BUILDING THE NEXT ECONOMY: Young Leaders on Innovation, Finance & Growth

As Nepal approaches a new budget cycle, the conversation is no longer just about economic survival; it is about economic direction. Around the world, nations are competing through innovation, digital infrastructure, entrepreneurship, clean energy and talent retention. The countries that move fastest are not always the biggest but the ones willing to reform, adapt and invest in the future. 

For Nepal, this moment feels especially significant. With a young population, expanding digital access, growing entrepreneurial ambition and a globally connected diaspora, the ingredients for transformation exist. Yet, the real question is whether policy, finance, governance and private sector confidence can evolve fast enough to unlock that potential.

As the government prepares to unveil its new budget, expectations are rising around progressive reforms, startup ecosystems, access to capital, anti-corruption measures, digital modernisation and investment-led growth. Beyond the headlines and numbers, this budget may reveal something bigger: what kind of economy Nepal wants to become over the next decade.

This section explores the future through the lens of the next generation of business leaders and opinion makers. They are Bigyan Babu Regmi, PhD, Economist, Centre for Energy Policy and Economics, Zurich, Switzerland; Vardan Giri, CFA, Executive Chairman, Ansu Invest; Manish Shrestha, Head of Innovations, Kazi Studios, President - CNIYEF; Rahul Shakya, Managing Director, ACE Hotels & Resorts; Amit Agrawal, Co-founder & Director, Sparrow SMS & Khalti; and Kavi Raj Joshi, Founder & Managing Director of Udhyami Innovations.

What would a truly future-ready Nepali economy look like by 2035?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: The global market is going through an unprecedented disruption in geopolitics, labour dynamics and supply chain. Our economy will have to chart itself to this evolving ecosystem to navigate it into the future. By 2035, we need maturity and consistency in our enablers of long-term growth: exponential expansion in sectors where we have a comparative advantage (hydroelectricity, tourism and high-value agricultural production), an increasing scope of the manufacturing sector that can absorb semi-skilled labour, and a vibrant service sector that bridges emerging talent, diaspora and the global market. Well-designed policy instruments, a fair playing field for the private sector, and intentional priority for private capital mobilisation are, of course, the prerequisites.

Bigyan Babu Regmi , PhD, Economist, Centre for Energy Policy and Economics, Zurich, Switzerland

Vardan Giri: One of the defining traits of a future-ready Nepali economy would be something very familiar but still uneven in practice: good governance, not as a bullet point in a policy document but as something people actually experience. A future-ready Nepal is one where laws are applied predictably, institutions are credible and rules do not shift arbitrarily. From an economic standpoint, Nepal has long functioned as a system with limited channels for citizens and investors to deploy capital productively. The development of deeper equity and debt markets would begin to change that. It would allow businesses more options to raise long-term financing, while also giving the economy a more efficient way to mobilise domestic savings. 

Opening global capital flows is also central to this transition. Managed properly, it would not mean volatility or disorder, but a gradual integration with global capital. The key is regulation. An open system without safeguards would risk instability but a well-regulated one could help position Nepal as a credible investment destination. None of this works without accountability.

Deep and functioning markets depend on transparent disclosure, independent oversight, and confidence that the system is fair and not distorted by privilege. By 2035, a future-ready Nepali economy would be one in which institutions are reliable, and markets are trusted. The growth follows from that. 

Manish Shrestha: A future-ready Nepal in 2035, as I see it, will be a high-value, digitally integrated sovereign economy that has successfully broken its systemic reliance on low-skill labour migration. For decades, the country’s primary export has been its human capital, sustaining the domestic market through remittance flows. By 2035, a resilient economy will pivot from exporting labourers to exporting services and finished green products, retaining local intellect and building sustainable wealth domestically. Remittance still would be a major source of income but the skill levels would have increased to higher-value skills. This future economy will explicitly be a ‘borderless economy’ where digital service exports, clean energy monetisation and climate finance instruments form the pillars of our GDP. 

Physically, Nepal will leverage its strategic geography between India and China to act as a clean energy hub and a premium, eco-sustainable tourist destination. This physical economy will be seamlessly supported by a modern infrastructure network featuring climate-resilient transport corridors and a ubiquitous, cash-light digital payment framework.

Ultimately, readiness means economic self-reliance and stability. It translates to a domestic market capable of providing specialised, high-paying jobs in technology, sustainable manufacturing and engineering. By achieving this, Nepal will insulate its macroeconomy from international labour market shocks and establish a strong, predictable fiscal environment capable of funding its own development goals.

Rahul Shakya: A truly future-ready Nepali economy by 2035 would be one that is no longer surviving mainly on remittances and imports but creating value through talent, trust, technology, tourism, energy and entrepreneurship.

