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| Archive of January 2010 |
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Gold price up NRs.25.5 per gm
Gold price went up in the domestic market last week. Gold became expensive by NRs 25.50 per gram in the domestic market as weakening of Nepali rupee jacked up its import price. On Friday, gold was traded at NRs 27,135 per 10 grams in the country.
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Locals protest against Hetauda cement
Locals have halted cement distribution saying that Hetauda Cement Industry did not control dust emitted by its factory.
As part of pressing the company, they staged a sit-in at the main gate of the cement industry on Saturday. The industry, they say, has not acted on its pledge to control dust.
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SBL, NIBL open new branches
Siddhartha Bank Limited has opened a new branch in Nepalgunj. The banks´s Director Bishwanath Shah inaugurated the new branch amid a function on Friday, according to a press statement. Likewise, Nepal Investment Bank Limited (NIBL) has opened its 34th branch in Krishnanagar, Kapilvastu, on Thursday.
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PDB Chief quits, pressure on IDBL’ CEO
Chairman and Managing Director of Public Development Bank (PDB) Kunj Bihari Kayal resigned after he was implicated in a bank fraud case. Following his resignation, PDB board meeting on Friday appointed Babulal Agrawal as officiating chairman and managing director of the bank.
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More disqualified combatants released
The disqualified combatants based at the seventh division of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army in Kailali were released on Saturday.
Altogether 337 combatants including 111 female were released today to return back to civilian life. A total of 469 were disqualified at Talbandh in the verification by UNMIN.
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Nepse near 500
Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) lost 1.53 points to close at 515.24 points last week as compared to the opening day.
According to the NEPSE, the sole secondary shares market in the nation, it traded 3,516,000 units of shares of 91 companies in 5,137 transactions at cost of NRs.160, 602,400 this week. Last week, the secondary market had traded 493,700 units of shares worth NRs.150, 583,200 in 4,171 transactions.
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Maoist goes for fifth phase of protest
The Unified CPN (Maoist) is all set to announce its next phase of protest programmes on Sunday.
The standing committee meeting of the main opposition party held at the party’s headquarters in the capital on Sunday decided to hit the streets again to uphold what they call civilian supremacy and national sovereignty.
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iPad launched
Steve Jobs, Apple CEO has announced Apple latest creation, a Tablet device called iPad. At fisrt glance, the device looks and acts like a larger iPhone without the phone capability. Internet connectivity will be on WiFi or 3G cellular data.
“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate,
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84 companies added in the high-paying taxpayees’ list
Taxpayees paying more than NRs. 25crore has increased to a high number this year as to the previous year. Despite looming economic crisis in the nation, the statistics from the tax company has revealed this information.
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3.54 gain in NEPSE
The stock market has bounced back with a sensible gain Thursday as hydropower and banking sectors ticked to higher end. The healthy rebound after weeks long slump have boosted the investors' sentiment towards stocks though for short period of time. The benchmark Nepse index edge up 3.54 points to settle at 515.24 after trading to low of 508.
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ADBL to issue public shares soon
Agriculture Development Bank Limited (ADBL) is going to issue public shares shortly.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shyam Singh Pandey, on Thursday revealed that the bank was planning to issue public shares worth about Rs. 960 million within a couple of months.
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Rural dev banks in crisis
Inability to compete with private commercial banks has cost much for rural development banks in Kanchanpur district.
Branch offices of around half a dozen rural development banks established targeting the landless, marginalized and Dalits have been unable to recover loans, inviting a crisis, reports RSS.
Private Banks have been attracting capital due to the failure of development banks to expand service and lure customers with new offers, said Man Dev Bogati, manager of Far-West Rural Development Bank, Jhalari branch.
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Nepal’s ASA with Turkey
Nepal is all set to sign bi-lateral Air Services Agreement (ASA) with Turkey. The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting of Wednesday.
The Turkish Government had purposed for the sir connectivity a few months ago. “The national airlines can have the air connectivity between Nepal and Turkey now,” said
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Real-estate transactions banned for three months
Chairperson of the Committee on the Distribution of Natural Resources, Financial Rights and Public Revenue of the Constituent Assembly, Shanta Chaudhary, today proposed immediately banning real estate transactions for three months. The committee also directed the Ministry of Land Reforms and Management to stop plotting of land for three months.
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DPM’s PA sacked
Deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Sujata Koirala has sacked her personal secretary Bharat Sapkota who caused major embarrassment to her and the ministry she holds after he reportedly went out of contact after raising millions by selling false dreams of sending people abroad. Sapkota is also seen as a prime suspect in a major passport forgery case.
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Economic growth will not be as expected: NPC
The National Planning Commission (NPC) has said that the overall economic growth of the country will remain below 5 percent.
Vice-chairman of NPC, Yubaraj Khatiwada, ascribed the lackluster performance of the manufacturing and agriculture sector this year and in the last year to sluggish economic growth.
He said that Nepal's labour market constrained as the manufacturing sector grew by just
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Cooperatives see increase in deposits
The cooperatives around the nation have mobilized more than NRs.100 billion of the customers.
According to the umbrella organizations of Nepal Savings and Credit Limited, National Cooperative Bank Limited, and others, thed deposits of the customers in about 15 thousand cooperatives around the nation comes to be around NRs. 100 billion.
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JBBL's branch at Lagankhel
Jyoti Bikash Bank Ltd (JBBL) inaugurated its ninth branch at Prayagpokhari, Lagankhel, on Wednesday. According to a press statement issued by the bank, the bank is planning to establish two more branch offices in Kathmandu and at Pathari in Morang. It registered total deposit NRs 966.7 million and total investment NRs 1.11 billion with
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Directors of two banks found associated in fraud
Soon after NRB filed fraud charge against the chiefs of the Public Development Bank (PDB) and the Infrastructure Development (ID) Bank, Kunda Bihari Kayal and Indra Prasad Humagain respectively, investigation has found other directors of the bank to be involved in the fraud.
