Government support and startup policy in Nepal

Nepal's government supports new enterprises through policy statements, laws and programmes. Exact schemes and amounts change between annual budgets, so students should read the current budget speech and policy documents.

Forms of government support

• Policy and law: Industrial Enterprises Act and related industrial and national policies recognise cottage, small and medium industries and promise facilities; recent budgets and the startup business campaign have named startups and innovation as priorities.
• Finance: concessional or subsidised loans for youth and small entrepreneurs (for example through the Youth and Small Entrepreneur Self-Employment Fund), directions from Nepal Rastra Bank to banks about lending to priority sectors, a Nepal Rastra Bank startup enterprise loan scheme, and seed or grant programmes.
• Tax and fee facilities: concessions or relief in tax and registration for certain industries and in some budget periods for startups.
• Training and facilitation: skill and entrepreneurship training through the Department of Cottage and Small Industries, the Cottage and Small Industries Development Board, the Industrial Enterprise Development Institute and similar bodies; some provincial and local governments run their own programmes.
• Infrastructure: industrial districts and technology or business incubation centres.

Typical features of a startup policy

1. Definition and registration of a "startup" by age, turnover and innovation.
2. Simplified, online registration and compliance.
3. Access to seed capital and risk funding.
4. Tax and regulatory relief during early years.
5. Incubation, mentoring and links to universities.
6. Intellectual-property protection.

Improvements

Single-window services, easier foreign investment and remittance rules, collateral-free financing, venture-capital regulation and stronger university-industry links.

Answer: Government support consists of policy recognition, concessional finance, tax relief, training and incubation; a startup policy should define startups and ease registration, funding and compliance.