New Delhi: Nepal earned Nepalese rupees 29.32 billion from selling surplus hydroelectricity to India and Bangladesh in the fiscal year 2082-83 BS, corresponding to 2025-26, while spending NRs 10.23 billion on electricity purchases over the same period, according to official figures made public on Thursday.
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The numbers were issued by the secretariat of Biraj Bhakta Shrestha, Nepal's Minister for Energy and Water Resources. The statement described the year as the strongest Nepal has recorded in electricity trading.
Export revenue grew 67.97 percent against the preceding year, when the country took in NRs 17.46 billion from power sales. Spending on imported electricity moved in the opposite direction, contracting 20.86 percent from NRs 12.92 billion in fiscal 2081-82.
Setting earnings against purchases leaves Nepal with a net gain of NRs 19.09 billion for the year. The equivalent figure a year earlier was NRs 4.54 billion — meaning the net position has grown more than fourfold, by a factor of 4.2.
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The shift is visible in the ratio between the two flows. Export revenue covered its import bill 2.87 times over in fiscal 2082-83, against 1.35 times the year before.
Nepal generates an average of 4,500 MW during peak hours. In the monsoon months, when run-of-river hydro output is at its highest, it sends close to 1,000 MW of surplus power across the border to India and a further 40 MW to Bangladesh.