Second Phase Begins to Print 1.7 Million Smart Driving Licenses

Kedar Timilsina / Banepa: The Government of Nepal has begun printing an additional 1.7 million smart driving licenses in the second phase, following an agreement between the Department of Transport Management and the Security Printing Center on April 17, 2026.

The agreement enables the printing of QR code-enabled smart licenses. According to Gopal Rao Timilsina, Under-Secretary at the Security Printing Center, the target is to complete the printing of 1.7 million licenses by mid-July 2026.

He stated that under the first phase agreement, 1.2 million licenses had already been printed and handed over to the department within the first week of April. Of these, 37,698 were urgent prints, 1,131,075 addressed backlog cases, and 31,227 were printed as part of regular daily demand.

The initial agreement between the two agencies was signed on October 29, 2025, with a six-month deadline to print 1.2 million licenses. The Security

Printing Center completed the task ahead of schedule.

The second phase agreement was initiated to clear the remaining backlog and address ongoing daily demand for licenses.

Timilsina also informed that raw materials procured for the first phase have been exhausted. To continue the second phase, an agreement has been signed with the Food Management and Trading Company Limited for the supply of required materials, including specialized paper. These materials are expected to arrive within approximately two weeks.

In the meantime, only urgent and 24-hour service category licenses are being printed.
“Under the second phase, we have so far printed 824 urgent licenses and 21,486 regular daily licenses, totaling 22,310 licenses, and handed them over to the department,” Timilsina said.

Currently, 129 urgent and 4,081 regular licenses are in the printing process. Additionally, 50,897 backlog licenses have already been printed and are in the process of being delivered.

The agreement between the Department of Transport Management and the Security Printing Center sets the printing cost at NPR 195.17 per license.
Meanwhile, the Security Printing Center has also printed and delivered 3 million postage stamps as per its agreement with the Department of Postal Services. A new agreement is underway to print an additional 6 million stamps.

The government initiated the construction of the Security Printing Press in Panauti–5, Dhaneshwar, Kavrepalanchok in the fiscal year 2017/18. The objective is to retain within the country the funds previously spent abroad for printing sensitive materials such as passports and banknotes.