Many analysts consider a railway connecting the Chinese border town of Kerung with Kathmandu as an effort to counter India’s project to connect the Nepali capital with a cross-border Railway via Raxaul.

Authorities from the two countries also reach consensus on relocating re-regulation barrage proposed at Sisauli.

The proposed 6,480-megawatt project has remained in limbo for three decades since the two countries signed the Mahakali Treaty in 1996.

Nepal spent around Rs 1,944 crore on buying electricity from India while its exports stood at Rs 1,010 crore in 2022-23.

An investigation by a Nepali anti-corruption body revealed incomplete documentation and noncompliant wage payments in the construction of the Pashupatinath temple's jalahari, a component of its shivalinga.

While the Indian government took the step to control the widening current account deficit, smuggling could deplete Nepal’s foreign exchange reserves further.

Nepal's electricity authority has said that it has not been able to buy power from India at night amid a domestic supply shortage brought on by soaring coal prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The NEA has been buying 3,500-4,000 megawatt hours of electricity in recent days, which is almost half of what it used to buy from India’s power exchange market.

According to Kul Man Ghising, managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority, purchasing power from Nepal would be cheaper for India and would align with it's sustainability ambitions.