Can industrialisation be instrumental in the prosperity of Nepal? Has Nepal been able to benefit from industrialisation? What should be done to make Nepali products competitive in the world market? How can we bring in foreign investors? Himalmedia Roundtable tried to come up with answers last week. Participating were Padam Jyoti of Jyoti Group, Rajendra Khetan of Khetan Group, Pradip Kumar Shrestha of Panchakanya Group, Subhas Kumar Sanghai of Sanghai Group, Joseph L Pulikottil of Asian Paints and Chairman of the Bankers' Association of Nepal and CEO of Bank of Kathmandu, Radhesh Pant. Excerpts:

Padma Jyoti
Industries are barely able to survive. Politics is responsible for the deceleration of industries. The problems are created by unions linked to political parties. New parties are encouraging unions so as to bolster their vote banks, and the Maoists are taking the lead.

Radhesh Pant
In 1996-97, industrial growth was 14.7 percent, but today it is just 2.2 percent. GDP growth has come down from 5 percent to 2 percent. Recently, when a businessman was beaten up, all the industrialists came together. There should be such unity because there are many groups with ulterior motives. Competition in business is one thing but if there is no unity the private sector can't move forward.

Pradip Kumar Shrestha
If the industrialists say the country is doomed, it will be doomed. We need to encourage people. If we work together, there is a lot we can benefit from.

Rajendra Khetan
We have never faced the kind of problems that we are facing now. The government, political parties and the administrative sector are responsible for the degradation of the business environment. If the political parties want to politicise the industries, we need to have the right to bail out our investments. We can take our money and invest it in Bhutan or Mumbai but that would destroy this country's industries.

Joseph L Pulikottil
Workers' unions, unskilled manpower, lack of transparency and outreach to markets are some of the problems we are facing today. But the main problem is policy. Is industrialisation a priority for the nation? If so, it should be reflected in the policies and actions of the government and political parties.

Subhas Sanghai
If the problems continue for a couple of years, we will lose everything. The politics of parties, the electricity and fuel shortages will bring industries to a standstill. Our competitiveness in the international market has taken a knock. Although we are a small country, we can also bounce back quickly once we have stability. The private sector needs to be positive.

Pradip Kumar Shrestha
We aren't money poor, but idea poor. We have all the resources but we haven't utilised them. A national agreement can easily solve this problem but unfortunately, we don't even have an agreement among the private sector.

Rajendra Khetan
Nepal took a great leap forward between 1980 and 1996. A dramatic increase in agriculture or the discovery of mineral deposits may change things, but even if we do the maximum to encourage manufacturing it won't give us more than 10-15 percent growth in GDP. Ram Sharan Mahat, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Prakash Chandra Lohani and a few others might have understood this but the rest haven't.

Radhesh Pant
Manufacturing has its limitations in Nepal. Farming and herbs may have some possibilities, but we must be prepared for 2010 when Nepal has to open up domestic industries for international players under WTO rules. Amongst the industries we have today, cement industry is the only one that may still do well because of export potential to India. But for that we need to plan at least 5-10 years in advance.

Padma Jyoti
We need to decide which sectors have manufacturing and industrial potential in Nepal. We cannot forget that small and medium scale industries can still be beneficial for us.

Joseph L Pulikottil
Nepal does not produce any raw materials. We cannot compete in the international market by processing imported materials. Such products can only be used in the internal market. The industries we have do not provide huge employment opportunities. We need means to respond to unemployment. Nepal needs to think about bringing in multinational companies.

Pradip Kumar Shrestha
Our government lacks good policies, implementation and a decision making ability. The hydropower sector needs a new policy but the government isn't moving.

Joseph L Pulikottil
We haven't been able to utilise the educated manpower in our country. Banks and cooperatives are the first priority whereas international and national organisations come second. The industrial sector comes third. As long as industrial sector is not a priority, there is little chance of international competition.

Radhesh Pant
The country will move to a positive direction after the polls. A lot of things have come to surface in the past two years. We cannot move on without responding to these issues.

Padma Jyoti
This election is to build a new constitution. We cannot hope for a drastic change in our financial policy. Since the political parties differ so much, a new economic policy looks iffy.

Joseph L Pulikottil
There is talk about federalism and inclusion in the nation. We need to analyse the possible effects of federalism on the economy. Is it also going to be inclusive?

Rajendra Khetan
We cannot expect the elections to change everything. There might be some changes in administration, but we can't do much more now than hope for the best.