Register a company and start a business in Nepal, the Himalayan opening

Mostly - the FDI application, incorporation and tax registrations are handled by power of attorney. Banks prefer to meet a signatory, and work-visa steps require presence, so operating founders usually plan one Kathmandu trip. We sequence it after approval, when it counts.

Turnkey registration with FDI approval starts from $2,900; with banking, from $4,900. The NPR 20 million minimum, where it applies, is your investment capital - deployed into the business, not paid to anyone. Renewals with accounting run from $1,500 a year.

No - but it is narrower than it looks. For founders looking to start a business in Nepal, the NPR 20 million minimum applies per foreign investment outside the exempted sectors, while IT is the headline exemption: information technology businesses carry no FDI minimum at all since the reform, which is why Kathmandu dev shops have become the easiest foreign-owned companies in the subcontinent. Export-oriented and priority sectors also see flexibility. We check your model against the current schedule first.

Corporate tax is 25% - rebated to 20% for special industries, manufacturing, and exporters - with VAT at 13% above the threshold and employer social security around 20% of basic salaries. Then the pleasant surprise: dividends leave under a 5% final tax. For a profitable services company, the all-in Nepal stack is one of the subcontinent's most founder-friendly.

Approval comes first, through the Department of Industry's single-point service centre: application, sector check, capital plan, decision - typically two to five weeks for straightforward cases, faster on the automatic route where it applies, and longer for licensed sectors. Operations begin after approval, not before. We file complete applications because incomplete ones can circle for months.

Yes - lawfully and repeatedly, if the money came in properly. Approved investments routed through Nepal Rastra Bank channels acquire the right to repatriate dividends (after the 5% tax), loan repayments and sale proceeds. The system is documentary and slow-moving but honest: clean files clear, improvised entries queue indefinitely. This is why our entry routing is non-negotiable.

The largest in the country's history: India committed to importing ten thousand megawatts over the coming decade, Bangladesh buys through Indian wheeling, and the licence-to-COD pipeline needs developers, EPC contractors, equipment and services at every stage. Foreign participation is welcomed under project licensing with negotiated terms. It is a project business - we scope it as one, with the electricity authority calendar stated honestly.

Arithmetic and loyalty: strong English, engineering graduates at frontier costs, attrition far below Indian metros, a time zone that overlaps with Europe and half of the US day - and now no FDI minimum, so a foreign founder owns the entity outright from day one. The honest limits: power backup and internet redundancy are planned, not assumed, and senior architects are scarcer than juniors.

Governments change often and occasionally dramatically - 2025 saw protests bring one down - and we would not pretend otherwise. The countervailing truth: the bureaucracy, the peg, the banks and the FDI framework have carried on through every rotation, and no government of any stripe has moved against approved foreign investment. We plan around ministries, not ministers.

Honestly: four to eight weeks to a working, banked company - FDI approval is the long pole; incorporation and PAN take days once it lands, with banking taking one to three weeks after that. IT cases run fastest. Hydropower and licensed projects follow their own calendars, which we state per project rather than pretending one number fits all.