SIP in Nepal: what it is, whether it is safe, and how to start

A SIP (systematic investment plan, व्यवस्थित लगानी योजना) is a way of putting a fixed sum into a mutual fund on a fixed day, usually every month. Each payment buys units of the fund at that day's price, and the units go into your demat account, where MeroShare shows them. Most funds start at Rs 1,000 a month; one offers a "Mini SIP" from Rs 500.

In Nepal a SIP can only go into an open-ended mutual fund: a fund that sells new units and buys them back every working day. On 2 November 2026 there were 14 of them, run by 12 fund managers, holding about Rs 3,119 crore between them. The other 46 mutual funds are closed-ended: they sold their units once and now trade on NEPSE like shares, so you cannot pay into them every month.

So a SIP is not a product of its own. It is the habit (a fixed amount, every month, automatically) applied to a fund (a pool of shares, bonds and deposits run by a licensed manager). "SIP or mutual fund?" is not a real choice: a SIP is one way of buying a mutual fund. The other is a lump sum.

People in Nepal search for "SIP interest rate in Nabil Bank", "SIP interest rate in Kumari Bank" and "highest SIP interest rate" every month. There is no SIP interest rate. A fixed deposit promises a rate; a SIP buys units whose price moves every day, up and down.

The bank's name on a SIP is the sponsor. The fund is run by a separate company licensed by SEBON: Nabil Investment Banking, NIC Asia Capital, Siddhartha Capital, NIMB Ace Capital, Kumari Capital and the rest. Your units sit in your own demat account at CDSC, not in a bank account.

The "10–15% a year" that appears at the top of Google comes from a fund manager's own page and is an expectation, not a rate. Siddhartha's SIP fund started at Rs 10 in July 2021 and was worth Rs 7.59 a unit in June 2022: anyone who had paid in for a year had lost money. It was Rs 11.24 on 1 November 2026.

A closed-ended fund sells a fixed number of units once, through MeroShare like an IPO, and then lists them on NEPSE. After that you buy from other investors through a broker, at whatever price the market sets, which is often below the fund's real value. It ends after a fixed term, usually seven to ten years, and pays out what is left.

An open-ended fund has no fixed size. It sells new units to anyone, any working day, at that day's NAV, and buys them back the same way. Because it always takes new money, it can take a little every month: that is what makes a SIP possible. Open-ended units are not listed on NEPSE.

NAV (net asset value) is everything the fund owns, less what it owes, divided by the units. A fund with Rs 110 crore of shares, bonds and cash, owing Rs 1 crore, with 10 crore units, has a NAV of Rs 10.90. Open-ended funds work it out every working day and buy and sell at it.

Most Nepali SIP funds show a NAV close to Rs 10 even after years, and many people take that to mean the fund has not grown. It is usually because a payout lowers the NAV by the same amount: the cash leaves the fund and goes to you. NIBL Sahabhagita, the oldest, paid Rs 7.65 a unit in cash between 2020 and 2025, including Rs 5 a unit in one year, and its NAV dropped by about that much each time. Its NAV was Rs 10.48 on 2 Nov 2026; a unit bought at Rs 10 in July 2019 is worth that plus the Rs 7.65 it paid, 81% more in all.

So the return on a fund is the change in NAV plus every payout. Judging a fund by its NAV alone undercounts the ones that pay out. A high NAV does not make a fund expensive, and a low one does not make it cheap.

• Growth or dividend option: most funds let you take payouts in cash or have them buy more units (DRIP, DReP). Reinvested payouts keep compounding; cash payouts are taxed 5% either way.
• Where to see it: on the fund manager's site, daily; in its monthly report, which also lists what the fund holds.

Because a SIP puts in the same rupees every month, it buys more units when the price is low and fewer when it is high. This is rupee-cost averaging. In the table, Rs 1,000 a month goes in while the NAV falls by half and comes back to where it started. Rs 5,000 buys 650 units, at an average cost of Rs 7.69, below the average price of Rs 8.20. Back at Rs 10 they are worth Rs 6,500: 30% up, though the price only returned to where it began.

The same thing happened in a real fund. Siddhartha's SIP fund (SSIS) cost Rs 9.91 a unit in August 2021, and Rs 5,000 bought 504 units. In October 2022 it cost Rs 7.78, and the same Rs 5,000 bought 642. Over five years a monthly SIP's units cost Rs 9.64 each on average.

Compounding is earning on what you earned before. A SIP's later years grow faster than its first because the growth is on a bigger pile. Rs 3,000 a month for ten years at 10% a year becomes Rs 6,19,656; carry on for twenty and it becomes Rs 22,97,091, and for thirty Rs 68,37,976, though the money paid in only doubles and triples.

The rates are illustrations, not a forecast. A fund's NAV moves with the market; the real SIPs further down earned anything from a loss to about 9% a year.

