Nepal’s IT exports near $1Bn as BPO firms multiply
TOA PAYOH NORTH, SINGAPORE — Nepal’s information technology (IT) sector has grown to an estimated $1 billion in annual export earnings, more than doubling from $515 million in 2022, as over 6,000 business process outsourcing (BPO) firms now operate across software development, United States healthcare data analytics, Australian financial services processing, and artificial intelligence (AI) services.
According to a report from Asia News Network, roughly 20% annual growth and a diaspora-driven startup ecosystem have powered the milestone — though structural gaps in data tracking, policy instability, and geographic concentration remain unresolved.
Nepal’s IT milestone: $1Bn in exports, 6,000+ BPO firms
The $1 billion estimate comes from the Nepal Association for Software and IT Services (NAS-IT) (nasit.org.np), which tracks the sector without an official government mechanism for separating IT export payments from general remittance inflows. This means actual foreign exchange earnings from IT services are likely undercounted in official figures.
Nepal’s IT service mix has diversified significantly: more than 100 companies process Australian home loans, U.S. healthcare data analytics is an established delivery segment, and AI firms such as Fusemachines (fusemachines.com) represent the sector’s highest-value tier.
Employment has grown from 70,000 workers in 2022 to approximately 100,000 today, with projections of 500,000 IT-enabled jobs within a decade if 18% annual employment growth holds.
With over 6,000 BPO firms and $1 billion in estimated exports, Nepal has built a sector whose scale now demands the policy stability, foreign direct investment, and geographic diversification it has not yet received — conditions that will determine whether informal momentum compounds into institutionalized growth.
“As an industry practitioner, I am very confident we have reached that billion-dollar number,” said Gaurav Pandey, President, Nepal Association for Software and IT Services.
Policy instability and Kathmandu concentration threaten next phase
Ninety percent of Nepal’s IT jobs remain concentrated in Kathmandu, creating a single-city dependency that limits national scale and exposes the sector to localized disruption while leaving most of the country’s workforce outside the growth trajectory.
Frequent tax rate changes have been identified as the leading deterrent to long-term investment, with sector leaders calling for a decade-long policy lock-in to give international clients and investors the certainty required to commit to Nepal-based digital services delivery at scale.
Nepal’s payment tracking gap means IT export earnings are classified as remittances rather than service export income, understating the sector’s economic contribution and weakening the policy case for IT-specific government support.
For BPO operators and buyers tracking emerging South Asian delivery markets, Nepal’s $1 billion milestone proves multi-vertical delivery capability across healthcare, finance, and AI — and policy stability, geographic diversification, and proper export data tracking are the conditions that will determine whether the sector scales or stalls.
“Tax rates change every year. We need stability for at least 10 to 15 years,” said Pandey.
For offshore operators and buyers evaluating South Asian delivery alternatives, Nepal’s 6,000-firm sector now offers verified back-office processing capability across healthcare data, financial processing, and AI services — with the $1 billion milestone providing the strongest industry argument yet for the policy investment the sector needs to sustain its trajectory.
