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Nepal received pledges for the foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs 40.28 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY), which was 50 percent more than the pledged amount during the same period of the last FY.

The records with the Department of Industry (DoI) show that the FDI commitment in the review period this year was Rs 13.44 billion more than Rs 26.84 billion in the same period of FY 2024/25. Foreign firms took approval to inject the aforementioned amount of investment in 524 projects, as most of them were related to small industries.

During mid-July 2025 and February 12, 2026 which is the last day of the Nepali month, the FDI of Rs 21.90 billion has been pledged for 14 agricultural projects. Likewise, foreign companies have sought to inject Rs 10.86 billion in 150 projects related to tourism and Rs 2.40 billion for 35 manufacturing plants.

Similarly, the investment commitments of Rs 3.54 billion have been received for 34 service sector projects. The information technology sector received approval for Rs 1.25 billion in 288 related projects. The investors came forth to invest Rs 115 million in two mines related projects and Rs 184.25 million for one energy related project.

Of the total FDI pledged amount, foreign investors opted to use automatic routes to get approval for investment of Rs 3.25 billion while remaining Rs 37.03 billion via manual route. The FDI based projects have earmarked job opportunities to 20,896 people. Last month alone, a total FDI of Rs 1.04 billion was pledged for 49 projects.

The government has been putting its effort to welcome the FDI in the maximum amount, which however is not being effective due to various reasons. Last month, the government scrapped the limit on FDI inflows via online platforms, which was subjected to a threshold of up to Rs 100 million previously.

Meanwhile, foreign investors repatriated royalty of Rs 4.19 billion in FDI as of last Thursday of the current FY. Likewise, they took Rs 16.26 billion in dividends and Rs 100 million in service fees back to their countries.