What is Fiscal Year (Aarthik Barsha)?

Nepal's fiscal year — aarthik barsha (आर्थिक वर्ष) — is the twelve-month accounting period used by the government for its budget, revenue collection, public spending and statistics. It runs from the 1st of Shrawan to the last day of Ashadh in the Bikram Sambat (BS) calendar, Nepal's official solar calendar. Because the Bikram Sambat year begins in mid-April, the fiscal year that starts on 1 Shrawan corresponds to roughly mid-July, and it ends at the close of Ashadh, roughly mid-July of the following year.

A Nepali fiscal year therefore straddles two Gregorian years and two BS years, which is why it is written with a slash spanning both BS years — for example FY 2082/83. That fiscal year began on 1 Shrawan 2082 (about 17 July 2025) and ends at the end of Ashadh 2083 (about 16 July 2026). The exact Gregorian start and end dates shift by a day or two from year to year, because the lengths of the Bikram Sambat months are not fixed and the BS-to-Gregorian offset (about 56-57 years) varies slightly.

This timing is distinctive. Most Western countries use a January-December or April-March fiscal year, and even neighbouring India runs its financial year from 1 April to 31 March. Nepal's mid-July to mid-July window is tied to its own calendar and, commonly, to the agricultural and monsoon cycle: the year opens as the monsoon planting season is under way and closes after the main cropping period, which helps align budgeting and economic assessment with the farm year that still underpins much of the economy.

The fiscal year is the unit around which Nepal's entire public-finance system is organised. The federal government prepares one annual budget — the estimates of revenue and expenditure — for each fiscal year, and that budget authorises spending only for that single Shrawan-to-Ashadh period. Money appropriated for one fiscal year generally cannot be carried over freely into the next; unspent capital budget lapsing at the end of Ashadh is a recurring concern in Nepali public finance. Provincial and local governments operate on the same fiscal-year calendar, and intergovernmental fiscal transfers (equalisation, conditional, matching and special grants) are budgeted year by year on that basis.

For FY 2082/83 the federal budget was about Rs 1.964 trillion — written in Nepali numbering as roughly 19 kharba 64 arba — split into recurrent expenditure of about Rs 1.18 trillion, capital expenditure of about Rs 408 billion, and financial-management/financing provision (including debt repayment) of about Rs 375 billion. These headline figures are always quoted per fiscal year, so a Nepali budget number is meaningless without the FY label attached to it.

Taxation is likewise pinned to the fiscal year. Income for tax purposes is measured over the Shrawan-to-Ashadh year; the personal income-tax slabs and the rates set in the annual Finance Act apply to a specific fiscal year and are revised each year alongside the budget. After a fiscal year closes, taxpayers file their income-tax returns — for most, by the end of Ashwin (around mid-October), three months after the year-end, with the Inland Revenue Department able to grant a further extension. Businesses also pay estimated income tax in advance instalments during the year, conventionally by the end of Poush, Chaitra and Ashadh, so the fiscal calendar drives the rhythm of compliance for individuals and companies alike.

The presentation of the budget is governed by the Constitution of Nepal (2072 BS / 2015). Article 119 requires the Minister for Finance to lay the annual estimates of revenue and expenditure before a joint sitting of the two houses of the Federal Parliament. The estimates must distinguish the sums to be charged on the Federal Consolidated Fund from the sums to be met through the Federal Appropriation Act, and once parliament passes the Appropriation Act, the Finance Act and related bills, the government is legally authorised to collect revenue and spend for the coming fiscal year.

A notable feature is the fixed budget day. The Constitution sets Jestha 15 (in late May) as the date for presenting the annual budget for the fiscal year that will begin some six weeks later on 1 Shrawan. This fixed date was introduced deliberately to end the chronic late budgets of earlier years, giving ministries and local bodies time to plan and start implementation from the very beginning of the new fiscal year. The FY 2082/83 budget, for example, was presented on Jestha 15, 2082 (late May 2025) by the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Bishnu Prasad Paudel, in a joint session of parliament.

The practice predates the modern constitution. Nepal's first budget was presented in BS 2007 (1951), soon after the fall of the Rana regime, by Finance Minister Subarna Shamsher Rana. Because there was no legislature at the time, that maiden budget was announced to the public over Radio Nepal, and it covered a period that did not yet follow the present Shrawan-to-Ashadh year. The fiscal year was subsequently aligned to the Bikram Sambat calendar, settling into the 1 Shrawan to end-of-Ashadh cycle that Nepal still uses.

Bikram Sambat (BS) is the calendar that defines the fiscal year, so the FY label always uses BS years (e.g. 2082/83), not Gregorian years. A frequent point of confusion is treating FY 2082/83 as if it were a single calendar year; in fact it spans two BS years and two Gregorian years because the year starts mid-way through 2082 BS and ends mid-way through 2083 BS. When sources give an AD equivalent they typically write FY 2082/83 (2025/26).

The fiscal year should not be confused with the budget itself or with the Finance Act. The fiscal year is the period; the budget (bajet) is the document of estimates presented for that period; the Appropriation Act (viniyojan ain) is the law that authorises the spending; and the Finance Act (arthik ain) is the law that sets tax rates and revenue measures for that fiscal year. All three are enacted annually and take effect for one fiscal year at a time.

Other related terms include the trimester or quarter (used for periodic budget-release and progress reporting within the year), recurrent expenditure (sadharan kharcha, day-to-day running costs) versus capital expenditure (punjigat kharcha, investment in assets and infrastructure), and the headline number scales — arba (billion) and kharba (hundred billion) — in which the budget is announced. Nepal's mid-July fiscal year also differs from the calendar year used for many international comparisons and from India's April-March financial year, so cross-country figures must be matched to the correct period before they are compared.