Government mandates public offices to buy local products

The government has made public the list of products that public institutions must purchase from domestic producers even if they are more expensive than the imported ones.

The Directive on the Use of Domestic Products in Public Institutions, 2025, which was published recently in the gazette following its approval by the cabinet, aims to maximize the use of locally available resources, promote domestic manufacturing, create employment, reduce imports and develop the market for locally manufactured goods. 

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies prepared the list after collecting feedback from all stakeholders. More than four dozen products have been listed on the appendix of the directives. 

According to the directives, constitutional bodies, courts, ministries of the federal or provincial governments, secretariats, commissions, departments or any other government agencies or offices, institutions, companies, banks, or committees fully or majority owned or controlled by the federal or provincial governments are the public offices that must use Nepali products listed in the directives. Other public offices that must buy domestic products include commissions, institutions, authorities, corporations, foundations, boards, centers, councils and similar organized institutions established at the public level or formed by provincial governments under prevailing laws. Likewise, universities, colleges, research centers and similar academic or educational institutions operated by or receiving full or majority grants from the federal or provincial governments, local levels, development committees formed under the Development Committee Act 2013, and institutions operating under federal or provincial government loans or grants have also been defined as public institutions.

As per the directives, public institutions must only use handmade paper and paper products, brown paper, pencils, ball pens, envelopes, notebooks, registers, tissue paper, diaries, copies, chalk, board markers, files, file binding cloth and drawstrings produced locally. Similarly, they can only use furniture and furnishing products, floriculture and decoration items produced locally. Likewise, public institutions must now purchase furniture made from wood, plywood, cane and bamboo products from domestic producers only. 

The list also includes bags and shawls used in workshops and seminars as well as products made from allo, bamboo and banana fiber. Woolen products, dhaka and dhaka-related items, pashmina products, jute products, uniforms and caps prescribed for public institution employees and officials, shoes, belts, and bags, badges, and other materials used in assemblies or conferences, as well as traditional handicrafts, woodcrafts, sculptures, paintings, and stone products must also be procured from domestic producers.

The list also includes carpets (woven or non-woven), towels, bedsheets, curtains, mattresses, EPE rolls, mats, foam, pillows, and other furnishing items, table mats, planters, tea mats, candles, incense sticks, leaf plates, and other decorative and utility items.

Agricultural and animal products, food and beverages including milk and dairy products, eggs, fish, meat and meat products, processed oils, vegetable ghee, tea, coffee, cardamom, ginger, spices, all types of fruits and fruit juices, mineral water, processed drinking water (bottle or jar), and soft drinks must also be purchased from domestic producers. The list of products to be be procured from domestic producers also includes cleaning liquids and chemicals (toilet, bathroom, and window/door cleaners), phenyl, soap (including liquid), detergent, shampoo, room spray, brooms, brushes and other cleaning materials, dustbins, bowls, buckets, mugs, toilet paper, flower garlands, flower plants and other plants must be purchased domestically.

Likewise, the directive mandates public offices to procure transformers up to 63 MVA, equipment for hydropower projects up to 2 MW, copper or aluminum binding wire, computer software, dry batteries, agricultural machinery and equipment, ACSR, AAC aluminum conductors and cables up to 1.1 KV, PSC and STP poles and helmets from domestic producers. The list also includes construction materials such as cement, steel, bricks, paint products, AAC blocks, aluminum aluminum windows and doors, prefab wall panels and wooden products.

Similarly, products like flour, biscuits, honey, herbal products and plastic packaging films and sheets used in public institutions, public schools, community hospitals, elderly homes, children's homes, rehabilitation centers and prisons must also be purchased from domestic producers.