IBN planning to hold investors’ summit in Indian cities

Kathmandu, Dec. 19

The Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) is making preparation to hold investors’ interaction programmes in different cities across India.

"To attract Indian investment to Nepal, we are planning to interact with the potential Indian investors about their preferences and priority sectors," said Chief Executive Officer of the board Sushil Bhatta in a meeting with the delegation of Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) the other day.

He expressed his readiness to collaborate with the bi-national chamber in 'Nepal-India Partnership Summit'.

On the occasion, NICCI drew attention of the IBN to the declining Indian investment in Nepal.

To address the issue, it is planning to hold a 'Nepal-India Partnership Summit' and sought IBN's partnership in the event that would be organised interchangeably in Nepal and India annually.

NICCI's Vice-President (VP) Sunil KC informed Bhatta about the plan to establish Nepal Innovation Centre in New Delhi, the capital city of India. The centre would facilitate Indian investors who want to invest in Nepal.

"Indian investment in Nepal is declining in recent years. So, we want to organise various events to draw investment from the southern neighbour. Partnership with the board is important and necessary in this regard," he said.

He also requested for IBN's help in forging a tripartite memorandum of understanding among NICCI, IBN and Indian Embassy to effectively coordinate with the investors.

"Attracting investment in Nepal is the common interest and objective of NICCI and IBN. So we want a strong collaboration with the board and the embassy," said KC.

Another VP, Saibal Ghosh, said that addressing the problems of the businesses and industries running with foreign investment in Nepal was urgently needed.

"Businesses with foreign investment are facing various problems such as intellectual property rights, brand registration, approval for test marketing, etc. They should be addressed as soon as possible. The issues of intellectual property rights have not been resolved in the past decade although there was a strong demand for the same," he said.

He added that contract manufacturing should also be opened and the ceiling of payment to the services acquired from the foreign companies should be raised.

Currently, the business and industry can pay Rs. 100,000 from banks but the services like software and machine repair cost higher and so need the approval from the Department of Industry and should be paid through it.

In response, Bhatta said that the IBN was serious about attracting Indian investment to Nepal and the board was working for it.

He said that the board was positive about the demands raised by the bi-national chamber.

A delegation led by NICCI's President Srijana Rana, including VPs KC and Ghosh, Treasurer Gyanendra Lal Pradhan, Director Keshav Man Singh and Administrative Officer Marshal Rathour met with Bhatta.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 December 2020.