The State of Making in Nepal: From Import Reliance to Domestic Fabrication

0:00 · MUSIC Theme in

Opening theme, warm synth and woodblock, settles under the host.

0:18 · HOST Intro

Welcome to Chips & Code, the show about making things in Nepal. I'm your host, and today we are asking a big question: why does Nepal still import almost every fabricated part it uses, and what does it take to keep one in the country?

0:52 · SFX Foley

Shop ambience fades up - a router running, chips in a dust shoe.

1:04 · HOST Guest intro

Our guest built one of Kathmandu's first serious CNC workshops, importing the machine, fighting customs, and figuring out the power story before the first cut. [Note: guest is a fictional composite for scripting - confirm and replace before recording.] Welcome to the show.

1:38 · GUEST Cold open

Thanks for having me. The honest answer to your question is that the machine was the easy part. The hard part was everything around it - the power, the tooling supply, and the customers who did not believe a Nepali shop could hold a tolerance.

2:16 · HOST The import habit

Let's put a number on that import habit, because it is staggering. The Kathmandu Post reported imports of two point one trillion rupees in 2025-26, against exports of just three hundred and fifteen billion. Where does all of that go?

2:44 · GUEST Deep dive

A huge slice is parts we could make here - brackets, fittings, plates, custom machine parts, signage, replacement components. A hotel or a factory orders a batch from China or India, waits weeks, and pays freight. When that part fails, they wait again.

3:30 · HOST Turning point

So where did you find your first paying jobs?

3:40 · GUEST Deep dive

Restoration first, then signage, then replacement parts. A heritage site needed exact carved panels nobody could hand-make in time. Then a factory had a broken guard and part and told me the import lead time was six weeks. I made it in two days.

4:28 · HOST The macro picture

And the data backs that up. Manufacturing output is growing - Macrotrends put it at two point two seven billion dollars last year, up almost four and a half percent. It is still a small slice of GDP, around five point seven percent, but it is moving.

4:54 · GUEST The cost debate

People say manufacturing is expensive in Nepal, and that column debate is fair. But the cost argument changes when a part made locally replaces a six-week import, no freight, no customs line. The price tag is only half the story.

5:40 · HOST The power problem

Everyone in Nepal talks about the power again. Tell us what a dirty line actually does to a machine.

5:52 · GUEST Deep dive

It drops steps and ruins cuts. I learned the hard way. You need a stable, filtered supply and a real earth before the machine touches your wall socket. Budget for it like you budget for a tool. It is not optional.

6:32 · SFX Sting

Soft music sting, out after the beat.

6:36 · HOST Mid-show tease

After the break: the hydropower angle, and whether the tax rules are quietly opening a door for machine buyers. Back in a moment.

6:50 · MUSIC Mid show

Short bumper, two bars, then resolves back to talk.

7:04 · HOST Rejoin

We are back. The World Bank says hydropower could enable much stronger industrial output over the long term, and the Economic Survey had electricity, gas and water supply growing around twenty-one percent. What does that mean for a machine shop?

7:30 · GUEST Deep dive

Cheap, stable power is the single best thing that can happen to a workshop. And there is a practical angle today: Nepal's Trade Policy Review notes a tax exemption on importing machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts for hydropower projects. That is work waiting for a local shop that can quote a lead time instead of a shipping window.

8:20 · HOST Scaling

So can a single dependable router really change what a region makes?

8:34 · GUEST The closer

One machine, no. Ten workshops with one machine each, shared tooling, and customers who trust the results - yes. The economy grew four point three percent last year, driven by construction, manufacturing and hydropower. That is demand. The machine is how we answer it locally.

9:18 · HOST Outro

That is the state of making in Nepal today - import reliant, but full of people ready to build. Next episode we talk heritage, and the machines that meet it halfway.

9:44 · MUSIC Theme out

Closing theme swells and fades as credits and show notes are read.

9:50 · HOST Credits

Chips & Code is produced in Kathmandu. Find today's show notes, sources, and a written transcript on our site. Until next time - keep cutting.