Amit Agrawal: By 2035, a future-ready Nepal must reject linear growth to leapfrog into a $200 billion hockey-stick economy through a decisive ‘Now or Never’ collective push. This transformation relies on absolute policy stability, unified ministries and lucrative incentives to attract heavy foreign direct investment. Structurally, Nepal will establish virtual IT economic zones under a dedicated Tech Sector Development Board, aiming for a $10 billion dollar-earning tech export industry supported by mandatory AI education starting in school. The nation will fully monetise its strategic assets by expanding hydro energy, building data centres alongside regulated crypto mining, and carefully exporting fresh water and rare metals. 
Simultaneously, better air connectivity in Pokhara and Bhairahawa will drive massive regional and religious tourism, complemented by world-class cricket stadiums. Finally, fully linking National IDs across all sectors will eliminate corruption and shift the national narrative from passive saving to high-velocity entrepreneurial investment.

Kavi Raj Joshi: By 2035, a truly future-ready Nepali economy must move beyond the metrics of survival, i.e. remittance dependency and importing finished goods and should transition into a high-value, tech-enabled exporter of intellectual capital and clean energy. A successful Nepali economy by 2035 is one where our gross domestic product is anchored by high-value tourism, high-margin service exports and energy dominance. I would like to see Nepal as a country where spiritual and wellness tourism, digital services, automated cross-border fintech flows, and green-clean energy would account for a significant portion of our economy, effectively reversing the brain drain by creating high-yield local opportunities that retain top-tier talent in the country, however catering to the world.

Which industries do you believe could define Nepal’s next decade of growth and why?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: I see three industries that could grow off the roof with the right policy and confidence. First, the energy sector – not merely from a production perspective but also from an aggregate demand and transition point of view. Energy-consuming durables adoption and their manufacturing/assembling, energy transition in the transport and household sector, and grid infrastructure investment have tangible potential in contributing to growth. Second, the tech sector is guided by product development, data-related infrastructure investment and FDI inflows. Third would be the tourism sector, which is yet to reap the benefits of the mobile domestic population and the expansion of the middle class in our northern and southern neighbours.

Vardan Giri: Over the next decade, Nepal’s growth will likely be shaped by a mix of traditional strengths and emerging sectors. Energy is an obvious one. Hydropower, in particular, has long been a structural advantage for Nepal. As domestic demand rises and cross-border trade becomes more predictable, the sector has the potential to move from being just an export opportunity to a core driver of economic stability and earnings. The other obvious is high-end tourism.  Beyond that, there is scope for Nepal to build more specialised, service-oriented areas gradually. One direction could be the development of a more open and independent financial and business system, something closer in spirit to smaller hub economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore. In their case, the combination of strong institutions and the strategic use of diplomacy helped position them as trusted intermediaries in global trade and capital flows. For Nepal, the relevance lies less in copying their model and more in building institutional strength, connectivity and its own distinct comparative advantages.

Technology and AI services are another emerging area. Given how competitive the global AI landscape is, Nepal is unlikely to compete in heavy infrastructure or large-scale tech manufacturing but it can participate in service layers such as data-related work, outsourcing and AI-assisted services. Taken together, the next phase of growth will likely come from a combination of energy, a more developed financial ecosystem, and AI-enabled services, rather than any single dominant industry.

Manish Shrestha, Head of Innovations, Kazi Studios, President - CNIYEF

Manish Shrestha: The next decade of Nepal’s economic evolution will be defined by three symbiotic sectors: information technology, hydropower and niche agribusiness. Information technology stands at the absolute forefront because it represents a weightless commodity. Being landlocked inherently penalises Nepal with high transit and freight costs for physical goods; digital service exports entirely bypass this geopolitical constraint, allowing domestic developers, data scientists and engineers to trade directly in global tech markets.

Simultaneously, Nepal’s immense hydropower potential – approaching a realistic target of 30,000 MW – is transitioning from a domestic utility to a geopolitical asset. Over the next decade, this clean energy will not only expand cross-border electricity sales to India and Bangladesh but will also fuel local energy-intensive industries. The most transformative sub-sectors here will be green hydrogen production and localised, low-carbon data centres, which can utilise cheap surplus energy during off-peak and wet seasons.

Finally, traditional agriculture must give way to high-yield, niche agribusinesses targeting global markets. Instead of competing in bulk grains, Nepal’s microclimates give it a competitive edge in premium organic exports like speciality tea, Himalayan herbs, cardamom and processed superfoods. By integrating tech into supply chains and focusing on high-value processing rather than raw farming, this sector can revitalise rural economies and reduce the agricultural trade deficit.

Rahul Shakya: For me, the industries that can define Nepal’s next decade are high-value tourism and hospitality, clean energy, digital services, fintech, agro-processing and wellness. Nepal may not compete with large economies on scale, but we can compete on authenticity, geography, culture, human capital and trust. That is where our advantage lies.

