February 10: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will no longer require approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank in the near future. Until now, it was mandatory for the investors to get approval from the central bank for any kind of FDI. The central bank is preparing to remove the hassles of paperwork by introducing new regulations soon.

Nepal Rastra Bank has taken a policy-level decision to introduce the Foreign Investment and Foreign Loan Management Bylaws, 2077, which won’t require its approval for FDI. The central bank has asked stakeholders for feedback regarding this new provision within a month.

Although the investors do not require to take permission from the central bank, they still need to take permission from other concerned government bodies. After getting the final approval, the investors need to inform the central bank in written about any foreign currency being flown in or out of the country.

Executive Director of the Foreign Exchange Department of NRB Bam Bahadur Mishra says that the central bank is taking a giant leap to facilitate foreign direct investment.

“We are trying to promote FDI and therefore we are making a new arrangement for the first time,” said Mishra, adding, “Now the investors can go directly to the Department of Industry instead of coming to the central bank.”

Mishra added that the investors do need to visit the central bank for the final auditing though.

Officials at NRB expressed their belief that the new bylaws would further facilitate FDI.