Can Nepalis Make A Fortune In IT Industry?

A renowned figure, member of the Parliament, and General Secretary of the Nepali Congress, Mr. Gagan Thapa, recently made a statement suggesting that youths in Nepal can earn Rs. 2 to 3 lakhs per month by working remotely in the IT sector. While his comment drew massive criticisms online, it’s worth noting that his statements were neither entirely baseless nor entirely practical in Nepal's current context. In this article, we’ll break down how Nepali youth currently stand in the IT industry, the actual potential of remote work, the skills and experience required to achieve such income levels, challenges they face, and the reforms that are needed to make such aspirations more realistic.

While Thapa’s insights were pragmatic in terms of global trends, the dreams he portrayed to the youths of Nepal seemed overambitious. Given Nepal’s current infrastructure and education system in the IT sector, it’s too early to forecast that youths have a genuine platform for such an income source. The current infrastructure and scenario hardly lay any foundations to uphold Thapa’s expectation. If the government were to make a concrete plan to promote IT industry in Nepal, allocating budgets, investing in training and education, Thapa’s statement would have made more sense.

Journey 

For an IT enthusiast in Nepal to earn Rs. 2–3 lakhs per month, the journey starts with the smallest of steps. There are certainly individuals earning that much or more, but their journeys are filled with years of learning, internships, low-paying jobs, and freelancing struggles. To earn that income remotely and remain trusted by the vendors amidst the ongoing frauds in this sector, a person typically needs a solid portfolio, technical expertise, and work experience. This usually starts with internships in local IT companies. The internship period remains for 3 months without any payment or allowances in most of these companies. Once the internship period is over, they begin with the smallest amount of salaries, which often pay between Rs. 17,000 to 35,000 per month for freshers.

   The challenging part for the companies and the employees is the reliance on international clients. Most IT firms in Nepal rely on international clients, particularly those seeking low-cost outsourcing. While this creates opportunities, it also means that job security is fragile. Many IT professionals frequently rotate between companies due to dissatisfaction, payment delays, and limited growth opportunities. As a result, the companies in Nepal are sourced by middlemen, sometimes even taking commissions up to 60 per cent. 

   After gaining some experience, many attempt to go freelance. But even here, earning over one lakh per month remains rare, especially without a strong international client base or specialisation in high-demand skills like AI, blockchain, or cybersecurity. Gaining these skills while remaining in Nepal is a challenging task. Even self-learning has not been encouraging, as the government has not made any such attempts to incorporate these technologies into the system. Therefore, earning 2-3 lakhs doing freelance IT jobs with over-reliance on international clients seems ahead of time for a Nepali IT professional. Even with a rich portfolio and strong skill set, breaking past the 3 lakh earning threshold as a freelancer is far from common.

Nepali freelancers and digital entrepreneurs face another critical challenge: an unregulated and restricted payment ecosystem. Platforms like PayPal are not fully functional in Nepal, limiting access to smooth global transactions and delaying payments. Receiving and making payments is challenging despite the efforts to provide a dollar card service, as there are transactional limitations. Not just for IT professionals, the payment policies and platforms have been bothering various business owners and digital users, keeping international brands from trusting Nepali professionals. Amrit Thapa, founder and content creator at Misguided Nepal, noted that if platforms like Facebook allowed monetisation in Nepal, independent content creators could make a comfortable living without having to diversify their portfolio and seeking professional jobs, potentially growing the income by fivefold or even more.

Hurdle

Perhaps the biggest hurdle lies in Nepal’s education system. IT graduates often leave university with minimal practical exposure and outdated syllabi that don’t match global demand. As a result, many choose to self-learn through YouTube, online courses, or bootcamps. It leaves youth to cope with the fierce competition from professionals from countries like India, the Philippines or Ukraine. However, most of the professionals learn through internships or on-the-job training. Youths and even teenagers are interested in this sector, as news of Nepalis being rewarded for identifying bugs in the security systems of platforms like Google, OpenAI, Facebook, etc., is shared online. It proves the immense possibility that Nepali minds hold in this sector. But the earnings are not justifying and valuing their effort and time spent inside the country.

The dream of earning 2–3 lakhs remotely in IT is not entirely impossible. But it’s not an overnight success story, and it's certainly not accessible to everyone without effort, infrastructure, and support. There are inspiring examples of Nepali youths earning more than $2,000/month as freelancers or remote employees. But they often come from urban centers with stable internet, mentorship access, and years of trial and error. If Nepal truly wants to tap into the digital goldmine, reforms are needed from the national to the local level. The right type of investment and transparent 

advocacy is necessary from the representatives as well as the business owners. Modernising IT education with updated curriculum, digital infrastructure expansion and legalisation of global payment gateways can be undertaken. Also, the tax incentives for tech startups should not be overlooked.

(The author is a freelancer.)