Because money left still loses value. Prices in Nepal rose 6.34% in the year to mid-September 2026. A fixed deposit paid about 4.01% at the average bank's best rate in Kartik 2083, 3.77% after the 6% tax: about 2.4% a year less than prices rose. At that inflation, Rs 1 lakh will buy what Rs 54,080 buys today in ten years.

A SIP is the simplest way for someone on a salary to own a share of Nepal's companies and bonds, which have to earn more than deposits over long periods or nobody would borrow from banks to build them. It does four things a savings account cannot:

• It takes the decision away. The money leaves on salary day, before it can be spent. Most of a SIP's value is the habit.
• It spreads small money. Rs 1,000 buys a slice of a fund that holds many companies, bonds and deposits; Rs 1,000 in shares yourself buys a few shares of one.
• It removes timing. Nobody knows whether NEPSE is at a top or a bottom; a SIP buys every month regardless, and averaging works for you.
• A professional manager, regulated by SEBON, picks and watches the holdings, which is work most people with a job do not have time for.

These do different jobs. A fixed deposit is for money you will need within a few years; a SIP and shares are for five years or more. The question is not which is best but which money goes where.

If you already have a sum, putting it all in at once (a lump sum) wins when the market is low on that day and loses when it is high. A SIP spreads the risk of a bad day across many days. The table runs both through the NEPSE index itself, from four starting months to October 2026: one lump sum on the first day against the same total paid in monthly.

Two different questions hide in this one. Is it safe from fraud? Mostly yes: the structure is built to keep the manager's hands off your money, and we found no case of a licensed Nepali mutual fund losing unit holders' money to fraud. Is it safe from loss? No: a SIP is regulated, not guaranteed, and its value can stay below what you paid for two years or more.

• Licensed and inspected. Fund managers and depositories need a SEBON licence; SEBON inspects them and has fined managers for breaking the rules.
• Independent supervisors. Every fund has at least five fund supervisors, two-thirds of them independent of the bank and the manager, who can stop an irregular act and report to SEBON.
• Your units are in your name. They sit in your own demat account at CDSC and show in MeroShare.
• The money cannot be lent out or used for the manager's own costs, and a fund may not buy securities of the bank that sponsors it.
• Spread by rule. No more than 10% of a fund in one company's securities, no more than 15% in bank deposits, at least 20% in shares.
• Reported and audited. The NAV is published daily and the holdings monthly; supervisors report to SEBON every six months; the fund and the manager have different auditors.

Most of the fear around SIP in Nepal comes from a few beliefs, each half-true or wrong. These are the ones people search for, with what settles each.

The honest answer to "how much return in SIP in Nepal" is: it depends on the fund and on when you started, and the last five years were hard. NEPSE closed at its record of 3,198.60 on 18 August 2021 and fell 43% to 1,815.13 by 25 September 2022. On 30 October 2026 it was 2,690.15, still below the 2021 top. Most SIP funds were born near that top.

The table takes one Rs 10 unit bought when each fund opened, adds the cash it paid out, and compares with its NAV now: before tax, nothing reinvested. Funds younger than three years have no yearly rate; a year or two says little. Siddhartha publishes its own SIP result: Rs 1,000 a month from its start, payouts reinvested, earned 7.69% a year to 16 September 2026, against 4.05% for the same SIP in the NEPSE index.

Deposits paid about 10% on average in 2022 and 2023, before tax. Over these particular years, several funds did no better than a deposit.

Three SIPs of Rs 5,000 a month, worked out from the funds' real monthly NAVs and payouts. The people are made up; the prices are not. Each instalment buys at that month's NAV after the Rs 5 transfer charge; payouts are taken in cash after the 5% tax.

Story 1, the SIP that worked. Asha starts in Siddhartha's SIP fund in August 2021, the month NEPSE was at its record. For 22 of her first 28 months her SIP is worth less than she has paid in; the last such month is November 2023. She keeps paying. By 1 November 2026 she has paid 64 instalments, Rs 3,20,000, and holds 33,158 units worth Rs 3,72,698 plus Rs 28,443 of payouts received: Rs 4,01,141 in all, Rs 81,141 more than she put in, 9% a year. The fund's NAV only rose 13% in that time; her gain came from the cheap units she bought in the fall.

Story 2, the SIP that failed. Bikash starts in the same fund in the same month. By October 2022 he has paid Rs 75,000, the news says NEPSE has lost 40%, and his statement shows a loss. He cancels and sells at Rs 7.78 a unit, paying the 1.5% exit fee. He gets Rs 63,228: Rs 11,772 less than he paid, a loss of 16%. The fund recovered; he was no longer in it. The same money in a deposit would have been Rs 78,693.

