BHOPAL: The Embassy of Nepal in India and the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) brought diplomats, officials and business leaders together on 12 July for the “India-Nepal Economic Cooperation Meet 2025”.

Held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, the forum set out to deepen trade, investment and infrastructure ties between the neighbours.

Opening the event, Narendra Shivaji Patel, Madhya Pradesh’s minister for public health and medical education, called the gathering “historically important”, saying it would help improve the ease of doing business “between two friendly countries—India and Nepal”. The state, he added, shared “unique and special cultural ties” with Nepal and would do “all possible” to build on them.

Atul K Thakur, secretary of PHDCCI’s India-Nepal Centre, sketched the recent surge in cross-border projects. Roads, bridges, rail links and new integrated check-posts are advancing steadily, while the Motihari–Amlekhgunj petroleum pipeline is moving into its second phase. Freight trains now run between the two countries, and work has begun on the Raxaul–Kathmandu and Kurtha–Bijalpura railway corridors.

Power and digital payments are emerging pillars of cooperation. New agreements cover the 480 MW Phukot Karnali and 669 MW Lower Arun hydropower plants, and a long-term pact allows Nepal to sell electricity to India and onwards to Bangladesh. Since March 2024 Nepali merchants have accepted India’s UPI QR payments through an interface with FonePay; the National Payments Corporation of India and Nepal Clearing House are now smoothing cross-border settlements.

Indian firms already supply 35 per cent of Nepal’s foreign direct investment, valued at roughly US $777 million. Bilateral trade reached US $7.87 billion in the Indian fiscal year to March 2024, with India taking nearly 68 per cent of Nepal’s exports—mainly edible oils, tea, coffee and jute—and supplying most of its fuel, machinery and cereals. About 150 Indian ventures operate in Nepal across manufacturing, banking, telecoms and tourism.

Nepal’s embassy urged Madhya Pradesh companies to join that list. Ambika Joshi, minister-counsellor, and Rabindra Jung Thapa, economic counsellor, noted the historic links between the two regions: the Janaki Temple in Janakpur was built by a queen of Tikamgarh. “The embassy is fully supportive of business and people-to-people engagement,” they said, inviting investors to “explore promising outcomes” in Nepal.

Panels at the day-long meet examined green industry, border connectivity and border-area development. Delegates also discussed ways to update trade rules and widen sub-regional cooperation as India and Nepal aim to turn strong cultural ties into even stronger commercial ones.