Amit Agrawal: First is the Green & Digital Power Nexus, which funnels robust hydro-energy directly into data centres and regulated crypto mining to turn clean electricity into premium digital exports. Paralleling this is a Sovereign Tech Cluster that combines virtual IT zones, remote gig work, and dollar salaries with compulsory AI and STEM education from grade eight, transforming Nepal into a global tech-export powerhouse aimed at a $10 billion valuation. In resource monetisation, the country will shift to High-Yield Niche Commodities, leveraging its unique geography for eco-conscious rare earth mining, fresh water exports and controlled medicinal cannabis farming. 

Growth will also be anchored by Aviation-Linked Experience Hubs, using fully operational Pokhara and Bhairahawa airports to channel millions of regional visitors into lucrative spiritual corridors, sports tourism via world-class cricket stadiums, and foreign medical education. Finally, a modernised Premium Agritech Sector will back farmers with proper cold storage and market channelisation to brand and export high-quality organic foods globally. Together, these interconnected industries will weaponise Nepal’s transitional stage, retaining youth talent and attracting aggressive foreign investment.

Kavi Raj Joshi: Primarily, I believe that clean energy and knowledge export economy are the two main pillars that will define our growth. 
Clean Energy: We are sitting on a clean energy goldmine. The next decade is not just about generation; it is about cross-border energy trading, regional grid integration and building a domestic industrial base powered by cheap, reliable electricity. But the private sector can only do so much. Our government leadership needs to make sure that it is done right, smartly and sustainably. 

Knowledge Exports: The global shift toward decentralised work means a software engineer or AI prompt optimiser in Kathmandu can export services globally without facing physical border friction. Tech, high-value eco-tourism, wellness services and specialised agro-tech are our fastest tickets to high-margin growth. We need a couple of national focus areas, so that entrepreneurs can build businesses around the same.

Is Nepal moving fast enough to compete in a world being reshaped by AI, fintech, clean energy and digital commerce?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: Given the quite impressive rate of smartphone penetration and broadband access across the country over the last few decades, I am rather optimistic about the foundational infrastructure necessary for our society to remain relevant in a digitalised world. The rapid growth of fintech companies and the adoption of digital wallets is a testament to this. However, being competent in an increasingly AI-driven market and innovation-led economic system requires quite urgent and concerted efforts.

Vardan Giri: Yes, Nepal is broadly well-positioned, though ‘fast enough’ is always relative in a global context. One structural advantage is demographics. With a young population and a median age of around 25, Nepal has the kind of workforce that can adapt to new technologies relatively quickly, provided the right skills and opportunities are in place.

The demographic profile, however, is only an enabler. The real question is how effectively it is translated into productivity in areas like AI-enabled services or digital commerce. So, the potential is clearly there. The constraint is less about awareness of these shifts and more about execution, especially in terms of skills development, institutional readiness and the pace of regulatory adaptation.

Manish Shrestha: Frankly, no. While the domestic private sector, particularly our youth, is organically adopting AI tools, building robust fintech applications, and driving digital commerce, our state apparatus and regulatory execution remain dangerously sluggish. We are currently trapped in a deeply reactive policy mindset. Bureaucrats and regulators tend to view technological innovations – whether it is cross-border e-commerce, AI automation or decentralised digital tools – primarily as security and foreign exchange risks to be restricted, rather than foundational infrastructure to be aggressively scaled.

In the global race, speed is everything. While regional neighbours like India and Vietnam rapidly rewrite their corporate laws and digital infrastructure to attract global tech firms, Nepal’s administrative processes remain bogged down in paperwork and multi-layered approvals. Our fintech landscape has achieved impressive local penetration through digital wallets but it remains isolated from global payment highways, creating a glass ceiling for international monetisation.

To truly compete in a world being reshaped by automation and clean transitions, Nepal’s policy bureaucracy must match the speed of global technological disruption. We cannot afford multi-year delays in passing simple bills or debating the legality of digital assets. Without a drastic shift toward forward-looking, agile governance, we risk widening the digital divide, turning what should be a technological springboard into a tool that further accelerates our brain drain.

Rahul Shakya: Honestly, we are not moving fast enough. The world is being reshaped by AI, fintech, clean energy and digital commerce, while Nepal is still stuck in slow approvals, policy uncertainty, weak execution and a mindset of control rather than enablement. The World Bank projects Nepal’s FY26 growth at only 2.3%, down from 4.6% in FY25, which shows that we cannot depend on natural recovery alone.

Amit Agrawal, Co-founder & Director, Sparrow SMS & Khalti

Amit Agrawal: No, we are moving extremely slowly and stuck in our own internal politics. It is time we open up to the globe and unlock the plethora of opportunities that we have in this new tech world. Nepal should not miss the AI wave and bring a nation-wide strategy for AI skilling.