Story 3, the SIP that disappointed. Chandra starts in NIBL Sahabhagita in January 2021, in the boom, and keeps paying to October 2026: 71 instalments, Rs 3,55,000. Her SIP is worth Rs 3,73,968 with payouts, 2% a year. She never lost money at the end, but the same instalments in a fixed deposit, renewed each July at that year's average rate after tax, would have grown to Rs 4,40,394. Her SIP lost to a deposit and to inflation.

• The failure was stopping, not the SIP. Asha and Bikash had the same fund, the same months and the same amount until October 2022. Asha also beat a deposit: hers would have been Rs 3,87,051.
• A SIP does not guarantee beating a deposit. Chandra's years were bad for her fund, and deposits paid between about 6% and 10% a year then. Over another five years the order could reverse; nobody can promise either way.
• The lesson for fear: decide before you start what you will do in a fall (keep paying), and put in only money you will not need for five years, so a fall never forces you to sell.

"Which is the best SIP in Nepal?" has no honest one-word answer. The one with the best record so far may not have the best next five years; a fund's past says more about its costs, its style and how it behaved in a fall than about its future. Here are all 14, biggest first, with what can be compared. NIBL Sahabhagita Fund alone holds 36% of the money in open-ended funds. Three more are waiting for SEBON's approval: NMB Flexi Cap Fund, a Global IME scheme and a Himalayan Capital scheme.

Nepal has about 8.1 million demat accounts, mostly opened to apply for IPOs. Three of the biggest SIP funds report 1,71,935, 1,51,361 and 1,16,080 unit holders; many people hold more than one fund, so the number of SIP investors is smaller than their sum. Nobody publishes it. The reasons, from surveys and from what people search:

• Not knowing what it is. Small surveys in Kathmandu and Chitwan keep finding that awareness, not income, decides who invests in mutual funds. "SIP interest rate" being a common search says the same.
• The IPO habit. Applying for 10 shares and hoping to win the lottery is most people's first investment; one recent IPO drew 2.68 million applicants.
• Gold, land and deposits feel safer, and for decades they were what families knew.
• The NAV stays near Rs 10, so funds look as if they never grew, because payouts are not added back.
• Agents and social media oversell ("Rs 1,000 a month and become a millionaire"), and the first fall feels like a betrayal.
• Real results were modest. The years since 2021 were poor for NEPSE while deposits paid up to 10%. That was the market, not SIP, but it is a fair reason people stayed away.

As early as you have a regular income and an emergency fund, because time does most of the work. Rs 3,000 a month to age 60, at an illustrative 10% a year:

• Students with no income should first finish studying and build an emergency fund; a Rs 500–1,000 SIP from pocket money teaches the habit, not much more.
• At 40 or 50 it is not too late, but the money you will need within five years, such as a child's fees, belongs in deposits, not a SIP.
• There is no age limit. Minors can have a SIP through a guardian at several funds; a birth certificate is asked for.

• An emergency fund first: three to six months of spending in a bank, so a fall in the market never forces you to sell.
• No costly loans: a credit card or personal loan at 15% costs more than a SIP is likely to earn.
• A bank account in your own name, ideally one linked to connectIPS.
• A demat account (BOID) at any depository participant: units are credited to it. Opening costs about Rs 50 and keeping it Rs 100 a year. You do not need one at the fund's own capital company.
• MeroShare is useful to see your units but not needed to start, and no SIP form asks for a CRN.
• Documents: citizenship, a photo, your bank details, a nominee's details; PAN once you invest more than Rs 5 lakh at some funds.

1. 1Pick a fund using the table and the five numbers below. Read its terms page for the exit fee and any lock-in on SIP units.
2. 2Open its SIP portal (table below) and choose SIP registration. At most funds no account is needed first; a login arrives by email.
3. 3Enter your demat details: the depository participant and the last eight digits of your 16-digit BOID, then your bank account and nominee.
4. 4Choose the amount, the frequency and the day: monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly; a term or "until cancelled".
5. 5Upload the documents and pay the first instalment online.
6. 6Set up automatic payment (next section), so you never have to remember.
7. 7Check MeroShare after a week: units show in 5–7 working days at some funds.

Many pages say a SIP can be auto-debited through connectIPS, eSewa or Khalti. Only part of that is true. There are two automatic routes; the wallets are paid by hand each time.

A step-up SIP raises the instalment every year, so it keeps pace with your salary and with inflation. No Nepali fund manager offered an automatic step-up when this was written; Citizens has a "Top-Up facility" and NIC Asia a "SIP Booster" for extra payments. You can do it yourself: amend the amount once a year, on your raise.

Rs 3,000 a month for 20 years at 10% becomes Rs 22,97,091 from Rs 7,20,000 paid. Raised by 10% every year it becomes Rs 48,43,621 from Rs 20,61,900: 2.1 times as much at the end, because you paid in 2.9 times as much, most of it from later, larger pay.

