Nepal imported mobile phones worth Rs 24 billion (customs value) in the first ten months of the current fiscal year 2024/25, according to the Department of Customs (DoC). During this period, a total of 1.528 million mobile phones entered the country, generating Rs 4.47 billion in customs revenue.
Compared to the same period last fiscal year, mobile phone imports have declined by Rs 4.75 billion. In the corresponding ten months of 2023/24, Nepal imported 1.785 million mobile phones valued at Rs 28.76 billion, yielding Rs 5.36 billion in revenue.
DoC data from the past decade shows that the fiscal year 2023/24 recorded the highest value of mobile imports by the end of Baisakh. The second-highest import was recorded in FY 2020/21, totaling Rs 24.09 billion.
On the other hand, the lowest mobile phone imports were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. In FY 2021/22, mobile imports dropped to just Rs 200 million. The year 2019/20 also saw a major dip, with only Rs 2.4 billion worth of mobile phones imported.
Over the last ten years, Nepal has imported approximately 27.4 million mobile phones, with a cumulative customs value of Rs 81.18 billion. These imports have brought in a total of Rs 15.15 billion in government revenue.
While the overall quantity of imported mobile phones has recently declined, there has been a noticeable rise in the import of higher-end devices. Mobile retailers report that the average purchase price of a mobile phone now ranges between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000, contributing to higher total expenditure on mobile imports despite a lower volume.
