April 29: The Third Investment Summit witnessed the approval of investments worth Rs 9.13 billion for four different projects through the Department of Industry.    
The investors who attended the two-day summit agreed to  invest Rs 6 billion for establishing an investment company in Bhaktapur, Rs 3 billion for a business complex building in Kathmandu, Rs 76.6 million for 200 KW hydropower project in Kailali and Rs 62.5 million for the construction of hotels and restaurants in Lalitpur district, according to Director of the foreign investment and technology transfer unit under the Department of Industry, Shankar Singh Dhami.    
During the summit, the department inaugurated the system of approval of foreign investment through the automatic route. Accordingly, foreign investors can apply for establishing a new company with 100 per cent share ownership or joint venture or investment capital in an already operating company through automatic route.    
Foreign investors will be able to apply through the new system effective from April 29 and receive the letter of approval for foreign investment as soon as they submit their application.    
The government has not specified any minimum investment limit while approving foreign investment through automatic route for information technology-based industries.    
The automatic route is expected to save the investors' time and money required for making investments in Nepal. -- RSS