Kavi Raj Joshi: Are we moving fast enough? The short answer is NO. While our private sector possesses immense grit and our youth are naturally adaptive, our regulatory architecture is trapped in a previous era. We cannot compete in a world reshaped by artificial intelligence, fintech and digital commerce when our policy framework treats digital financial flows with suspicion and still keeps the capital locked behind bureaucratic red tape. Though we have slowly started progressing, what needs to be noted is that we are moving at an incremental pace while the global landscape is accelerating exponentially. To compete, our policymakers must shift from a mindset of restriction and become an enabler of innovation. To move fast, the government needs to take its own calculated risk as well.

What are the biggest structural barriers preventing young entrepreneurs and innovators from scaling businesses in Nepal?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: For service sector businesses with the right product-market fit, scaling is not tremendously challenging. For startups that require sourcing of raw materials from abroad, the high cost of production usually deters them from remaining price-competitive. Businesses trying to grow beyond urban spaces face huge transport and delivery costs or a sheer lack of infrastructure, if they are operating in manufacturing and primary sectors. Limited scope of idea-stage/angel investment and non-collateral-based lending also constrain innovators from going to the market and scaling.

Vardan Giri: The barriers are largely structural rather than individual. The first is market size and fragmentation. The domestic market is small and, in many cases, not deep enough to support scalable businesses. Even when demand exists, it is often not sufficient to support the kind of scale needed for technology-driven or platform-based firms.

The second is limited global reach. Many products and services struggle to move beyond borders, and there is no strong system that helps Nepali innovations register, scale and compete internationally. As a result, scalability becomes constrained early in the business lifecycle. Regulatory and legal complexity is another challenge. Starting and formalising businesses, especially in newer sectors, can still be slow and uncertain. This adds friction at a stage when speed and flexibility matter most, and in some cases leads entrepreneurs to register or structure their businesses outside Nepal because it is administratively easier. As a result, less of the value creation and scaling remains within the domestic system.

Manish Shrestha: The most formidable barrier preventing young Nepali innovators from scaling is an anachronistic and deeply risk-averse financial architecture. Nepal’s banking ecosystem is structurally hardwired around asset-backed lending, meaning a startup cannot secure formal growth capital unless its founders can provide physical land or buildings as collateral. Intellectual property, brand equity, software algorithms and recurring cash flows are virtually unrecognised as viable borrowing instruments, stifling capital allocation for the knowledge economy.

Compounding this banking bottleneck are rigid, outdated capital controls and foreign exchange restrictions. Under current regulations, it is incredibly difficult for an early-stage startup to seamlessly accept international venture capital, set up global corporate structures or pay for global software services without wading through immense bureaucratic red tape. This friction chokes off external growth capital and prevents local innovators from establishing regional or global footprints, forcing many to relocate their headquarters to places like Delaware or Singapore.

Lastly, there is a distinct lack of regulatory predictability and a weak intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement mechanism. Entrepreneurs operate under the constant threat of sudden, arbitrary policy reversals that can invalidate business models overnight. When you mix this unpredictability with a sluggish judicial system that fails to protect founders from copycats or contract breaches, scaling a business becomes an act of extreme friction rather than a rewarding economic pursuit.

Rahul Shakya, Managing Director, ACE Hotels & Resorts

Rahul Shakya: The biggest barriers for young entrepreneurs are access to finance, over-regulation, lack of mentorship, weak digital infrastructure, inconsistent policy and a culture where failure is punished instead of treated as learning. Many young people have ideas but the system does not give them enough runway to scale.

Amit Agrawal: Small market, smaller per capita, with growing cost of labour and migration of workforce. Global competition in IT-skilled labour and no contribution from the government in national branding or encouraging companies to go global. The government and policies are more restrictive than enabling.

Kavi Raj Joshi: The biggest structural barrier is regulatory friction and the lack of a functional capital pipeline. Young innovators in Nepal do not just compete against market dynamics; they fight administrative inertia at every stage of business. The friction spans from incorporation to licensing and agonisingly slow intellectual property registration to a complete lack of exit mechanisms for early promoters and investors, which discourages early capital mobilisation in business. Furthermore, our ecosystem lacks a robust middle-tier capital market. We have brilliant ideas at the seed stage, but a chasm exists before a business can mature to cross-border scaling or institutional funding. We have worked in the early-stage ecosystem for more than 10 years, but we could only do so much, along with other fellow builders and enablers of this space, due to the missing middle.

How can the upcoming budget move beyond short-term relief and create long-term economic confidence?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: Given the recent surge in prices of imported fuels and major consumer/capital goods, the budget should not undermine the need for short-term fiscal policy measures that can augment aggregate demand. However, a stable government with a mandate for the full five-year term ought to showcase its first-year budget as a precursor to delivering solid medium- to long-term economic growth. Actionable programmes to eliminate inefficiency led by malgovernance, expand the size of and access to the market through critical infrastructure development, and enable innovative financial instruments to channel private capital for the rapid growth of SMEs will be key to raising confidence for long-term economic growth.

