Nepal, April 25 -- Nepal has held at least six major investment summits since 2017. Hundreds of billions of rupees in commitments have been announced across those years. Big numbers, delivered from podiums, printed in press releases. But only a fraction of that money ever showed up in the real economy. The gap between what was promised in a conference hall and what was actually built on the ground is the only number worth paying attention to. Everything else is just another summit announcement.

The data tells the same story. The Nepal Rastra Bank figures show a persistent gap between approved and realised foreign direct investment (FDI) over the past decade, with only a small proportion of committed capital ever coming through. The World...