May 1: The number of companies registered for assembling vehicles in Nepal has reached 20 till date.

Among them, nine are registered with local investment, eight with foreign investment and four with joint investment of both Nepali and foreign companies, according to the Department of Industry.

According to the Department of Industry, Laxmi InterContinental Pvt Ltd was registered to assemble vehicles at Ramgram Municipality-6 of Nawalparasi on April 8, 2019 with an investment of Rs 5.10 billion.

The company will assemble 8000 vehicles yearly and will be providing employment opportunity to 440 people, said the company.

Few months ago, Korean company Motrex had proposed assembling vehicles in the country. Though the Investment Board of Nepal had approved the proposal on March 15, no effort has been made for the operation of the company so far. The company is yet to be registered with the Department of Industry even though the IBN has approved its proposal.  

Nepal Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) has objected to the terms and conditions put forth by Motrex, which customs duty exemption, income tax exemption, and a syndicate of vehicle assembling companies.

 NADA has urged the government to refuse the proposal of Motres. NADA’s member Karan Chaudhary said conditions like monopoly in the open market would not be acceptable to NADA.

At present, only Hulas Auto has been assembling Bajaj Discover 125 motorcycle regularly from its auto industry at Ramgram, Nawalparasi. Nevertheless, BG Video and Electronics Nepal Pvt Ltd also has been assembling electric scooters- Benling and Bella by importing spare parts from China.