Jogbani trade tops Rs 127bn as India's tariffs threaten Nepal jute
Border trade is up 59% in a quarter, yet India's fourfold duty rise threatens the six surviving mills that employ 15,000 people.
- Nepse rebounds 2.13% after Dashain as ransomware risk lingers
- Nepal's festive spending: Asoj handset imports nearly double as dry fruit bill passes Rs 3bn
- Bhotekoshi floods lay bare the fragility of Nepal's northern trade
- Where Nepal's bank money goes: farms feed a third of Sudurpashchim, but get a tenth of its credit
- Nepal's public debt tops Rs 3 trillion as repayments crowd out capital spending
Nepse rebounds 2.13% after Dashain as ransomware risk lingers
Nepal's stock index rose on 52.64% higher turnover, but the cyberattack that froze trading in September 2026 shows how fragile the market's plumbing remains.
Nepal's festive spending: Asoj handset imports nearly double as dry fruit bill passes Rs 3bn
Dashain and Tihar lifted handset imports and filled gift packets with foreign nuts, but higher phone prices make the surge harder to read.
Bhotekoshi floods lay bare the fragility of Nepal's northern trade
A washed-out bridge strands Rasuwa's cabbages, shuts the main China crossing and strains public finances, while Annapurna trekkers show tourism can recover when access does.
Markets today
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- EconomyWhere Nepal's bank money goes: farms feed a third of Sudurpashchim, but get a tenth of its creditCentral bank studies for 2025/26 show Madhesh growing 1.31% and Karnali 2.94%, while in the far west lending flows to trade and consumption rather than to farming.
- Public debtNepal's public debt tops Rs 3 trillion as repayments crowd out capital spendingDebt service of Rs 98.87bn in the first quarter of 2026/27 was about 3.5 times capital spending of Rs 28.42bn, leaving the budget and lenders to ask what the borrowing is buying.
- CompaniesNepal Telecom fibre requests double, with a threefold rise projected, as private ISPs drop budget plansPrivate providers withdrew cheap short-term plans before Dashain in 2026, and the state operator, with a Rs 4,999 offer and a prime ministerial post behind it, has seen applications climb sharply.
- The NPL economyNepal Premier League: how a cricket league became a Rs 1.5bn businessIn three seasons the NPL has gone from paying broadcasters to selling its rights for Rs 335m. An analysis of where the money comes from, where it goes, and whether the business can last.
- AutosNepal's festival vehicle sales: motorcycles boom, cars stall at closed bordersDashain and Tihar bring up to 40% of Nepal's car sales. In 2026, flood damage and closed crossings to China held up the electric cars buyers had booked, while motorcycle showrooms filled.
Leaders
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Gyanendra Dhungana, the banker who ran Nabil and chased the governorship
He rebuilt Nepal Bangladesh Bank, led the bank lobby, then took charge of Nabil after the merger. In 2025 he gave it up to seek the central bank's top job. Now he sits on boards in Colombo and Kathmandu.
How Chandra Dhakal built a bank on the money Nepalis send home
In 2001 most of Nepal's remittances moved through informal hundi brokers. The IME founder bet that migrant workers would trust a licensed company instead, and turned that bet into the country's largest bank.
Kailash Sirohiya's Kantipur survived an arrest and a fire. Its business model is the harder test
Nepal's largest media house came through its chairman's 2024 arrest, which ended without charge, and an arson attack. Revenue down about 70% in a decade and its heir's exit over the newsroom's journalism are harder problems.
Ang Tshering Sherpa built the Yeti group from a trekking kitchen. His heirs inherited its hardest tests
Seven years after the Yeti founder died in a helicopter crash, the group he built has lost control of its airline to an insurer, is preparing a share offering and faces a court case over state land in Kathmandu.
Markets
More markets →Nepal bank stocks hit two-year high as Sanima profit doubles
NEPSE's banking index has reached a two-year high, with investors drawn by low valuations and hopes of loan recoveries. Sanima's profit jump and Standard Chartered's smaller dividend show the picture is uneven.
Nepal IPO pipeline hits Rs 71.42bn as state factories eye revival
A manufacturing-led queue of share offers builds on the stock market, while the finance ministry audits seven shuttered state industries.
SEBON puts NEPSE overhaul and margin lending at top of reform agenda
Nepal's securities regulator promises margin lending within the Nepali month of Asoj 2083 and new trading instruments before fiscal year 2083/84 ends, while pressing single-owner brokerages to merge or corporatise.
Policy & Power
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Nepal's six-month maternity leave bill puts private employers on notice
A bill to nearly double maternity leave and almost triple paternity leave would reach private payrolls, as Nepal responds to its weakest population growth in eight decades.
Sudurpaschim budget stalls again as ruling coalition turns on its own plan
Months into 2026/27, Nepal's far-western province still has no approved Rs 37.70bn budget, and the delay has disrupted administration and development work.
Nepal's nominees for India and China pitch an economic agenda to lawmakers
At their parliamentary hearings, Pandey and Sharma put investment, power trade, tourism and transit at the centre of their plans. Investors should weigh what was promised and what remains open.
Rise & Fall
Open the Ledger →- Binod ChaudharySteady
- Chandra Prasad DhakalRising
- Min Bahadur GurungRising
- Akshay GolyanRising
- Upendra MahatoSteady
- Shesh Ghale & Jamuna GurungSteady
Cosmic Air Nepal: how the first private jet airline rose and fell
Cosmic Air put the first jets on Nepal's domestic routes and flew to Delhi, Dhaka, Kolkata and Varanasi. Fare cuts, fuel debts and lease arrears grounded it within two years, and the regulator cancelled its certificate in 2010.
Janakpur Cigarette Factory: how Nepal's state cigarette monopoly fell
A Soviet-aided factory once ran Nepal's cigarette market. Private competition, losses and politics shut it in 2011. Its land is now worth more than the business, and it houses Madhesh Province's government.
Nepal Bangladesh Bank: the run, the NRB takeover and the Nabil merger
A 1994 joint venture with two Bangladeshi lenders suffered a run in November 2006, was taken over by Nepal Rastra Bank, recovered under its management and was absorbed by Nabil Bank in 2022.
Companies & Economy
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Nepal's flower industry imports 22 times what it exports
Despite investment above Rs 11.5bn, Tihar demand outruns supply, seed rules bite and Jhapa growers want curbs on Indian marigolds.
Nepal Oil Corporation pushes Rs 30bn LPG pipeline to Sarlahi
A 131km pipeline and 50,000-tonne store would cut road dependence for cooking gas, but how it will be financed is still to be decided.
Budhigandaki hydropower faces another plan change as authority returns
The 1,200MW reservoir project, a national pride project since 2012/13, has an approved financing plan. The government now wants a new authority to build it.
Nepal's stock market must now ask where investors' money came from
A tougher anti-money laundering directive from the securities regulator arrives as banks hold more repossessed property and NIFRA reports a lower quarterly profit.