CNI Holds Interaction with MPs on Private Sector Reforms and Economic Growth
The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) hosted an interaction with the members of the Private Sector Development and Investment Promotion Sub-committee of the Parliamentary Finance Committee of the Federal Parliament at the CNI Secretariat on 20 July 2026. The discussion focused on legal, policy, and institutional reforms necessary to improve Nepal's investment climate, strengthen industrial competitiveness, and accelerate private sector-led economic growth.
The interaction brought together Coordinator of the Sub-committee and Member of Parliament Khadka Shahi, Members of Parliament Lima Adhikari, Karisma Kathariya, Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar, and Sarita Mahato, along with Committee Secretariat Secretary Laxman Aryal, who engaged in an extensive discussion with industrialists on the key challenges facing Nepal's private sector and the reforms required to promote investment and industrial development.
CNI President Birendra Raj Pandey highlighted CNI's long-standing advocacy for Policy and regulatory reform. He informed the committee that CNI had submitted comprehensive recommendations in 2018 and 2024 to repeal outdated and irrelevant economic laws, amend existing legislation, and introduce new legal frameworks to support economic transformation. Based on these recommendations, successive governments introduced amendments to several laws through ordinances, while the Khanal Commission also recommended repealing and reforming many obsolete laws. He welcomed the current government's decision to repeal 15 outdated laws and its registration of a bill in Parliament to repeal five economic laws, describing these as important steps toward improving Nepal's business environment.
He further urged the government to introduce key legislations, including the Payment Security Act, provisions for Anticipatory Bail, and the decriminalization of corporate laws, replacing imprisonment for procedural business errors with proportionate financial penalties. He also emphasized the need to establish industrial estates under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, including the long-awaited Shaktikhor Industrial Estate.
Highlighting measures to strengthen domestic industries, he called for the implementation of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Duty Drawback schemes, mechanisms to adjust outstanding government payments against tax liabilities, and targeted policy and financial incentives for import-substituting and export-oriented industries. He stressed that productive industries should receive national priority as key drivers of employment generation, exports, and sustainable economic growth.
President Pandey also underscored the importance of ensuring the sustainable utilization of forest resources, minerals, and river-based natural resources, guaranteeing reliable and competitively priced electricity for industries, and revisiting land ceiling provisions for industrial investment. He advocated for effective market monitoring to curb illegal trade, smuggling, and unauthorized production, expansion of testing laboratories at border points to ensure quality imports and facilitate mutual recognition of Nepal Standards (NS) and Indian Standards (ISI), and customs measures to discourage imports of products already manufactured domestically. Furthermore, he urged the government to expedite the unbundling of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) as part of Nepal's efforts to be removed from the European Union Air Safety List.
CNI Vice President Hem Raj Dhakal emphasized that laws affecting the private sector should be formulated only after meaningful consultation with the private sector. He stated that legislation should be facilitative rather than control-oriented, enabling businesses to operate with greater confidence and contributing to a more investment-friendly environment.
The interaction concluded with a shared commitment between CNI and members of the Parliamentary Finance Committee to continue constructive dialogue and collaboration in advancing legal and policy reforms that foster industrial development, investment promotion, and sustainable economic growth in Nepal.
