Foreign investment through accounting has increased after the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Regulation 2077 tightened on foreign investment.
The size of the investment has increased after the regulations were approved by the Council of Ministers last December.
Earlier, there was a commitment to investment but there was a delay in getting the money.
According to Nepal Rastra Bank, foreign investment has increased by Rs. 25 billion from the previous fiscal year to the last fiscal year.
As per the data of the previous fiscal year, the total foreign investment accounted for in Nepal was Rs 85 billion.
As of mid-July last fiscal year, the foreign investment accounted for was Rs 110 billion.
What are the rules?
The period of bringing investment has been fixed in the regulations approved and implemented by the Council of Ministers in January. Accordingly, the deadline has been set to bring investment within a year.
As per the regulations, a foreign investor who invests Rs 50 million has to bring 25 percent of the approved investment.
Similarly, those who invest up to Rs 250 million must bring 15 percent within one year, those who invest Rs 1 billion, 10 percent and those who invest more than Rs 1 billion must bring 5 percent within one year.
According to the Department of Industry, it was necessary to bring in mandatory investment due to this arrangement.
The regulations have also tightened the residence visa for foreign investors.
The current regulations stipulate that a person can invest more than one million US dollars at a time and a residence visa can be issued to the person concerned as long as 50 percent of the amount is in Nepal.
The regulations also state that non-tourist visas will be issued to foreign nationals coming for study and research or survey for foreign investment only for six months.
The regulations also provide that the government can classify and distribute identity cards to foreign investors.
Foreigners who invest Rs 50 million to Rs 250 million will be called ordinary foreign investors. Provision has been made to distribute identity cards to foreigners who invest Rs 250 million to Rs 100 billion as special and those who invest more than Rs 1 billion as very special foreign investors.
The returns to foreign investors in Nepal also look good.
Foreign direct investment stood at Rs 110 billion and the return was Rs 28.03 billion in one year. There are a total of 25 companies that bring returns.