The Banking, Finance and Insurance Institute of Nepal (BFIN) and “India-Nepal Centre” of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) organised the second edition of "Nepal BFSI Summit 2023” on 22nd of December 2023 at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu.

The Summit aimed at sharing the best practices in banking innovations and exploring the areas of cooperation and collaboration in the financial sector—and further enriching the economic relation between two countries (India and Nepal) besides exploring the emerging regional and subregional collaboration opportunities.

In a time when Nepal’s economy is witnessing challenges at crucial fronts like liquidity, Balance of Payment (BoP), falling demands, decline in both export and import, low employment generation in formal sectors, high rate of migration, lack of proactive policy measures for much needed economic reforms—a daylong well-curated and presented “Nepal BFSI Summit 2023” offered a unique policy platform for strategizing the economic rebounding in Nepal besides giving impetus to the economic growth in region. Here, the role of the BFSI sector was seen as a force multiplier.

Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Minister of Finance, Government of Nepal was the "Chief Guest" on this occasion. The other key speakers were Amb Mr Naveen Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Nepal; Maha Prasad Adhikari, Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB); Dr Ram Kumar Phuyal, Member, National Planning Commission (NPC), Government of Nepal; Manjeev Singh Puri, India's Former Ambassador to Nepal & Chair, India-Nepal Centre; Dr Binod Atreya, Managing Director, BFIN; Dr Ranjeet Mehta, Executive Director, PHDCCI; Dr Atiur Rahman, Former Governor, Central Bank of Bangladesh; Dr Ravindra Pandey, Board Member, NRB; Pradyumna Prasad Upadhyay, Joint Secretary, Investment Board Nepal (IBN); Dipak Kumar De, MD & CEO, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd (NSBL); Ram Krishna Khatiwada, CEO, Nepal Infrastructure Bank Ltd (NIFRA); Kamlesh Jain, ED & COO (International), Varun Beverages Ltd & Co-Chair, India-Nepal Centre, PHDCCI.

Similarly, Atul K Thakur, Secretary, India-Nepal Centre, PHDCCI; Dr Prakash Kumar Shrestha, Executive Director, NRB; Mr Rajesh Agrawal, President, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI); Mr Rajendra Malla, President, Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC); Mr Anukool Bhatnagar, Former MD & CEO, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd (NSBL) & Adviser, India-Nepal Centre, PHDCCI; Mr Kunal Kayal, Treasurer, Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI); Mr Anil Kumar Agrawal, President, Birgunj Chamber of Commerce & Industries (BICCI); Ashish Garg, Vice President, Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN) & Chair, Infrastructure Committee, CNI.

Among the key takeaways of “Nepal BFSI Summit 2023 were:

To identify the areas and scope to boost economic growth in Nepal and the South Asian Region (with bilateral, regional and subregional cooperation) at large with focus on BFSI Sector.

To explore and discuss possible new avenues of financial sector innovations and cooperation, including for payments and new technology.

To discuss issues regarding Green Banking, Energy Financing, Energy Trade, and other areas of cooperation.

Discuss the HR Management and Transformation Challenges in the BFSI Sector.

To further enhance India-Nepal bilateral cooperation in BFSI sector.

Given the wide-ranging benefits of cooperation and integration for the entire region, and the economic ties of the different countries in the region, a strongly felt need is to further explore the possibilities to strengthen and expand the scope of bilateral, subregional and regional cooperation in South Asia especially in the BFSI Sector. The shared experiences and collaboration shall script the new chapters of collaborative growth through the BFSI Sector in Nepal and South Asia at large.

A joint initiative of BFIN and PHDCCI India-Nepal Centre Nepal BFSI Summit 2023, therefore, proved to be a major intervention for exploring the areas of collaboration and progressive action, the success stories of the financial sector, the issues and challenges in the region, with a shared resolve to come up with opportunities to work together in the region.

The program had wide-ranging participation from the decision-makers in the government and industry (financial sector), regulators, diplomats and Think Tanks.