6 days ago
India-Nepal Cooperation Expands Through Start-Ups, Cricket and Education
India and Nepal are trying to work more closely together.
India’s ambassador said this includes better roads, digital connections, trade and exchanges between people.
India is also helping young Nepalese business founders through a start-up program.
About 49 start-ups have received training and mentoring.
Some have received offers to join business incubators in India, and officials are working to make expansion easier.
India is sharing farming knowledge and helping Nepal’s cricket teams train.
India also gives about 1,500 scholarships each year to Nepali students.
These efforts are meant to create more opportunities for young people in both countries.
Ambassador Naveen Srivastava said India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy is strengthening connectivity, trade and people-to-people ties with Nepal.
The India-Nepal Startup Partnership Network has trained and mentored about 49 Nepalese start-ups across two batches.
India is helping Nepalese start-ups access capital, markets, connections and potential incubation opportunities while working to ease regulatory barriers.
India is supporting Nepalese agriculture and cricket, including Mustang apple productivity efforts and training camps for national and under-19 teams.
India provides about 1,500 annual scholarships to Nepali students, including for engineering, medical sciences, law, postgraduate and PhD studies.
- Who
- India, represented by Ambassador Naveen Srivastava, and Nepalese youth, entrepreneurs, farmers, athletes and students.
- What
- India is describing cooperation with Nepal in connectivity, start-ups, agriculture, cricket and education.
- Where
- The cooperation involves India and Nepal, including training and educational programs conducted in India.
- When
- The remarks were made on Thursday at NDTV World’s “Anviksha” India-Nepal Dialogue; the initiatives include a start-up program launched last year and cricket cooperation expanded after a 2024 visit by Dr S Jaishankar.
- Why
- To strengthen connectivity, trade, people-to-people ties and opportunities for Nepalese youth through India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy.
Key facts
- Policy
- India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy focuses on physical, digital and people-to-people connectivity, as well as trade and commerce.
- Youth exchanges
- Young Nepalese MPs visit India for 10-15 days through a program organized with Indian think tanks.
- Start-up network
- The India-Nepal Startup Partnership Network began last year.
- Start-up participants
- About 49 Nepalese start-ups have received training and mentorship in two batches.
- Agriculture
- Nepalese apple growers from Mustang visited India to exchange knowledge with agricultural experts.
- Cricket
- With help from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, India organized training camps for Nepal’s cricket teams.
- Scholarships
- India provides about 1,500 scholarships annually to Nepali students, covering school, postgraduate and PhD studies.
Quotes
Naveen Srivastava
India's Ambassador to Nepal
“With the help of the BCCI, we've organised training camps for them in our national center. And, I guess most of you might have seen the Nepali team's performance in the T20 World Cup both against England and Ireland. Several of them, I hope, will be able to compete in the IPL at some point.”
NDTV
“For the last several years, we have been doing work in that direction. Now, Nepal has transformed both in terms of physical transformation, better infrastructure, better roads, better connectivity, hydropower, but also demographically”
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