With the intention to promote border trade and to make border trade a more reliable source for livelihood and to bridge with the South East Asian nation, the Govt. of India has initiated a formal trade opening in Moreh town, Manipur since 1995. It is in this premise that this study examines how far the formal trade opening has help the border communities especially people who are involve in the border trade. The questionnaire were designed to elicit information from people who are involves in border trade while secondary data’s were obtain from different govt. records, books, journals, etc. The finding reveals that, to some extent the social economy of the people have changed. The paper concludes by highlighting the problems of formal trade so to boost the economy in the state as well as the region as a whole.