Nawalparasi had the highest amount of pledged investments, while Kathmandu topped in terms of total industries registered in the last fiscal year.

According to the Department of Industry, Nawalparasi attracted investments totalling Rs39.33 billion, followed by Kathmandu with Rs15.59 billion. Sankhuwasbha, Nuwakot, Taplejung, Rupandehi, Dhading, Lalitpur, Morang and Jhapa completed the top 10 list in terms of pledged investments.

Nawalparasi topped in planned investments due largely to huge investment in Hongshi Shivam Cement which is a Nepal-China joint venture industry.

On the registration front, Kathmandu topped the

charts with 148 industries

out of the total 410 registered throughout the countries

in the last fiscal year.

Lalitpur was the distant second with 73 registered industries in the fiscal, followed by Kaski with 24. Rupandehi, Morang, Nawalparasi, Chitwan, Jhapa, Makawanpur and Bhkatpur were the other districts to make it to the top 10 list

under this category, according to the DoI.  DoI Spokesperson Rudra Bahadur Malla said that Nawalparasi has drawn big investments due largely to its strategic location in terms of exports and imports.

Although the government policy does not encourage industrialists to set up factories in major cities, the

tendency of Nepali industrialists to be city-centric is the main reason behind a

large number of industrial registration in major cities like Kathmandu, Lalitpur

and Pokhara, the government official said. “These cities have best infrastructure

and major markets for the industrial output are also close to cities,” said

Malla. Despite various incentives such as income tax breaks in the remote areas, the industrialists are reluctant to install factories in those areas.