Nepal’s Only Billionaire Binod Chaudhary Elected Vice-President of Nepali Congress

Nepal’s only billionaire, Binod Chaudhary, has strengthened his position in politics after being elected one of the Vice-Presidents of the Nepali Congress at the party’s 15th general convention.

Chaudhary, the only Nepali on Forbes magazine’s billionaire list, had an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion in 2026. He won the post under the inclusive quota, securing 1,745 votes, according to the Nepali Congress Central Election Committee. His closest rival, Jeevan Pariyar, received 1,658 votes.

Chaudhary has controlling interests in several businesses, including a company behind a popular noodles brand, as well as hospitality assets around the world. According to Forbes, his business portfolio also includes a bank in Nepal and several luxury hotels associated with India’s Taj hotel chain.

His net worth stood at $1.3 billion in 2017 and rose to $2.1 billion in 2026, although it declined in 2020 and 2021 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite losing the March 5 parliamentary election to Bikram Khanal of the now-ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Chaudhary has continued to consolidate his position within the Nepali Congress, alongside other opposition leaders.

After his election as vice-president, Chaudhary thanked the delegates who voted for him. He had earlier said he was contesting for the post to establish the Nepali Congress as a party capable of leading Nepal’s economic transformation. The party is widely credited with playing a significant role in the country’s democratic transformation.

Chaudhary’s political career began in 2008, when he became a member of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly representing the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), or CPN-UML.

Following the first Constituent Assembly election, he entered the Assembly through the party’s proportional-representation list rather than a direct electoral contest.

In 2017, he formally joined the Nepali Congress and became a lawmaker under the proportional-representation quota. He subsequently advanced within the party’s central leadership through inclusive representation.

At the Nepali Congress’s 14th general convention in 2021, Chaudhary was elected to the party’s Central Committee under the Madhesi quota, securing 2,206 votes.

He won a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2022 parliamentary election as a Nepali Congress candidate from Constituency No. 1 in Nawalparasi West district.

However, in the parliamentary election held on March 5 this year, following the Gen-Z movement last year, Chaudhary lost the same constituency to Khanal of the RSP. The party now commands nearly a two-thirds majority in Nepal’s lower house, according to the report.

The electoral defeat did not deter Chaudhary from remaining active in party politics. His election as vice-president marks a further step in his rise within the Nepali Congress leadership.

The 70-year-old businessman has also previously headed two major private-sector organisations: the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Nepalese Industries.