The Dolma dodge

Granting tax exemption to Dolma Impact Fund cannot be justified on any ground.

The Sushila Karki government was formed in the wake of the Gen Z uprising with the singular mandate of holding elections on March 5, 2026. As such, besides other day to day activities, its whole focus should be trained on that task—for that is the only metric with which its success will be measured. By the same token, the interim government should also refrain from making any decisions with long-term consequences for the country. Only a sovereign parliament and an elected government have the authority to weigh in on such matters. Yet, strangely, for a government formed on an explicit anti-corruption platform, it has made such a wholly avoidable blunder by granting tax exemption to Dolma Impact Fund, which has been challenging investment into Nepal through a shell company registered in the tax haven of Mauritius. Dolma, which has investments in 16 companies, had long sought such an exemption. But successive governments had carefully avoided stepping on this minefield.