Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday (September 17, 2026) met her Nepalese counterpart Swarnim Wagle in New Delhi and discussed the impact of the recent flash floods in Nepal and the country’s priorities for reconstruction and rehabilitation.

“The two ministers discussed the impact of the floods and Nepal’s priorities for reconstruction and rehabilitation. FM Smt. @nsitharaman conveyed her condolences on the loss of lives in the recent floods in Nepal, and conveyed India’s continued support for Nepal’s recovery and rebuilding efforts,” the Finance Ministry said in a post on X.

The duo also discussed measures to strengthen bilateral economic ties and initiatives to enhance connectivity for deepening trade, investments and people-to-people exchanges.

“Both sides emphasised the importance of further strengthening the trade and economic partnership between India and Nepal,” the Ministry said.

Mr. Wagle is on his first official visit to India since assuming office as Nepal’s Finance Minister.

Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs also joined the meeting.

The discussions come against the backdrop of India’s continued engagement with Nepal on economic cooperation, connectivity and development assistance.

The death toll from Nepal’s devastating flash floods rose to 1,127 on Wednesday (September 2, 2026) as rescuers are racing to find thousands still missing a week after the Himalayan disaster, police said.

Also read: Nepal flash flood impact updates on September 2, 2026

According to the Nepal Police, 348 more dead bodies were recovered from Chitwan, 217 from Nawalparasi East, 190 from Nawalparasi West and 155 from Nuwakot.

Similarly, 66 bodies were recovered from Gorkha, 59 from Dhading, 45 from Rasuwa, and 38 from Tanahu.

Police said postmortem and legal identification procedures had been completed for 1,113 bodies, while 95 had been handed over to relatives.

Details of 911 unidentified bodies have been uploaded to the Nepal Police website to help families identify missing relatives.

So far, security forces have rescued 6,541 people from the affected areas while search operations continued for 4,858 missing people, the police said.

Authorities have deployed 7,912 police personnel to flood-hit areas for search and rescue operations, relief distribution and the management of recovered bodies.

Police teams are also moving families from high-risk areas to safer locations, clearing roads blocked by debris and coordinating search, rescue and relief operations with local authorities and residents.

Flash floods, triggered by a collapse or avalanche of ice and rock near the Nepal-Tibet border, devastated towns and villages in northern and central Nepal on August 26.