Kathmandu: IME Group-backed Nepal Pulp and Paper Industries has generated more than Rs 300 million in revenue within just three and a half months of operation. The company posted sales worth Rs 302 million during the period in the last fiscal year.
Established in 2021, the company set up a printing paper plant with an annual production capacity of 21,000 metric tons. It initially began trial production and limited commercial operations in April 2025 before moving to full-scale commercial production by mid-July 2025.
During the first three and a half months of operation, the plant utilized around 50 per cent of its installed capacity. The project was originally estimated to cost Rs 1.4 billion, but the final investment climbed to Rs 2.2 billion due to the installation of additional and upgraded machinery beyond the initial plan.
According to the company, it earned an operating profit margin of 7.1 per cent during the review period.
The venture is being operated jointly by IME Group, Everest Group, and other industrial investors. Ownership is led by One Capital Holding Pvt. Ltd. with a 36 per cent stake, followed by Sulochana Devi Saraf with 20 per cent, Homanath Gyawali with 16 per cent, Sunil Gopal Shrestha with 15 per cent, while the remaining 13 per cent is held by three other individuals.
One Capital Holding was established by IME Group around three and a half years ago with the goal of channelling investments worth Rs 5 billion.
The company, chaired by Chandra Prasad Dhakal, has secured a credit rating for loans totalling Rs 1.997 billion, including Rs 1.561 billion in long-term borrowing and Rs 436 million in short-term facilities. Its rating was upgraded from B-minus to B-plus. According to ICRA, the upgrade reflects improved repayment discipline, as earlier delays of up to 30 days in loan servicing have now been regularized.
After achieving major success in service-oriented sectors, IME Group entered the manufacturing industry about a year ago. Former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Chandra Dhakal, invested around Rs 1.5 billion in a fibre cement board factory in Rautahat and more than Rs 2 billion in the paper industry in Mahottari.
IME Group, which has established businesses in banking, financial services, insurance, remittance, tourism, infrastructure, automobiles, information technology, and hydropower, entered the manufacturing sector for the first time through this paper industry project.
Located in Gauashala-1, Itatar village of Mahottari District, Nepal Pulp and Paper Industries is currently the largest paper manufacturing plant in the country. The factory, whose foundation stone was laid in 2021, was officially inaugurated on March 5, 2025, by former Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli.
Dhakal has said the factory was established to reduce Nepal’s dependence on imported paper products and to create domestic employment opportunities. The industry aims to produce high-quality paper using locally available raw materials and domestic manpower. The plant currently provides direct employment to around 500 people.
Although Nepal consumes nearly 150,000 metric tons of paper annually, the country has long relied entirely on imports due to the lack of domestic paper manufacturing industries. Products such as notebooks used in schools and colleges, photocopy paper, toilet paper, and tissue paper have historically been imported. Nepal Pulp and Paper Industries says it aims to meet more than 30 percent of the country’s total paper demand through domestic production.
The factory currently has a daily production capacity of 75 metric tons of paper and is preparing to expand capacity to 150 metric tons per day.
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