Vardan Giri: The upcoming budget can move beyond short-term relief by focusing less on immediate fixes and more on building long-term policy credibility. A key part of this is policy certainty and continuity. Frequent shifts in priorities or implementation reduce confidence and make it harder for businesses and investors to plan beyond the short term. A stable and predictable policy direction is therefore more important than introducing a large number of new initiatives each year. Equally important is accountability in execution. Budgets often appear ambitious on paper but the gap lies in implementation. Strengthening delivery mechanisms and ensuring that commitments translate into actual outcomes is central to building trust.

Finally, there should be a clearer emphasis on capital expenditure over recurrent spending. Productive infrastructure and long-term investments tend to generate sustained economic benefits, while also improving private sector confidence. Over time, this shift in composition also signals stronger fiscal discipline, which itself becomes an important source of economic confidence.

Manish Shrestha: To foster genuine, long-term economic confidence, the upcoming budget must definitively pivot away from populist, distributive policies and focus squarely on structural capital execution.

Historically, Nepali budgets have been amazing at listening to and outlining ambitious development goals, but they fail during implementation, leading to low capital expenditure and massive recurrent spending leakages. The budget must prioritise funding and aggressively monitor critical ‘national pride’ infrastructure projects to completion, signalling to investors that the state can execute what it promises.

Furthermore, the budget needs to introduce sweeping, structural policy changes rather than mere fiscal handouts. It should formalise the operational guidelines for the proposed ‘Investment Express’ one-stop channel, slash capital gains taxes for early-stage startup investments, and grant long-term tax exemptions specifically for R&D in AI, green tech and digital exports. By offering clear, unchanging tax holidays and legal protections for at least a decade, the state can provide the long-term predictability that institutional investors require before committing capital.

Finally, the budget must actively address the public sector’s digital transformation. Investing in proper digital infrastructure for government services would be a very important step in reducing corruption and facilitating swifter service delivery, which is the need of the hour at the moment.

Rahul Shakya: The upcoming budget must move beyond short-term relief. It should create confidence by focusing on policy stability, faster approvals, tax clarity, startup financing, infrastructure, digital public systems and incentives for productive investment. We need a budget that tells entrepreneurs, ‘Build here. Stay here. Scale from here’.

Amit Agrawal: 
a. Stop restricting globalisation of Nepali startups. Instead, focus on branding Nepal globally and start enabling Nepali companies for the global market.
b. Leverage the strong Nepali diaspora in each country, and with support from Nepal embassies in each country, promote Nepali tech companies in all ways possible.
c. Include AI education at all levels, from schools to universities. Encourage startups to build with AI. Encourage companies to use AI. Move towards an AI-first work culture.
d. Nepal has done a phenomenal job in the fintech domain. Brand the potential of Nepali fintech globally.
e. Shift from fossil fuels to electric energy fully for cooking as well as mobility.

Kavi Raj Joshi, Founder & Managing Director of Udhyami Innovations

Kavi Raj Joshi: Every year, our national budget acts as an emergency bandage by managing immediate fiscal deficits and distributing short-term relief to vocal interest groups. To build true economic confidence, the upcoming budget must make a definitive pivot toward capital expenditure on productive infrastructure. The entire country has high hopes for the finance minister this time, more than ever before, while he has been celebrated as the right-man-in-the-right-place. 

We need to see structural tax incentives for companies investing in research and development that show results in the mid-to-long run, the elimination of duplicate licensing for businesses, and maybe also provide explicit government guarantees for large-scale projects, despite being funded by the private sector or FDI. Confidence is built when entrepreneurs and institutional investors see a predictable, multi-year fiscal roadmap, not a shifting landscape that changes with every political cycle, as seen in the past.

Access to finance remains a major bottleneck. What would a more innovative, friendly financial ecosystem look like?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: The last decade of hefty credit expansion in Nepal was characterised by a disproportionate share of loans going to non-productive sectors and the upper middle-class population. Government-backed derisking mechanisms can help expand access to finance for middle-class and early-stage businesses. Our own home-grown blended finance mechanisms that incorporate efforts toward sustainable finance in the global capital market can provide us with wider space for capital mobilisation. Likewise, a more liberal entry/exit policy for seed funds, PE/VCs and boutique investors unlocks more equitable access to capital.

Vardan Giri: Access to finance in Nepal remains largely collateral-driven, which excludes many early-stage businesses before they can properly take off. A young entrepreneur with a viable idea, a working product and genuine market potential will still struggle to secure financing without land or property to pledge as collateral.

A gradual shift towards more merit-based lending would help address this gap. In such a system, credit decisions would place greater weight on revenue potential, the strength of the business model, and the capability of the team, rather than the fixed assets the founder happens to own. Private credit and alternative financing mechanisms also have a role to play.

Concepts such as venture capital and angel investing remain relatively underdeveloped in Nepal, but they can serve as an important middle layer, offering early-stage businesses more options at the point when access to capital matters most.

