"The Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) has directed that the issue be taken up with the authorities in China and Nepal through diplomatic channels," said Sanjaya Baru, media advisor to prime minister.

The announcement came in the wake of the reports by wildlife conservation groups who said they had found scores of shops openly selling tiger and leopard skins during a recent visit to Tibet and other areas of Western China.

Video footages, shot by London-based Environmental Investigation Agency, a private watchdog, and the Wildlife Protection Society of India, showed traders in Tibet offering fresh Bengal tiger and leopard skins, smuggled in from India, for sale.

The wildlife groups said the skins fetch high price because of the use of tiger body parts in traditional Chinese medicines.

Poaching has led to a sharp decline in India's tiger population and virtually wiped out the big cats from Sariska forest in the desert state of Rajasthan.

Alarmed over this, the government had set up a task force that came out with several recommendations for tiger conservation.