A systematic withdrawal plan (SWP) is a SIP in reverse: the fund sells a fixed sum of your units every month or quarter and pays it to your bank, for retirement or a child's fees. NIC Asia's two funds list one, as do NIBL Sahabhagita and Shubha Laxmi Kosh; elsewhere you can redeem the same sum by hand. How long Rs 20,00,000 lasts if what remains earns an illustrative 8% a year:

• 1. The yearly cost (expense ratio). It is taken every year whether the fund does well or not. From 1.61% (NIBLSF) to 3.04% (CSBY) in October 2026. On Rs 5,000 a month for 20 years at 10% before costs, that gap is worth about Rs 5,06,575.
• 2. Return including payouts, over the same years. Add every payout back to the NAV, and compare funds only over the same dates; a fund born in 2019 and one born in 2021 lived through different markets. The payout history so far, as % of the Rs 10 unit: NIBLSF 8.25% (2076/77), 50% (2077/78), 7.2% (2078/79), 4% (2079/80), 7% (2081/82); NMBSBF 4.27% (2081/82), 5.25% (2082/83); SSIS 8% (2081/82), 3% (2082/83); NFCF 5% (2080/81), 9% (2081/82); NADDF 6% (2078/79), 10% (2079/80), 10% (2080/81), 5.55% (2081/82); KSLY 10.5% (2080/81), 8.88% (2081/82), 4.7% (2082/83); SLK 7.5% (2080/81), 16% (2081/82). The other funds have paid nothing yet.
• 3. The fall. How far the NAV fell in 2022 (Siddhartha 29%, NMB 21%, NIBL Sahabhagita 19% counting payouts) tells you what to expect next time.
• 4. What it holds. The monthly report shows the split between shares, bonds and deposits. A debt fund (mostly bonds and deposits) moves less and earns less; an equity-oriented fund the reverse. Pick the mix for how long you will stay.
• 5. The terms. The exit fee schedule, whether SIP units are locked until you cancel, how you can pay automatically, and the size and age of the fund. A fund under a year old has no record to judge.

To get money out you redeem: sell units back to the fund manager on its portal or at its office, on a working day before the cut-off, usually 3 pm (Siddhartha's prospectus says 12 noon). You get that day's NAV, or at some funds the previous day's, less any exit fee and the Rs 5 transfer, paid to the bank account linked to your demat. Siddhartha's prospectus promises the money within two working days; other managers do not state a time.

The usual exit fee falls with time: 1.5% if sold within six months, 1.25% within a year, 1% within 18 months, 0.75% within two years, and nothing after that. No fund charges anything to buy.

• Exceptions: Nabil Flexi Cap charges 1.5% in the first year and 0.75% in the second. Siddhartha charges 1.5% within one year by its FAQ, within three by its redemption form.
• Each instalment has its own clock at most funds, and the oldest units are sold first. NIMB Ace counts every SIP instalment from the day the SIP was registered.
• Locked SIP units: Kumari, Sanima and Laxmi Sunrise let you redeem SIP units only after cancelling the SIP; Citizens locks them for two years.
• Limits: NIMB Ace allows 5,000 units a day online and 50,000 a month; there is no limit at the counter.

Payouts: the fund keeps back 5% of every payout to an individual, and that is the final tax; nothing more to declare. The fund's own income is not taxed, which is what some pages mean by "tax-free".

Selling units at a gain is taxed, and the rate is not clearly settled. Since 22 September 2026 a resident individual's gain on securities listed on the exchange is taxed 3.75% if held over 365 days and 5% if not. Open-ended units are not listed on NEPSE; if they fall outside that notice, the Income Tax Act's text gives 10%, withheld by the fund. Fund managers' own pages still show the older 5% and 7.5%. Ask your fund manager what it deducts before you sell.

On a Rs 50,000 gain that is Rs 1,875 at 3.75%, Rs 2,500 at 5% or Rs 5,000 at 10%. A loss is not taxed. A SIP gets no income-tax deduction; that is for approved retirement funds and insurance.

The questions people ask Google, at an illustrative 10% a year before fees and tax. At 8% the figures are lower and at 12% higher; the real SIPs above earned anything from a loss to about 9% a year.

1. 1Check the emergency fund. If three months of spending is not in the bank, the first SIP is that.
2. 2Open a demat account if you do not have one; most people who applied for an IPO already do.
3. 3Pick an amount you will not stop: Rs 1,000 kept for ten years beats Rs 10,000 stopped after one.
4. 4Pick one fund with the five numbers, register on its portal and set up the e-mandate or standing instruction.
5. 5Write down your rule for a fall: "If my SIP shows a loss, I keep paying." Asha and Bikash differed only in that.
6. 6Look once a quarter, not once a day, and raise the amount when your pay rises.