Manish Shrestha: A truly innovation-friendly financial ecosystem in Nepal would boldly shift from collateral-centric banking to equity-and-valuation-based capital allocation. In this ideal ecosystem, Nepal Rastra Bank would actively implement and expand automated regulatory sandboxes.

These sandboxes would allow fintech startups and alternative financial institutions to test cross-border micro-payments, decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols, and peer-to-peer lending models in a controlled environment without facing immediate, prohibitive licensing fees. Nepal is ripe for neo-banks with minimal expenditure and maximum service delivery and outreach. A proper NRB-regulated neobank provision could also address the current cooperative scams in the country.

On a macro level, an innovative financial ecosystem would also tap into alternative global pools of capital. This includes the issuance of digital diaspora bonds specifically structured for non-resident Nepalis, alongside simplified regulations for blended finance and international climate funds. By blending public guarantees with private risk capital, the financial sector can bridge the funding gap for highly innovative projects that traditional commercial banks deem too risky.

Rahul Shakya: A more innovation-friendly financial ecosystem would include credit based not only on collateral but also on cash flow, contracts, data and business potential. We need venture funds, startup-friendly banks, blended finance, climate finance and patient capital. But most importantly, serious investment discipline and execution are required.

Amit Agrawal: Access to finance must be on the basis of potential, not on the basis of collateral. Microlending and digital lending are the future. Citizens must have access to finance on the basis of their credit rating, built over their National ID and transactions history. Impact lending must also be promoted. Banks must collaborate with fintechs to grow seamless user experience. The most important thing in this will be enabling relevant collaboration licences by Nepal Rastra Bank, for fintechs to collaborate with banks and financial institutions to bring easy access to finance to citizens. 

Kavi Raj Joshi: A modern, innovation-friendly financial ecosystem must move away from collateral-obsessed banking. Our current banking system is largely built on real estate backing, which inherently locks out the asset-light, intellectual-property-heavy businesses of the digital age. To truly back innovators, our financial ecosystem must pivot toward cash-flow-based lending, venture debt and institutionalised angel investment networks. We need a regulatory framework that allows local venture capital and private equity funds to operate with global practices and agility. And, our venture capital should be flowing to the real ventures, not only towards enterprises near listing, aiming at quick exits.

Around the world, trust and transparency are becoming economic advantages. How critical is governance reform and anti-corruption to Nepal’s future growth story?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: The current government is a product of an outburst in public frustration toward corruption and support for the vision of change espoused by the incumbent political party. This hope, when turned into trust through a track record of meaningful delivery, can offer the ‘dividend of good governance’ as put by the finance minister. To this end, governance reform and anti-corruption are non-negotiable when it comes to honouring electoral mandate and strengthening the competence of our institutions. Singapore offers a prime example of growth and stability that a transparent government with high public trust can deliver.

Vardan Giri: Governance reform and anti-corruption efforts are central to Nepal’s future growth story, particularly in a world where trust and transparency increasingly shape investment ideas. Foreign investors are highly sensitive to accountability and the predictability of systems. Without clear transparency in decision-making, consistent enforcement of rules and confidence in institutions, they are far less willing to commit capital, regardless of the underlying economic potential. 

This matters because external investment often provides the additional ‘firepower’ needed to scale industries, build infrastructure and support innovation. In its absence, growth becomes more constrained and domestically limited. In that sense, governance is not just a political issue but an economic one. Stronger institutions and reduced corruption directly translate into higher investor confidence, ultimately, stronger and more sustainable growth. 

Manish Shrestha: Governance reform and anti-corruption are not merely moral or ethical aspirations for Nepal. They are our primary survival mechanisms in the modern global economy.

Institutional capital, international venture funds and major clean energy developers possess global mobility – they can choose to invest anywhere. They heavily favour economies that offer legal predictability, contract enforcement and administrative transparency. If Nepal remains synonymous with bureaucratic red tape and unpredictable rent-seeking, high-calibre foreign direct investment will simply bypass us in favour of more transparent markets.

Systemic corruption also acts as a hidden, highly destructive tax on domestic entrepreneurs. When public procurement processes are opaque, it ensures that inefficient, well-connected legacy firms secure government contracts over innovative, merit-driven startups. This misallocation of public resources leads to substandard infrastructure, delayed projects and a general erosion of public trust, which fundamentally dampens the entrepreneurial spirit of the youth who choose to migrate rather than fight a rigged system.

Therefore, building a future-ready economic story requires the absolute automation of governance. By digitising procurement, public service delivery and licensing pathways, we can systematically eliminate human-to-human discretion – the primary breeding ground for corruption. True governance reform will send a resounding signal to the global market that Nepal is open for transparent, competitive and highly scalable business.

