NEPSE Sectors Explained: Every Sector and Sub-Index on the Exchange
Updated 25 October 2026 · Nepsense Markets
Most people meet NEPSE sectors through a strip of numbers on a market page: thirteen little indices going up and down. That strip tells you what moved. It doesn't tell you what's inside each sector, how many companies are actually in it, or why one sector can drag the whole market while another with four times as many companies barely registers.
This page fixes that. NEPSE is Nepal's only stock exchange, regulated by SEBON under the Securities Act 2006, and it sorts every listed security into a sector. Here's what each sector holds, how many stocks are in it as of 16 October 2026, and how to read a sector move without being fooled by it.
What a NEPSE sector actually is
NEPSE classifies every listed security into a sector. That classification decides which sub-index the security belongs to, and the sub-index is the number you see moving in the sector strip during the session.
Thirteen of those groupings are ordinary sectors where you'll find tradable equity, plus one that holds mutual fund schemes. Beyond them, NEPSE also runs separate indices for preference shares, promoter shares and corporate debentures. Those are different instruments with their own rules, not sectors you'd compare with banks or hydro.
One thing to get straight early: banking in Nepal is three sectors, not one. Commercial Banks, Development Banks and Finance each sit in their own sector with their own index. A development bank is not a commercial bank, and its price doesn't move the Commercial Banks index.
How many stocks are in each NEPSE sector
Counts below are from Nepsense's records as of 16 October 2026. Treat them as a snapshot, not a permanent number — they change when a new company lists.
| Sector | Listings as of 16 Oct 2026 | Sector page |
|---|---|---|
| Hydro Power | 112 | Hydro Power |
| Microfinance | 49 | Microfinance |
| Mutual Fund | 45 schemes | Mutual Fund |
| Commercial Banks | 19 | Commercial Banks |
| Manufacturing And Processing | 18 | Manufacturing And Processing |
| Development Banks | 16 | Development Banks |
| Finance | 14 | Finance |
| Life Insurance | 14 | Life Insurance |
| Non Life Insurance | 13 | Non Life Insurance |
| Others | 9 | Others |
| Hotels And Tourism | 8 | Hotels And Tourism |
| Investment | 7 | Investment |
| Tradings | 2 | Tradings |
That adds up to 326 listed securities, 45 of which are mutual fund schemes rather than company shares. Strip the schemes out and you have 281 companies.
Two numbers stand out. Hydro Power is the biggest sector by a wide margin — 112 listings, well ahead of Microfinance's 49. Tradings, at 2, is the smallest, and easy to forget exists at all.
Why the company count isn't the same as influence
The NEPSE index is capitalisation-weighted. Each company's pull on the index is set by its market value, not by how many companies share its sector label.
That's why a sector with 112 names can have less say over the index than a sector with 19. Four of the ten largest listed companies by market value are commercial banks, and the NEPSE index has long been described as predominantly reflecting that sector. Counting companies tells you breadth. Market value tells you weight. Confusing the two is the most common mistake people make when they read a sector strip.
The sectors, one by one
Hydro Power — 112 stocks
The largest sector on the exchange by number of listings, and bigger than the next three sectors combined. With 112 names, you can't track it company by company, so this is where the sub-index and a screener earn their keep. Individual names like NHPC sit inside a very wide group.
Microfinance — 49 stocks
Second-largest by count. Microfinance is its own sector with its own sub-index, separate from Commercial Banks and Development Banks, even though the underlying business is lending in all three cases. When someone says the banks moved, microfinance usually isn't what they mean.
Mutual Fund — 45 schemes
NEPSE files mutual fund schemes under the sectors of their sponsors. We list them separately, because a scheme isn't a company: it holds a portfolio, trades around its net asset value, and it costs less to trade than a share. Commission on fund units runs 0.15% up to Rs 5 lakh, 0.12% from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, and 0.10% above that, plus a 0.010% SEBON fee and the Rs 25 DP charge per settlement.
Commercial Banks — 19 stocks
Nineteen companies, and the heaviest group in the index by market value. Four of the ten largest listed companies are commercial banks, which is why the headline index tracks this sector so closely. If you want to understand why the index moved on a given day, start here — a name like NABIL carries more weight than the whole Tradings sector ever will.
Manufacturing And Processing — 18 stocks
Eighteen companies that make or process goods. A small sector: the sub-index has few components, so it's worth opening the constituents rather than reading the number on its own.
Development Banks — 16 stocks
Sixteen institutions, sitting in a different category from Commercial Banks in NEPSE's classification, with a separate index. Same broad business, different sector label.
