Nepal business, finance and trade news, every Wednesday.
Sudurpaschim Spends Rs 140M, Passes Nothing
Sudurpaschim Provincial Assembly spent Rs 140.2 million ($922,000) in fiscal 2025-26 on salaries, staff, meetings, vehicles and fuel, but passed zero full bills. The provincial government registered two full bills and three amendments; only the two amendments cleared (they were related to local service formation and secretariat housekeeping). Nine bills, including two full bills carried over from the previous fiscal year, are still stuck, most of them in committee. The assembly met 30 times over three sessions. The province has also failed to endorse its budget for fiscal 2026-27, leaving government spending frozen.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
Ncell Officials Face Rs 95B Bill
Nepal's Central Investigation Bureau wants Rs 95 billion ($625 million) recovered and 22 people prosecuted, nine of them Ncell officials and two from Nepal Investment Mega Bank, over the auction of bankrupt Smart Telecom's assets. Police say the deal was rigged by way of collusion between the bank and Ncell. Former Nepal Telecommunications Authority chairman Bhupendra Bhandari was arrested on July 30. The recommendation comes as a separate government committee, chaired by former Auditor General Tanka Mani Sharma Dangal, published findings on Ncell's ownership history, including a December 2023 sale from Axiata to Spectralite UK that the committee says never got the legally required approvals.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (CIB charges), The Annapurna Express (share transfers)
Silver Outspends Gold in Nepal for the First Time
Silver imports were up 366 percent to Rs 32.74 billion ($215 million) in the fiscal year ended mid-July, tiptoeing past gold's Rs 29.15 billion ($192 million) for the first time. Silver shipments more than doubled to 104.29 tonnes as gold shrank 6.17 percent to 1.52 tonnes as its price kept climbing, reaching Rs 307,900 ($2,026) per tola on Monday. Dealers say most of the silver arrived as granules, not bars, and was snapped up by small investors chasing quick gains after prices roughly doubled between October and January, thinking it was a cheaper bet than gold once stocks and property stopped delivering.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (import origin breakdown), Online Khabar (daily price move)
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Tibetan Studies Conference Forced Online
Kathmandu University spent months preparing to host the 17th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, but now it won't happen on campus. Chief Secretary Govinda Bahadur Karkee called Vice-Chancellor Rishikesh Wagle, Registrar Rajeev Shrestha and HiCAS's Sagar Sharma last Monday and asked for cancellation because of security concerns, after Chinese Ambassador Zhang Maoming met senior officials to stoke worries that pro-Tibet activists could turn the conference into a protest platform. IATS acting president Françoise Robin and secretary general Ulrike Roesler had written to Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel to warn them that the change would damage the university's academic standing and hurt Nepal's reputation, tourism and academic collaborations. A Western diplomat reportedly suggested Kathmandu reverse course and let Nepali citizens exercise freedom of expression to no avail. The week-long gathering will now run entirely online.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
Nepal Can't Find Its India Treaties
Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal told Parliament on Monday that the government is unable to confirm whether it holds the original 1816 Sugauli Treaty or the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty with India. The two documents are the ones that underpin Nepal's western and southern boundaries. Some papers are at the National Archives, he said, but nobody has verified they are the formal treaty texts. The admission comes five years after Kathmandu used Sugauli-era evidence to redraw the official map in 2020 to include Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, territory India still holds. Delhi's response, delivered by external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, mentioned "existing bilateral mechanisms" for any disagreements.
