Ajay Sumargi

Ajay Sumargi (also known as Ajeya Raj Sumargi Parajuli or Ajaya Sumargi) is a Nepali business tycoon, entrepreneur and one of Nepal’s few billionaires. Sumargi is the Chairman of Muktishree Private Limited which runs several business ventures in Nepal.

Sumargi attracts a lot of media attention in Nepal. Media stories do feature his rags-to-riches stories, but also his involvement in unethical business practices.  He is a very controversial figure in Nepal also for his high-profile political connections that he reportedly maintains to fulfil his vested interests.

As of 2022, he is also the honorary consul at the honorary consulate of the Republic of Belarus in Nepal.

Early Life & Education

Sumargi was born and raised in a middle-class family, as a son of Mr. Madhav Raj Sumargi and Mrs. Bishwakanti Kalawati Sumargi, in Makwanpur, Hetauda. He had worked for a few years as a party cadre of CPN (UML), a leftist communist party in Nepal, before getting involved in business activities.

As A Businessman

As of 2015, Sumargi has invested in dozens of business and commercial projects in Nepal. Some of his most popular business initiatives include MuktiShree Telecom, a telecommunications company, Muktishree Hydro, a hydropower company, Himalayas Spring Water, Hetauda Academy and the National College for Higher Education (NCHE), a higher secondary school and a college in Baluwatar, Kathmandu. Sumargi has also invested in Radio Thaha Sanchar, a popular FM radio station in Makanwanpur and the vicinity.

Sumargi’s Muktishree Private Limited operate several sister companies as separate business units and focuses on different areas. He has established Muktishree Energy Pvt. Ltd. for the energy sector, Muktishree Cement Industries Pvt. Ltd. for the Cement sector and Muktishree Telecom Pvt. Ltd. for the Telecom sector. Similarly, for media, he has Bindabashini Media Pvt. Ltd and a separate education venture called Hetauda Education Foundation Pvt. Ltd.

Controversies

Ajay Sumargi has been a matter of constant controversy in Nepal. The mainstream media reporters regularly about him and he is a notorious face among Nepali social media users. He has been accused of bribing and influencing Nepal’s powerful political leaders to get multi-million dollar business licenses and contracts. However, these accusations have not been proved and he himself said in an interview with Nepali Times that he doesn’t have an answer to every rumour.

Sumargi is said to have close ties with Maoist leader Prachanda (aka Pushpa Kamal Dahal), which both of them refer to only at a level of acquaintances. In an interview with the New Business Age, Sumargi said:

I was equally close to the late Girija Prasad Koirala. Once, I did not speak with him for three months and later he himself came to my house. This does not mean that I want to show off my connection with leaders. But I have good relations with all leaders regardless of their political ideology. I do not have any special connection with Prachanda. I frequently meet Sushil Koirala, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Ram Chandra Paudel. People do not care when I meet other leaders but I don’t understand why they hype my meeting with Prachanda.

In the same interview, Sumargi said that he has known Baburam Bhattarai longer than Prachanda and the Mukti tower that he built was named after Lord Muktinath and not after Prachada’s father Muktinath Dahal.

Contrary to what has appeared in the media, Sumargi says that he comes from a family of entrepreneurs and his parents were already engaged in lime production and handicraft business since the 1970s. Sumargi used to supply chemical equipment to Hetauda Cement Factory before he moved to Kathmandu. Some sources claim that Sumargi worked as a junior executive in Mero Mobile, before establishing Nepal Satellite and Hello Nepal.