KAILALI, May 30: A total of 661 new cottage and small industries were registered with the Office of the Cottage and Small Industry in Kailali district in the last 10 months of the current fiscal year 2023/24.

According to Tikendra Prasad Joshi, account officer at the office, among the registered new industries, 13 were production-oriented, 296 were agriculture-based and 235 were service-oriented. 

The number of industries owned by women has been notably increasing lately, said Joshi, adding that the increase in the enterprises owned by women was attributed to the discount in the registration taxes for the private firms owned by women.

So far, 15,496 industries of various scales are registered in Kailali. Among them, the registration of 137 industries were scrapped. While the number of industries shutting down officially remains negligible, those failing to renew on time were scrapped, he said. 

Joshi said that an investment worth over Rs 25 billion has been proposed by the registered industries.

Similarly, the office collected more than Rs 14 million in revenue during the period.