By Laxman Kafle
Kathmandu, Nov. 21: Domestic and foreign investment of around Rs. 159 billion has been proposed during the first four months of the current fiscal year 2021/22.
According to the Department of Industry, domestic and foreign industries with an investment of Rs. 159.04 billion have been proposed in the first four months of the current fiscal year.
As of mid-November of the current fiscal year 2021/22, a total of 116 industries both domestic and foreign have been registered with an investment of Rs. 134.86 billion, said Director General of DoI Jiblal Bhusal.

Of these, 32 large, 42 medium and 42 small scale industries have been registered.
Out of 116 registered industries, a total of 10 agro and forest-based industries with an investment of Rs. 1.859 billion, 50 manufacturing industries with investment of Rs. 33.65 billion and 14 energy-based industries with an investment of Rs. 69.52 billion were registered.

Similarly, two information technology industries with investment of Rs. 200 million, one infrastructure industry with investment of Rs. 440 million, 17 service industries with investment of Rs. 17.40 billion and 22 tourism industries with investment of Rs. 11.59 billion were registered during the review period.
Similarly, about 110 foreign industries with the investment commitment of Rs 24.18 billion were approved during the same period.

It has been mentioned that 17,558 people will be provided direct employment in the domestic and foreign projects that have been registered and proposed for foreign investment in a period of four months.
Among them, registered domestic and foreign industries have committed to provide employment to 10,268 people and the foreign industries which were approved by the department for investment have committed to provide employment to 7,290 people.

Director General Bhusal said that industry registration both domestic and foreign has been encouraging from the beginning of the current fiscal year.
He said that there are more tourism and manufacturing industries under the registration of indigenous industries while there are more tourism and infrastructure ones under foreign companies.
The present scenario of registration and approval of foreign investment showed that the number of industry registration with their investment commitment would increase significantly over the current fiscal year, he said.

The flow of customers to register their firms and industries is increasing after the department started to provide one-stop services to them.
Only a total of 203 industries, both domestic and foreign, had registered with an investment of Rs. 156 billion during the last fiscal year 2020/21.

Meanwhile, the approval for foreign investment has also increased during the review period as foreign investment of only Rs. 32.02 billion from 183 industries was approved in the last fiscal year.
In the fiscal year 2019/20, a total of 277 industries (domestic and foreign) with the investment commitment of Rs. 152 billion were registered. In the meantime, the DoI approved foreign investment of Rs. 37.80 billion from 223 industries in the fiscal year 2019/20.

The industry's registration and investment commitment had been affected badly in the last fiscal year due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
He said that the entrepreneurs, both domestic and foreign, are willing to increase their investment with the waning impact of COVID-19.
“The one-window system implemented to provide sound and effective services for the entrepreneurs is also a factor to increase the number of registrations. We are committed to provide prompt services to entrepreneurs,” he said.