India has offered to help Nepal get its hydropower plants, roads and bridges back on their feet after devastating floods and landslides ravaged critical infrastructure across the Himalayan country, according to three officials aware of the developments. They said state-run hydropower majors NHPC Ltd and SJVN Ltd have offered technical assistance towards the effort, deepening New Delhi’s role in rebuilding infrastructure in the country, where it is already a major energy partner.
Around 700 megMW of hydropower capacity have been knocked out, while key roads and bridges have been washed away by the floods on 26 August. Over 1,100 people have been reported killed by the floods, while over 4,800 people are still missing.
"The Centre and the hydro PSUs have assured that they can provide technical assistance to restore the damaged hydro power projects in Nepal. It would, however, depend upon the Nepalese authorities' decision on the matter," said an official in the know of the development.
Queries emailed to the ministries of power, road transport & highways and external affairs, the hydropower firms, as well as the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi remained unanswered until press time.
To be sure, Indian companies already have a presence in several large hydropower projects of Nepal, including SJVN’s 900MW Arun-III and 679MW Lower Arun projects, and NHPC’s 1,200MW West Seti and Seti River-6 joint project and 480MW Phukot Karnali project. The GMR Group is also developing the 900MW Upper Karnali project.
India is also a major market for Nepal’s surplus electricity, with cross-border power trade becoming an increasingly important component of bilateral economic ties.
"The ministry of external affairs is in constant touch with the Nepalese government. As collaborative efforts are already on for relief measures, support for infrastructure redevelopment and restoration of power projects has also been assured. The immediate focus is on relief and rescue," said another official in the know.
Hitendra Dev Shakya, former managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) told Mint that the focus is now on relief and rescue of the affected and displaced people, and in due course studies would be done to get details of the damage to power projects.
“Studies will have to be done to know where sludge has accumulated, or where turbines have been displaced. Only after that will restoration work start,” Shakya said. He identified the 24MW Trishuli and 14.1MW Devighat hydropower plants, both built with Indian assistance, as potential candidates for Indian support.
Power availability itself is not an immediate crisis, he said. Of Nepal’s installed capacity of about 4,300MW, around 3,600MW remains operational, against a peak domestic requirement of roughly 2,600MW.
Sustainable safety
Some experts called for regional cooperation to bring sustainable security in the Himalayan region, which is highly vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate change.
Abhay Kumar Singh, president of the Indian National Hydropower Association, called for a mechanism involving Nepal, India and China to assess risks from developments in upstream areas and formulate long-term safety measures for downstream regions.
India’s experience in responding to infrastructure disasters in its own Himalayan states could also provide a basis for cooperation. “NHPC is well equipped to assist in restoration in such cases with efficiency," said Raj Kumar Chaudhary, former chairman and managing director of NHPC Ltd. "A similar incident had happened in Sikkim in October 2023, which damaged the Teesta-V project of NHPC that the company has partially restored."
“The unfortunate incident (in Nepal) happened after a moraine burst happened at the Nepal-Tibet border and there was probably no adequate information with Nepal, and they could not take the required safety measures in terms of shifting people to safer places or releasing water from the dams to hold this heavier flow of war out of the glacial burst,” Chaudhary said. "However, on the Indian side, due to timely information, water was released from the Gandak and Kosi barrages in a controlled manner to curb major impact here."
Neighbour ties
India’s infrastructure partnership with Nepal extends beyond hydropower to roads and bridges, with New Delhi increasingly combining project development with support for reconstruction after natural disasters. It was also involved in restoration work for infrastructure projects damaged in natural calamities earlier.
In April, the two countries jointly inaugurated a 70-metre high-capacity modular bridge in Nepal. It is one of the 10 similar pre-fabricated bridges provided by the government of India to Nepal, to help in the restoration of connectivity following the devastating rains of October 2025 in eastern and central Nepal, as per a statement by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu.
These 10 bailey bridges, worth more than 73 crore Nepalese rupees (around ₹45.35 crore), along with technical assistance for their installation, are being provided on a grant basis.
Earlier, in the aftermath of Nepal's floods and landslides in September 2024, India had supplied 10 pre-fabricated steel bridges, worth 41 crore Nepalese rupees.
India’s involvement spans the entire infrastructure cycle: from financing and constructing hydropower, roads and bridges, to providing technical expertise and emergency reconstruction support when these assets are damaged.
Roads and bridges are critical in Nepal, where difficult terrain and limited alternative routes mean damage to a single bridge or road stretch can isolate entire communities.
“We are ready to repair and reconstruct damaged roads and bridges in Nepal, but would be guided by directions from the ministry of external affairs to undertake such work," said a senior official from the roads ministry on the condition of anonymity. "The current focus is relief and humanitarian measures, for which Nepal has already accepted Indian assistance.”