The Council of Ministers, in its Friday night meeting, decided to recommend the issuance of three ordinances to President Ramchandra Paudel. These include the Ordinance to Amend Some Nepal Acts, the Ordinance to Amend Land-Related Laws, and the Ordinance to Amend Investment-Related Laws.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli shared the developments on social media, stating, “The Council of Ministers has recommended an ordinance to the President to facilitate the repatriation of income earned in the IT sector to Nepal. We believe this will position IT as an industry capable of generating foreign exchange for the country.”

Additionally, the government has introduced some provisions to modernise governance and stimulate economic growth. According to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, these include granting free visas to non-resident Nepali citizens and their family members if they reside in Nepal for 10 years, allowing the use of a citizen app for streamlined service delivery, and raising the mandatory retirement age for workers from 58 to 60 years.

Prime Minister Oli lauded his Cabinet’s decision as groundbreaking and said that Nepali IT companies are now permitted to invest abroad. This move aims to enhance competitiveness in the global market and addresses long-standing demands from IT entrepreneurs. As per the new provision, the ordinance allows IT companies to establish branch offices overseas and legally repatriate earnings to Nepal, the prime minister's secretariat said.

The Nepal Rastra Bank will provide foreign currency exchange facilities to eligible IT companies upon receiving approval from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which will assess their operational capacity.

Moreover, the ordinance introduces incentives to establish IT industries within Special Economic Zones (SEZs), including tax exemptions and reduced legal barriers.

According to a report by the Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Nepal's IT export industry generated approximately US$515 million in 2022, with over 106 IT export companies and 14,728 freelancers operating in software development and related fields. The sector contributed 1.4 percent to Nepal’s GDP and 5.5 percent to foreign exchange reserves.

“The Council of Ministers has recommended this ordinance to facilitate the legal repatriation of IT earnings. We are confident this will elevate IT as a foreign currency-generating industry,” Oli said in a social media post on Saturday.