Nepal army to invest in service industries

With nothing much to do on the security front, Nepal's national army proposes to turn entrepreneur with a $50 million investment in service-oriented industries in the first phase, an official said Thursday.

The investments will be injected into manufacture of medicines, opening a medical college and university and building housing apartments and guest houses, among other ventures, Xinhua reported.

"As of now, Nepal Army has been operating welfare programmes based on the interest on deposits it gets from banks," Ishwor Shrestha, a spokesperson with the army's directorate of public relations, told Xinhua.

"The interest money is sometimes not enough to support our welfare programmes. Therefore, moves have been taken to invest the principal amount in various sectors," Shrestha said

According to Suresh Sharma, a former chief of the directorate during whose tenure this decision was taken, the army has "lawfully collected" a significant amount of money from army personnel by deducting a certain amount from their salaries.

"The amount is deposited in welfare fund in various banks. It is high time we utilised the money by investing them in profit-making sectors," Sharma said.

According to him, the army is discussing potential sectors of investment and a decision about the sectors of investment will be finalised soon.