A 57-year head start
The Bikram Sambat era is named after the legendary King Vikramaditya and counts from 57 BCE. Because of that head start, BS year 2082 corresponds to mid-April 2025 through mid-April 2026 in the Gregorian (AD) calendar. The two calendars are otherwise unrelated — BS is a solar calendar with lunar adjustments rooted in Hindu astronomy.
Solar months with sliding lengths
Each BS month begins on a sankranti — the day the sun enters a new zodiac sign. Month lengths therefore range from 28 to 32 days and shift from year to year. This is why a BS date can't be converted to AD by simple arithmetic; every conversion requires a lookup table. The same is true in reverse.
Where tourists encounter BS
- Official documents. Visas, trekking permits (TIMS, ACAP), residency extensions, and government letters are dated in BS.
- Bank statements. Local NPR accounts often default to BS dates; international cards reconcile to AD.
- Holidays. Public holiday lists are published in BS. Dashain, Tihar, Bisket Jatra, Buddha Jayanti, and the fiscal-year close all key off BS dates.
- Receipts. Many shops and restaurants print the BS date instead of (or alongside) AD.
- Newspapers. The masthead of every major Nepali daily — Kantipur, Annapurna, Nagarik — shows both calendars.
Worked example — reading a Nepali date
मिति: २०८२ साउन १४, बुधबार
Miti: 2082 Shrawan 14, Budhabar
- मिति (miti) means “date”.
- २०८२ is the BS year — AD 2025/2026.
- साउन is Shrawan, the fourth BS month (mid-July → mid-August).
- १४ is the day-of-month (14).
- बुधबार is Wednesday.
- In AD: Wednesday, 30 July 2025.
The fiscal-year gotcha
Nepal's fiscal year runs Shrawan 1 (mid-July) → end of Ashar (mid-July of the next AD year). Tax deadlines, audit windows, and Nepal Rastra Bank's monetary policy announcements all anchor to this cycle. If a Nepali contact says “Q1 of this fiscal year,” they mean Shrawan-Bhadra-Ashoj — mid-July to mid-October — not Jan–Mar.