Departments Under Each Ministry of Nepal: A Directory of Government Vibhag

The executive branch of the Government of Nepal is led by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, supported by the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM), which operates from the Singha Durbar complex in Kathmandu. The OPMCM is responsible for the formation, alteration and dissolution of the organisational structure of the ministries and for coordinating, supervising and monitoring government functions across the cabinet.

Below the cabinet, government work is divided among ministries (mantralaya), each headed politically by a minister and administratively by a secretary. A ministry sets policy, drafts legislation and oversees its sector, but the day-to-day delivery of public services is largely carried out by departments — known in Nepali as vibhag — that sit beneath each ministry. A department is typically led by a Director General and runs a network of field, regional or district offices across the country.

Understanding the ministry → department graph matters for citizens and businesses because it tells you which office actually handles a given task: roads and bridges through one ministry's department, taxes through another, passports through a third. The sections below map the most prominent departments to their parent ministries, with each department's core function and official website.

The Ministry of Finance oversees the country's main revenue-collecting departments. Together they administer income tax, value added tax (VAT), excise and the duties levied on cross-border trade, making them central to how the national budget is funded.

Two departments dominate revenue administration. The Inland Revenue Department (IRD), based in Lazimpat, Kathmandu, enforces tax laws and administers income tax, VAT, excise duty and related fees through a nationwide network of inland revenue and taxpayer-service offices. The Department of Customs (DoC), headquartered in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu and established in 1957, collects customs duty, VAT, excise and other taxes at border points and the international airport, and works to facilitate legitimate trade while preventing smuggling.

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport is responsible for the country's road network and for the management of vehicles and public transport. Its departments build the physical infrastructure and regulate how vehicles and drivers use it.

The Department of Roads (DoR) is the authority for the construction, development and maintenance of Nepal's strategic road network, including national highways and feeder roads, together with bridges. The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) handles vehicle registration, route permits, driving licences and the regulation of public transport under the Vehicle and Transport Management framework, operating through transport management offices around the country.

Several of the documents that most directly affect citizens — national IDs, civil records, passports and visas — are issued by departments under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Department of National ID and Civil Registration (DoNIDCR), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, administers the National Identity Card and the civil registration of vital events (birth, death, marriage, divorce and migration), operating under the National Identity Card and Registration Act, 2076 (2019). Also under Home Affairs, the Department of Immigration regulates the entry, stay and exit of foreign nationals, issues visas and trekking permits, and manages immigration at Tribhuvan International Airport and land entry points. The Department of Passport, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and headquartered in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu, issues passports and travel documents to Nepali citizens, including ICAO-compliant biometric e-passports.

Beyond finance and infrastructure, most ministries run one or more departments that regulate or deliver services in their sector. These cover industry and investment, land and mapping, agriculture, health, forests, culture and natural-hazard monitoring.

The Department of Industry (DoI), under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, registers medium and large industries and processes foreign-investment and technology-transfer approvals. The Survey Department, under the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, runs cadastral, geodetic and topographic mapping and issues land-parcel records used in ownership documentation. The Department of Health Services, under the Ministry of Health and Population, delivers preventive, promotive and curative health services nationwide. The Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, under the Ministry of Forests and Environment, manages forest resources and conservation. The Department of Archaeology (established in 1952), under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, protects monuments, archaeological sites and World Heritage properties. The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), under the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, monitors weather, climate and river hydrology and issues forecasts and early warnings.

The department layer is where most citizens and businesses actually interact with the state. When you register a vehicle, file a VAT return, clear imported goods, apply for a passport or obtain a land record, you are dealing with a department rather than the ministry above it. Knowing which department owns a task — and which ministry it reports to — saves time and helps you find the correct official portal and field office.

Departments and their parent ministries can change as governments reorganise the cabinet; the OPMCM has the mandate to alter ministry and departmental structures, and ministry names have shifted over time (for example, the forests ministry was renamed from Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation to Ministry of Forests and Environment in 2018). For the most current structure, fees and service procedures, always confirm details on the relevant department's official .gov.np website.