Read more: myRepublica (lawmaker inquiry), Ratopati (Modi invite)
Cooking Gas Vanishes Again
Imports were holding steady at 41,294 tonnes by August 8, but for some reason, cooking gas disappeared from shelves within weeks of Nepal Oil Corporation restoring full 14.2 kg cylinder sales on June 15. The Home Ministry has ordered police to guard Kathmandu Valley depots after Industry Minister Gauri Kumari Yadav asked for security at monitoring sites. In Rautahat, Chief District Officer Dinesh Sagar Bhusal inspected 17 dealers, finding reduced stocks but no evidence of black marketing. Officials blame consumers rushing back with empty cylinders they had held during four months of half-cylinder rationing, not cuts in Indian supply.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (cylinder circulation), myRepublica (security deployment), The Himalayan Times (police officers)
China Border Delays Squeeze EV Imports
The NAIMA Nepal Mobility Expo opened at Bhrikutimandap on Tuesday. NAIMA president Ritu Singh Vaidya says the bottleneck isn't demand, it's Tatopani and Rasuwagadhi, where vehicles must be unloaded, inspected and fitted with regulatory stickers before being reloaded for onward transport, adding cost and delay to anything coming in from China. Vaidya wants any MRP system customs is considering to be practical and predictable before the festive buying season, which is traditionally the industry's peak stretch for sales.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
Shah Meets With India and China Envoys
PM Balendra Shah met foreign ambassadors individually for the first time since taking office, receiving Indian Ambassador Naveen Srivastava and then Chinese Ambassador Zhang Maoming hours apart on Monday at Singha Durbar. Srivastava brought greetings from Narendra Modi and posted on X about an "engaging and productive exchange" on the India-Nepal partnership. Zhang's session followed, with the Prime Minister's Office readout containing near-identical language about deepening "historic ties" and expanding cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Shah had earlier declined meetings, saying that at the time they were against diplomatic protocol.
Read more: The Himalayan Times (China envoy meeting), myRepublica (Srivastava), The Kathmandu Post
Congress Rivals Meet for 30, Leave Empty-Handed
Nepali Congress President Gagan Thapa and dissident leader Shekhar Koirala met on Tuesday for just 30 minutes, but left with no agreement on who runs the party. Shortly after, Shashank Koirala's faction sent letters to Thapa, the Central Working Committee, and the Election Commission demanding a freeze on all organizational, policy, political, and financial decisions with long-term impact as the Supreme Court reviews a leadership dispute filed by former President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka.
Read more: Nepal News (freeze demand), Ratopati (meeting timeline), Khabarhub (Deuba return)
House Moves Intelligence Agency Into PMO
The House of Representatives on Monday passed the Nepal Special Service Act amendment moving the National Investigation Department out of the Home Ministry and into the Prime Minister's Office, over opposition objections that the intelligence body should stay put.
Read more: Nepal News, Khabarhub (Sugauli Treaty response), Firstpost (Brics summit backdrop)
Rs 250 Purchase Wins Tax Lottery
A shopper who spent Rs 250 ($1.64) at Shiva Krishna General Store in Punarbas Municipality, Kanchanpur, took home the Inland Revenue Department's Rs 1 million ($6,579) bumper prize in the first draw of the Taxpayer Incentive Gift Programme, which rewards consumers for demanding receipts for purchases. Fifteen others won Rs 100,000 ($658) (each) in daily draws. QR payers are entered automatically but must keep their receipts; cash buyers have to ask for a PAN or VAT bill and upload it to the department's website to get a lottery coupon.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
Army Restarts Hetauda Textile Looms
Forty soldiers and technicians from the Nepal Army's Directorate of Military Materiel Production spent 40 days clearing rust, overhauling power supply and servicing looms that have been idle since 2002. On Saturday, Hetauda Textile Industry ran cloth through the machines for the first time in nearly a quarter century, on a Rs 3 million ($19,700) emergency budget the Industry Ministry approved for the job. The factory still needs new machinery and a real investment plan before the looms run for profit rather than as a proof of concept. The Cabinet approved the revival on July 2.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post
Recruiters Stop Foreign Labor Approvals
Nepal's foreign employment agencies stopped processing labor approvals Friday after a 15-day ultimatum to the government expired without an answer. They want penalties against manpower companies reversed and a transparent service fee structure to replace the largely unenforced "free visa, free ticket" policy. Workers routinely pay between Rs 300,000 ($1,970) and Rs 500,000 ($3,290) out of pocket despite rules that bar charges for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Malaysia. New labor approvals were already down almost a fifth compared to last fiscal year, (that’s a drop of ~100k workers), in a sector tied to roughly 64 percent of Nepali households and that provides remittances worth about a third of GDP.
Read more: The Kathmandu Post (Europe migration), myRepublica (NAFEA leadership), The Kathmandu Post (remittance)
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