Finance — 14 stocks
Fourteen finance companies — the third of the three lending sectors, and again separate from the other two.
Life Insurance — 14 stocks
Fourteen life insurers. NEPSE splits insurance into life and non-life with an index for each, rather than running one insurance index for both.
Non Life Insurance — 13 stocks
Thirteen general insurers. Same split, the other half of it.
Others — 9 stocks
Nine companies that don't fit the named sectors. Others is a real sector with a real index, not a rounding error — but it's a mixed bag by design, so read the constituents rather than the label.
Hotels And Tourism — 8 stocks
Eight listed hotel and tourism companies. One of the smallest sectors on the exchange.
Investment — 7 stocks
Seven investment companies, with their own index.
Tradings — 2 stocks
Two companies. The smallest sector on NEPSE, and small enough that its sub-index is effectively a two-stock reading.
When sector indices update, and what stops them
Sector sub-indices move through the continuous session, Monday to Friday, 11:00 to 15:00 NPT. Before that there's a pre-open window from 10:30, where orders are collected and an opening price is set, with each order capped at 5% away from the previous close. Nothing executes in pre-open. Since 13 August 2026 the TMS also accepts after-market orders between 17:00 and 10:00 the next morning; those queue and don't trade.
You can watch every sub-index move alongside today's NEPSE index on our market page.
Two limits interrupt the picture. Any single stock can move at most 15% in a day, up from 10% before 20 April 2026. And the market as a whole halts: a 5% move in the NEPSE index within the first two hours pauses trading for 15 minutes, and an 8% move suspends it for the rest of the day. Both replaced the older 4%, 5% and 6% tiers. The full mechanics are in how the NEPSE circuit breaker works.
That combination changes how a sector reads. A 15% daily band lets one stock post a far bigger move than the old rules allowed, so a sector with a handful of constituents can swing hard while the index itself sits nowhere near a halt.
How to read a sector properly
Three habits separate a useful sector read from a glance at the strip.
- Open the constituents. A sector number is an average. The names inside it are not, and the average hides which one moved.
- Check weight, not count. Nineteen banks and 112 hydro names don't carry the influence their counts suggest. Market value decides that.
- Read the floorsheet, not just the price. NEPSE publishes broker codes on the floorsheet after market hours, and it's the only exchange in the world that publishes broker-specific trade details at all. That means you can see which broker was buying a sector, not merely that the sector went up. How to read the NEPSE floorsheet covers the mechanics, and the sector pages put broker flow next to each sector.
One more distinction worth holding on to: a sector move and a sector story aren't the same thing. A sub-index rising tells you the weighted average of its constituents rose. It doesn't tell you why, and it doesn't tell you whether the move was broad or one large company dragging the rest. That gap is the whole job.
Two things to keep straight
Sectors are classification, not recommendation. A sector being small doesn't make it cheap, and a sector being large doesn't make it safe. Nothing here is a view on where any sector is heading.
And the counts move. New companies list, and a number from last year is a different number now. If you're working from a count, check the date on it — including the one on this page.
Costs don't care which sector you buy
Broker commission is the same whichever sector you trade: 0.36% up to Rs 50,000, 0.33% from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh, 0.31% to Rs 20 lakh, 0.27% to Rs 1 crore, and 0.24% above that, charged on the whole trade value rather than band by band. Add the 0.015% SEBON fee and Rs 25 per scrip per settlement. Sell at a profit and capital gains tax comes out at settlement as well — 3.75% if you held more than 365 days, 5% if you held a year or less, for a resident individual as of 22 September 2026. The capital gains tax guide runs the numbers, and how T+2 settlement works explains when shares and cash actually land.
Nepsense shows every sector, its constituents and the broker flow behind them in one place. You can start with a free account and read the sector strip with the data underneath it.
Key takeaways
- NEPSE sorts every listed security into a sector, and each sector has its own sub-index that moves during the 11:00–15:00 session, Monday to Friday.
- Hydro Power is the largest sector by count at 112 listings. Microfinance is second at 49. Tradings is smallest at 2.
- Mutual Fund holds 45 schemes, not companies. Excluding them, NEPSE has 281 listed companies across the sectors.
- Banking is three separate sectors — Commercial Banks (19), Development Banks (16) and Finance (14) — each with its own index.
- The NEPSE index is capitalisation-weighted, so market value decides influence, not the number of companies in a sector.
- Any single stock can move at most 15% a day. The market halts for 15 minutes at a 5% index move and suspends for the day at 8%, since 20 April 2026.
- Broker codes on the floorsheet are published after market hours, which is how you tell whether a sector move was broad or one broker.