KATHMANDU, Oct 29: Nepal received foreign direct investment (FDI) pledge of mere Rs 16.23 billion in the first three months of the current Fiscal Year (FY), which was less than half of the amount that was approved in the same period of the last FY.
The records with the Department of Industry (DoI) show that there was a significant decline in the FDI commitment in the first quarter this year. During mid-July and mid-October last FY, the country witnessed commitment of Rs 35.13 billion in the FDI.
A total of 422 foreign firms were registered up to mid-October. Of them, 410 firms were registered via the 'automatic route,' while 12 were registered through the traditional means.
Nepal receives FDI pledges of Rs 47.61 billion, a decline from...
Last month alone, the DoI approved FDI worth Rs 5.10 billion, with 94 firms registered during the period. Of these, 88 were registered through the automatic route.
Most of the foreign investment based firms registered in the first quarter were small-scale industries. The DoI stated that 417 small-scale, 2 medium-scale, and 3 large-scale firms were registered. All the firms registered last month fell in the category of small-scale.
In terms of the number of projects, information technology (IT) related firms account for the majority of the approved investments, with 252 such firms registered.
Likewise, the DoI registered 108 tourism-related businesses, 33 service-sector companies, 25 manufacturing firms, and two firms each in the energy and agriculture sectors.
In terms of monetary value, the largest share of approved investment was in the tourism sector, totaling Rs 6.08 billion. Furthermore, FDI approvals reached Rs 4 billion for the energy sector and Rs 3.57 billion for infrastructure-related firms.
According to the DoI, FDI worth Rs 1.60 billion was approved for the manufacturing sector, and Rs 928.3 million for the information technology sector.
