Kathmandu, March 20: The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has submitted its suggestions to the government on topics to be included in its Policies and Programmes for the upcoming fiscal year 2025/26. FNCCI President Chandra Prasad Dhakal on Wednesday submitted the suggestions to the government through Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Damodar Bhandari. The FNCCI has drawn the attention of the government to ensure the formulation and implementation of necessary regulations, their effective execution and ensure the effective implementation of policy reforms. It stated that some positive signs of the policy reforms have been seen. The FNCCI has proposed to make maximum use of technology in the process of business registration, renewal, tax payment and abrogation and provide all business services through 'online' mode by placing 'business icon' in the Citizen App. It has also suggested to make the government service system more effective under the 'smart' service concept and to adopt a separate policy for the promotion of foreign investment. "Since foreign investment in Nepal is limited to 0.2 percent of GDP, a special investment campaign should be launched to increase it. The Office of the Investment Board and the Department of Industries should be merged and restructured, and the 'one stop' service center should be fully implemented," the FNCCI suggested. It has demanded that investors should not have to go to other offices after submitting the required documents. Likewise, the Federation has pointed out the need to improve the banking system. "Although Nepal's banking system currently has around Rs 600 billion worthy of investment, the pace of investment is slow. Although interest rates have dropped by three percent in the last three months, investment disbursement has not been effective. The current capital loan guidelines introduced by the Nepal Rastra Bank two years ago should be reviewed and this policy should be postponed for at least two years," the FNCCI stated in its suggestion document. The Federation has suggested bringing a policy immediately for the promotion of Nepali agricultural products and export of water to the Gulf countries. The umbrella organization of Nepal's business community has proposed to set up cold storage, X-ray machines and warehouse facilities at the airport to promote exports of Nepali products to the Gulf countries, taking advantage of the 12 flights daily from Nepal to the Middle East. The Federation has also suggested that the tax levied should be gradually reduced by five percent in five years in order to promote manufacturing industries. It has also stressed on reducing the income tax rate and increasing the tax exemption limit. ---