Best Business Opportunities in Nepal - Identification and Selection of right Project, Thrust areas for Investment, Industry Startup and Entrepreneurship

Nepal encourages foreign investment both as joint venture operations with Nepalese investors or as 100 per cent foreign-owned enterprises. The few sectors that are not open to foreign investment are either reserved for national entrepreneurs in order to promote small local enterprises and protect indigenous skills and expertise or are restricted for national security reasons. Nepal is close to India and China which will have the largest surge in the middle class population in the history of the world. As families become smaller and wealthier, they will start eating well. Meat consumption will rise. It will take more agricultural resources to produce more meat. Buying shares in tourism-related stocks such as hotels, airlines or restaurants is a passive way to tap this potential. You can also open a resort or travel agency in anticipation of the boom. Nepal's exports of mainly carpets, clothing, hemp, leather goods, jute goods and grain

For the past few decades, the major investment opportunities have emerged sure to give us a proper financial result (i.e, collection of the investment and generation of profit from the invested capital) are Hydro-electricity generation, Tourism and Agriculture. Even though there are other sectors and opportunities to invest time, capital and labour in, these three are the most effective and productive in the long run.

Business Sectors

Agriculture Industry

Agriculture employs 76% of the workforce, services 18% and manufacturing and craft-based industry 6%. Agricultural produce – mostly grown in the Terai region bordering India – includes tea, rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops, milk, and water buffalo meat. Industry mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce, including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain. In trying to increase agricultural production and diversify the agricultural base, the government focused on irrigation, the use of fertilizers and insecticides, the introduction of new implements and new seeds of high-yield varieties, and the provision of credit. Although new agricultural technologies helped increase food production, there still was room for further growth. Past experience indicated bottlenecks, however, in using modern technology to achieve a healthy growth.

Government efforts to boost the agricultural economy have focused on easing dependence on weather conditions, increasing productivity, and diversifying the range of crops for local consumption, export, and industrial inputs. Solutions have included the deployment of irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and improved seed varieties, together with credit provision, technical advice, and limited mechanization.

Agriculture provides agricultural raw materials to the industries and industries produce manufactured or finished products from those raw materials. Thus, we have seen that without agricultural raw materials, agro-based industries cannot run. The development of agro-based industries depends upon the availability of agricultural raw materials.

There may be investment opportunities in:

• Dall Mill (Split Dalls/ Pulses for Chhilke-wali Moong, Urad, Arhar, Channa, Masoor)
• Poha (Rice Flakes)
• Atta, Maida Suji & Wheat Bran (Wheat Flour Plant) Roller Flour Mill
• Rice Powder, Puttu and Wheat Powder
• Biscuits & Candy
• Rice Mill(Parboiled Rice)
• Bakery industry, etc.

Hydropower Sector

The perennial nature of rivers and the steep gradient of the country's topography provide ideal conditions for the development of hydropower. Most of the power plants are run-of-river type with energy available in excess of the in-country demand during the monsoon season and deficit during the dry season. Nepal has a huge hydropower potential. Nepal's electricity generation is dominated by hydropower, though in the entire scenario of energy use of the country, the electricity is a tiny fraction, only 1% energy need is fulfilled by electricity. The bulk of the energy need is dominated by fuel wood (68%), agricultural waste (15%), animal dung (8%) and imported fossil fuel (8%). The other fact is that only about 40% of Nepal's population has access to electricity. With this scenario and having immense potential of hydropower development, it is important for Nepal to increase its energy dependency on electricity with hydropower development.

Much of the new hydropower capacity in Nepal will be built with a view to export electricity to meet growing demand for electricity in northern India, offsetting greenhouse-gas emissions by reducing the proportion of coal-burning stations in the electricity portfolio.

Mine and Mineral Industry

Minerals are the nonrenewable natural resources. Sustainable development of such resources helps to strengthen the national economy. Nepal is an underdeveloped country with vast natural resources such as water, minerals, forest, varieties of agricultural products and medical herbs. For the economic development of the country exploitation and proper use of such valuable resources, especially mineral resources, is extremely important. Small scale historical iron, copper, lead, zinc, cobalt, nickel mines and placer gold panning in the major rivers and many slate, quartzite, dolomite and limestone quarries were operational in many districts. Old working pits, audits, smelting places, scattered slag and remnant of mine materials stand as solid proofs of such mining activities in the past.

Limestone is by far the most important mineral resource in Nepal, followed by magnesite, lead and zinc, and marble. Limestone was mined for the production of cement and lime, as well as for construction materials. The mining sector, comprising numerous small-scale industrial minerals mining companies, was the smallest sector of Nepal’s economy.

All these indicate that Nepal is potential for metallic minerals but most of them are sub-economic to none economic prospect/ deposits.

There may be investment opportunities in:

• Artificial Marble Tiles
• Granite (Marble) Polishing Batti (Bar)
• Granite Marble Cutting and Polishing Unit
• Calcium Carbonate from Marble Chips
• Coal Washing Unit
• Ferro Silicon Manufacturing
• Gypsum plaster boards
• Beneficiation of chromium, nickel and manganese ore
• Integrated production unit of gypsum powder, gypsum board
• P.V.C. laminated gypsum ceiling tiles, etc.

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• This report helps you to identify a profitable project for investing or diversifying into by throwing light to crucial areas like industry size, market potential of the product and reasons for investing in the product.

• This report provides vital information on the product like its characteristics and segmentation.

• This report helps you market and place the product correctly by identifying the target customer group of the product.

• This report helps you understand the viability of the project by disclosing details like machinery required, project costs and snapshot of other project financials.

• The report provides a glimpse of government regulations applicable on the industry.

• The report provides forecasts of key parameters which helps to anticipate the industry performance and make sound business decisions.

Our Approach:

• Our research reports broadly cover Indian markets, present analysis, outlook and forecast for a period of five years.

• The market forecasts are developed on the basis of secondary research and are cross-validated through interactions with the industry players.

• We use reliable sources of information and databases. And information from such sources is processed by us and included in the report.