Rahul Shakya: Governance reform is not optional. It is the foundation. In today’s world, trust and transparency are economic advantages. Investors do not only look at opportunity; they look at predictability, fairness and whether rules will be applied consistently. Without anti-corruption and governance reform, even good ideas will remain trapped.

Amit Agrawal: It is crucial. The government should integrate the National ID (NID) with all ministries, departments and citizen profiles – encompassing the Nagarik app, mobile numbers, bank accounts, passports, Demat accounts, PAN, land registration certificates (lal purja), health records, education, insurance, capital markets, wealth assets and credit ratings. As the cornerstone of a robust digital public infrastructure, the NID serves as the ultimate mechanism to drive transparency and curb corruption. Furthermore, the government must implement cross-border identity exchange protocols, data standardisation, and unified exchange platforms, backed by progressive policies that empower Nepali citizens to participate seamlessly in the global economy.

Kavi Raj Joshi: In the modern global economy, transparent governance is no longer just a moral position. It is a competitive economic advantage. Capital flows to where it is treated with transparency and predictability. Unpredictable policy enforcement and administrative corruption act as an unwritten tax on innovation, deterring high-quality investments and driving our brightest minds to build their companies abroad. Reforming our institutions and establishing transparent corporate governance is the absolute prerequisite for building a credible international economic brand.

If you were designing Nepal’s economic roadmap for the next ten years, what is the one bold shift you would prioritise immediately?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: Although the wording, per se, does not sound like a ‘shift’, my single largest emphasis would be on infrastructure. Here, I am hinting at the broader realm of infrastructure covering multimodal transport setups, tech/data facilities, industrial structure and cross-border services. Poor level of infrastructure, particularly in road quality, has resulted in an annual economic loss at a sizeable percentage of the GDP. Significant public expenditure into critical infrastructure linking underserved markets can shorten the time between production and consumption, facilitate mobility of goods, labour and capital, and generate growth contributed by many and not by a few.

Vardan Giri,CFA, Executive Chairman, Ansu Invest

Vardan Giri: The boldest shift would be moving from fragmented investment towards prioritising a few high-impact projects. This would mean identifying sectors and projects with strong multiplier effects, and financing them through a mix of equity and debt from global capital markets. Nepal’s relatively comfortable external debt-to-GDP ratio compared to many peers provides some room to use this channel more strategically, rather than relying predominantly on domestic sources.

The key idea is not just attracting capital but channelling it into projects that generate broader economic spillovers, whether through employment, productivity gains or export capacity. Nepal has spent too long trying to do everything at once with limited resources. The harder and more important choice is deciding what actually matters, and then seeing it through. 

Manish Shrestha: If given the mandate to implement just one radical shift to rewrite Nepal’s economic trajectory, it would be the immediate and unconditional deregulation of cross-border digital capital flows. This means completely dismantling the restrictive outbound foreign exchange barriers for digital services and legalising frictionless inbound and outbound micro-transactions. It would allow any Nepali entity or individual to seamlessly receive international payments, hold multi-currency accounts, and invest in global digital tools or equity structures without needing ad-hoc bureaucratic approvals.

The rationale behind this shift is simple: it instantly unleashes the latent potential of our youth and tech sector to scale globally. Nepal’s domestic market is relatively small but the global digital economy is practically limitless. By removing capital friction, we allow local startups to acquire international software licences, hire global talent, invest in foreign marketing, and structure their companies in a way that international venture capitalists find investable.

This single policy change would trigger an organic, private-sector-led economic boom. It requires zero capital expenditure from the national treasury, yet it has the power to attract billions in digital export revenue, reverse the brain drain by creating high-paying domestic tech jobs, and naturally diversify our foreign exchange reserves away from a dangerous reliance on physical labour remittances.

Rahul Shakya: If I were designing Nepal’s economic roadmap, the one bold shift I would prioritise immediately is this: move Nepal from a permission-based economy to an enablement-based economy. The government should set clear rules, digitise processes, reduce friction and then allow entrepreneurs to build.

Amit Agrawal: The single boldest shift to prioritise immediately is unifying and weaponising Nepal’s institutional framework to execute an aggressive, digital-first economic overhaul. Instead of allowing individual ministries to operate in isolated silos with conflicting regulations, Nepal must instantly align all government departments under a single, unbending mandate focused on global competitiveness. 

This institutional shift begins by fully embedding a centralised National ID across every public and private registry to systematically eliminate bureaucratic corruption, boost transparency and introduce automated, collateral-free credit lines directly to citizens. Simultaneously, this synchronised governance structure provides absolute, legally locked policy guarantees that will not change midway, establishing a hyper-lucrative environment designed to aggressively outcompete regional hubs like Dubai or Vietnam for foreign direct investment. By anchoring this ironclad regulatory stability to a compulsory, nation-wide AI and coding education system, Nepal will completely reconstruct its internal labor landscape. 

