What is NEPSE? A complete guide to the Nepal Stock Exchange.

What NEPSE is, in one sentence

NEPSE, short for the Nepal Stock Exchange and written नेप्से in Nepali, is the only stock exchange in Nepal, headquartered in Kathmandu. It is the marketplace where shares of Nepali companies are bought and sold during a fixed daily session.

A short history

NEPSE was established in 1993 under the Companies Act and the Securities Exchange Act, replacing an earlier exchange that had operated as the Securities Marketing Centre. The headline NEPSE index was launched in 1994 with a base of 100. For its first decade NEPSE was a tiny, illiquid market dominated by a handful of commercial banks. The growth of hydropower and microfinance issuance in the 2010s, combined with online trading platforms rolled out from 2018, transformed NEPSE into the active retail market it is today.

Who regulates NEPSE?

NEPSE operates the trading platform. The regulator is SEBON, the Securities Board of Nepal. SEBON licenses brokers, approves every new issue (IPOs, FPOs, right shares, mutual funds), and enforces disclosure rules and trading conduct. Listed companies report quarterly results through NEPSE's portal, and SEBON has the authority to suspend trading or delist a security if disclosure rules are breached.

What's listed on NEPSE?

In September 2026 NEPSE listed 280 companies’ shares across 12 sectors, plus 77 debentures, 45 mutual funds and 6 preference shares (see every listed company). The biggest by market value and trading turnover are:

• Commercial Banks: the historic anchor of the market.
• Hydropower: Nepal is largely hydro-powered and dozens of hydro projects are listed.
• Microfinance Institutions: fast-growing rural-credit issuers.
• Life Insurance & Non-Life Insurance: split into two sector indices.
• Development Banks: smaller regional banks.
• Finance Companies: finance-licence non-bank lenders.
• Investment / Mutual Fund / Manufacturing / Trading / Hotels: smaller sectors.

How the NEPSE index works

The NEPSE headline index is a weighted average of the prices of all listed securities, base 100 set in 1994. When the index moves from say 2,100 to 2,140, that's roughly a 1.9% rise across the average listed share. NEPSE also publishes sector sub-indices: Banking, Hydropower, Microfinance, Insurance, and more. Sub-indices can diverge sharply from the headline: hydropower can rally 5% on a monsoon-season rumour while the banking index drifts down.

NEPSE trading hours

NEPSE is open Monday to Friday. Saturday and Sunday are weekend. The trading day has two sessions:

• Pre-Open: 10:30 to 11:00 NPT. Orders are taken from 10:30 to 10:45 and don't execute; they are matched to set the day's opening price before 11:00.
• Continuous trading: 11:00 to 15:00 NPT. Real-time order matching.

NEPSE shifted to a Monday to Friday week in April 2026 (previously Sunday to Thursday). It is also closed on Nepali public holidays. See our full NEPSE trading hours guide for the holiday list and session details.

How to start investing in NEPSE

1. Open a DEMAT account. A DEMAT account holds your shares in electronic form. You can open one through almost any commercial bank or broker. You'll need a citizenship copy and a passport-sized photo. It costs Rs 100 a year, plus any opening charge your bank or broker sets.
2. Register on Mero Share. Mero Share is the official C-ASBA portal run by CDSC. It's how you apply for IPOs, FPOs and right shares. It costs Rs 50 a year and takes a day or two for verification.
3. Open a TMS account with a broker. The TMS (Trade Management System) is the platform your broker uses to place orders on the NEPSE exchange. You'll get a client code, a login, and a small commission per trade.
4. Fund and trade. Transfer money to your broker (the CM Account), place buy orders through TMS, watch prices fill, and the shares land in your DEMAT after T+2.

Where Punji fits in

Punji is a Nepal stock market app that sits on top of this whole ecosystem. It does not place trades (that still happens through your broker) but it handles every other piece: live NEPSE prices, portfolio tracking with auto capital gains tax, the floorsheet, broker analysis, the IPO and corporate-events calendar, AI summaries in English and नेपाली, and price alerts. See all features or read the floorsheet guide next.

Sources

• Nepal Stock Exchange opens Monday to Friday under new government timings Sharesansar, 8 Apr 2026
• NEPSE new rules: stock limits upgraded to 15%; market to suspend at 8% index change Sharesansar, 20 Apr 2026
• Nepal Stock Exchange notices NEPSE
• Securities Board of Nepal SEBON
• CDS and Clearing Limited CDSC