it fails to get permission to export its products to India after the visit of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala next week.

"We\'ve been assured the issue will be raised during the visit, Kodak sources told the Times. "But indications in India are not so good.

Kodak Nepal built a factory in Hetauda only to be later told that it would not be able to export to India, since the latter says Kodak\'s process - of importing jumbo rolls and converting them into smaller units-is not "manufacturing", Technically the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and industry (FNCCI) issues a Certificate of Origin to Nepali products seeking to export to India under the 1936 preferential treaty. Bui it is waiting for "tacit approval" from the Confederation of Indian Industry (Cll).

A senior Nepali official said that the government may not press hard to get India\'s nod for Kodak, fearing a strike back on other experts "We should not have licensed the company in the first place, the official said. "But at that time even Indian officials supported it.

Eastman Kodak Company of the US owns 60 percent of the company in Nepal, The rest is held by Kodak India, in which Eastman Kodak controls 74 percent. Said the Kodak source: "We cannot wait for certification for ever."