Rather than remaining a passive economy plagued by youth migration, this coordinated administrative machinery actively retains domestic talent by establishing virtual IT zones, enabling seamless dollar-denominated revenue streams, and transforming the country into a synchronised, high-velocity launchpad for global enterprise.

Kavi Raj Joshi: If I were designing Nepal’s economic roadmap for the next decade, the single most urgent shift I would prioritise is the institutional mobilisation of long-term domestic and foreign private capital into strategic infrastructure, specifically through the radical liberalisation of our blended finance and private equity frameworks. 

Right now, our national budget suffers from a chronic capital expenditure deficit, and our commercial banking sector is structurally limited by short-term deposit liabilities, making it ill-suited for funding long-term national development. We must move away from the outdated paradigm that the state or traditional bank loans must fund our growth. We need to immediately establish a state-backed, high-velocity policy framework that allows private infrastructure funds, green energy investment vehicles and institutional asset managers to seamlessly aggregate domestic capital (including Citizen Investment Trust, Employees Provident Fund, etc) and blend it with international finance. By cutting through the regulatory inertia and providing clear, multi-year sovereign guarantees for private clean energy and infrastructure builders, Nepal can unlock billions in stagnant capital.

Finally, are we entering a new economic era for Nepal, or simply another cycle of ambition?

Bigyan Babu Regmi: As economists, we usually tend to be sceptical and critical. However, I do believe that there are reasons to believe the current government – with Dr Swarnim Wagle driving economic policies – has the yearning to break the cycle of ambition and deliver reforms that are long overdue. The integrity of the government leaders, but particularly of the finance minister, will help cement the transparency and anti-corruption agenda. Dr Wagle’s global exposure, policy expertise and experience in the system will perhaps come in handy not only while putting together a nicely packaged budget but also in ensuring its execution. Nevertheless, bringing all forces together, including political parties, the private sector, development partners and the public, will be fundamental to cementing even the most well-intended, ambitious aspirations. That, I am sure, the finance minister and the government are cognizant of. 

Vardan Giri: So far, it appears we may be moving into a new economic phase. On one hand, there are elements that feel different from past cycles. There has been a greater willingness to take policy decisions and respond more quickly to immediate economic pressures, which has helped keep activity moving and provided short-term support to the broader economy. 

At the same time, many of the underlying structural constraints remain familiar. Growth is still influenced heavily by execution capacity, institutional strength and the ability to translate policy intent into sustained outcomes. So rather than a clear break from the past, it may be more accurate to see this as an evolving phase, where more responsive decision-making exists alongside long-standing structural limitations. Whether it becomes a true ‘new era’ will depend on how consistently short-term actions are converted into long-term institutional and economic change.

Manish Shrestha: Nepal stands precisely at a historical and economic fork in the road. On one hand, there are undeniable signs of a structural awakening: the formal recognition of information technology as a strategic export pillar, massive milestones in cross-border hydropower sales, and the emergence of a highly resilient, tech-savvy generation of entrepreneurs all point toward the dawn of a new economic era. The ingredients for a massive leap forward are visibly on the table.

On the other hand, the heavy gravity of our political instability and bureaucratic inertia threatens to pull us back into a familiar ‘cycle of ambition’. For decades, Nepal has produced world-class policy papers, periodic investment summits and lofty long-term visions, only to see them stall due to implementation failures and shifting political coalitions. If our current leadership continues to rely on political rhetoric while leaving the underlying structural bottlenecks like capital controls, archaic banking laws and slow infrastructure execution, untouched, this period will be remembered as just another cycle of unfulfilled promises.

The transition from a cycle of ambition to a genuine new economic era depends entirely on our collective willingness to prioritise execution over rhetoric. It will require the state to step back where it obstructs innovation, step up where it needs to build infrastructure, and enforce rules with absolute discipline. If we choose institutional reform over political convenience today, Nepal will finally break the wheel and step into a self-reliant, prosperous future.

Rahul Shakya: I think we are standing at the edge of both. The opportunity is real but ambition without execution is just another speech. By 2035, Nepal can be a confident, clean, digital, experience-driven economy but only if we choose speed, trust and systems over politics, delay and short-term thinking.

Amit Agrawal: This time is genuinely different. We are highly optimistic that historic changes will unfold to ignite an economic revolution in Nepal.

Kavi Raj Joshi: We are standing precisely at the inflection point. Whether this becomes a genuine new economic era or remains another cycle of unfulfilled ambition depends entirely on political and institutional courage. The private sector’s ambition is undeniable, our young entrepreneurs are ready, the investors are watching cautiously, and the market opportunities in clean energy and digital services, among others, have been staring us in the face for quite some time now. 

However, if the new government listens to the same old folks around and the same experts of private sector development, and we continue to meet this modern ambition with outdated regulations, we will simply spin our wheels in another cycle of missed potential. It is time to align our regulatory reality with our economic possibilities, with a futuristic outlook.