KATHMANDU: Nepal recorded a net foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs 8.40 billion in the last fiscal year (FY 2023/24), reflecting a 36.1 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the country received fresh FDI worth Rs 8.47 billion during this period, while foreign investors withdrew Rs 739 million.
In the previous fiscal year (FY 2022/23), Nepal’s net FDI stood at Rs 5.96 billion, with a total inflow of Rs 7.76 billion and withdrawals amounting to Rs 1.80 billion.
Despite this growth, Nepal realized only 12 percent of the pledged FDI in FY 2023/24. While foreign investors committed Rs 70.02 billion, the actual investment injected into the country was Rs 8.40 billion. The pledged amount saw an 82 percent increase compared to FY 2022/23, where commitments totaled Rs 38.40 billion.
Government officials attributed this uptick in foreign investment to the Nepal Investment Summit 2024, held in Kathmandu on April 28-29. The summit introduced an automatic route for FDI approval through an online system, which has significantly streamlined the investment process. During the last two and a half months of FY 2023/24 alone, foreign investors pledged Rs 8.11 billion in 139 firms using the new platform.
The Department of Industry (DoI) highlighted that the automatic route eliminates the minimum threshold for IT sector investments, with the exception of a Rs 20 million minimum for other sectors. This system allows investors to obtain FDI approval certificates immediately after submitting their applications online through imis.doing.gov.np.
The government has identified seven key sectors for foreign investment—energy, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture and forestry, ICT, services, and manufacturing—encompassing 84 sub-sectors.
Despite the growth in net FDI last fiscal year, it remains significantly lower than the figures from FY 2021/22, when Nepal received Rs 18.56 billion in net FDI out of a pledged Rs 54.15 billion.