Govt implements Private Investment Protection and Promotion Strategy
KATHMANDU: The government has issued the Private Investment Protection and Promotion Strategy to boost investor confidence and strengthen safeguards for private sector investment.
The strategy aims to create an environment in which the private sector can invest with greater confidence to support rapid economic growth and job creation. It prioritises the physical security of investors and industrial and commercial premises, asset protection, economic recovery, legal and regulatory simplification, investment promotion, and youth entrepreneurship development.
The plan responds to disruptions caused by movements, protests, shutdowns and strikes that have affected industries and businesses. The National Planning Commission estimated that around Rs 84 billion of physical property was damaged, including public assets, infrastructure and private establishments during protests on September 8 and 9, 2025.
Measures set out in the strategy include the gradual establishment of an industrial security force to protect physical assets, review and amendment of legal provisions on industrial safety, and the declaration of industrial corridors, zones, special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial villages as peace zones. Industries and businesses will be classified by security risk and provided protection accordingly, with rapid security teams deployed where needed and a security contact appointed in nearby security units.
A District Industrial and Commercial Security Coordination Committee, to be led by the Chief District Officer and including heads of security agencies and business representatives, will regularly review local industrial security challenges. District and provincial emergency operation centres will operate a 24‑hour industrial safety hotline.
The strategy also sets out relief and concessions for businesses affected by arson or vandalism during protests, including one‑time exemptions on renewal fees for registrations or licences and potential waivers for map‑pass fees, utility connection charges and integrated property tax for reconstruction, subject to criteria. Concessional loans from banks and financial institutions will be arranged to support revival of damaged enterprises.
Regulatory simplification is a further focus. The government plans to interconnect electronic systems of the Department of Industry, the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, and the Office of the Company Registrar to streamline registration. Customs duty differentials for raw materials and finished imports, stabilised tax concessions for at least five years, and timely revisions to laws on mines, forests, environment and land are also proposed to encourage industrialisation.
The strategy highlights measures to secure supply chains, including continuous security patrols on highways and strategic routes and a special campaign to recover goods looted from industrial and commercial establishments. It also identifies micro, cottage and small industries and startups as priorities, proposing local entrepreneurship and employment programmes funded through cost‑sharing among the three tiers of government and mobilisation of investment in logistics infrastructure through public‑private partnership models.
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