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Nepse slides down 2 points
Following the fall of Tuesday, the Nepse index again lost some points on its Wednesday’s session.
According to Nepal Stock Exchange Limited, the nepse index stood at 511.7 sagging 2.01 points on Wednesday. It seems the index will surpass the psychological level of 500 points very soon.
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India agrees to remove 4pc customs duty on import
India on Wednesday expressed commitment to remove 4 percent additional customs duty that it has imposed on 217 Nepali exportable commodities during the meeting between Commerce secretaries of Nepal and India held on Wednesday.
This has become a move which if happened will pave way
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Vishakhapatam to open for Nepal soon
The seretary level meeting held between the Commerce Secretaries of Nepal and India agreed to instantly open up Nepal´s third country trade via Vishakhapatam, the newly opened port.
To start with, the port has been opened for exports being done through Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj customs, said Ojha.
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“Dahal didn’t propose Koirala as PM”
Following the news regarding Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s pledge to support Nepali Congress leader Girija Prasad Koirala, a maoist leader has claimed the news to be false.
"In no way are we going propose Koirala for Prime Minister. There should be a national government led by us," Maoist politburo member
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Liquidity crunch will settle soon: FM
Finance Minister Surendra Pandey has on Wednesday claimed that the financial sector of the country will soon get rid of the ongoing problem of liquidity crunch.
While speaking at a program "Present Liquidity Scenario and Economic Perspective" held in the capital, he also ascribed the excessive investment of banks into real estate and gold imports apart from slower growth in inflow of remittance to the onset of the cash crunch
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FNCCI's dev bank
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has set up its development bank to encourage local investment.Paid-up capital of the bank is NRs 10.4 million. It has taken this initiative to encourage local industrial development as well as increase local economical development at Pyuthan
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Koirala meets 'Prachanda'
Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on Tuesday called on Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala and requested him to give top priority to correcting President's move to reinstate sacked army chief at the High-Level Political Mechanism. "Girijababu, let us settle the issue as we have withdrawn our indefinite general strike with an understanding that the issue will be given the top priority," Prachanda told Koirala. Prachanda had urged Koirala to discuss the issue at the next meeting of the HLPM. Prachanda drew Koirala's attention to the remarks of Sujata Koirala, who wanted to be included
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Five companies permitted for DTH operaton
Five companies have got the permission to operate Direct to Home (DTH) satellite television service in Nepal through their own hubs.
Out of the five companies, four companies have already got the license; however, one is yet to get one.
The ministry on Dec. 31, 2009 had provided licenses to three
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ADB pledges continued assistance
Visiting Vice President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Zhao Xiaoyu has pledged ADB's continued assistance to Nepal for achieving the development targets set by the country.
Underlining the importance of improvement in project implementation to deliver results on the ground to the people of Nepal, Zhao, who is here on a two-day trip, said, "Continuing commitment by the Government to push for reform and achievement of development goals is equally critical to support the peace process and achieve
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11 hours power-cut from today
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has again increased the power-cut hours with effect from Thursday. People will be facing 11 hour power-cut from today, two additional hours of darkness, from existing nine-hour loadshedding per day.
“There will be two hours additional power cut from Thursday,” said Sher Singh Bhat, Director of the System
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Nepse slides 3.11 points down
After making a slight gain after its continued fall, the Nepse index again lost some points on its Tuesday’s session.
According to Nepal Stock Exchange Limited, the three hour trading session at Nepse traded below the negative terrain for entire period to touch the low of around 510.50. However, at the closing bell the benchmark ended at 513.71 losing 3.11 points. It seems the index will surpass the psychological level of 500 points very soon
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Govt to ease supply sugar itself
The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has said that sugar imported from Thailand and Brazil would be released to ease the shortage even before stocks obtained from domestic producers run out.
It also stated that the government was not in mood to involve retailers while selling sugar directly to the consumers.
State-owned National
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India offers vehicles to Nepal
India has donated 26 ambulances and six buses to various hospitals, non-profit charitable organisations and educational institutions in 21 districts of Nepal on the occasion of its 61st Republic Day of India on Tuesday.
At a public function held in the Embassy premises in Kathmandu on Tuesday, Indian envoy to Nepal Rakesh Sood presented 16 ambulances and six buses to concerned organisations.
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Fraud charges filed against two bank chiefs
Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has filed fraud against the chiefs of the Public Development Bank and the Infrastructure Development Bank, Kunda Bihari Kayal and Indra Prasad Humagain respectively, along with around 80 others.
According to a police source, the fraud charges were filed on the basis of a central bank investigation that
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NEPSE sees slight gain
The home stock market after trading below the negative line for the entire three hours session upticked at the last period to close at positive on Tuesday.
The stock market that rebounds marginal after disappointing couple of weeks in fact did not have any strong base to support the investors' confidence in near term. Hence
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Gold import gets tougher
In a bid to check the augmenting trade deficit and record high Balance of Payment (BoP), Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued new directives to bar banks and financial institutions from even issuing standby Letter of Credit (LC) and bank guarantee on gold imports
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Udhyam's shares alloted
Udhyam Bikash Bank, the 'B' class bank licensed by the central bank of Nepal had floated 150,000 units ordinary share at face value of NRs. 100 per share including 3000 units reserved to its employees. It had issued its IPO on 13 December 2009 (2066 Mangsir 28) and closed it on 16 December 2009. General investors were
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Liquidity crunch deepens
As a sign of reemerging liquidity shortage, the inter-bank lending rate climbed back to 12 percent on Monday, while discount rate on 91-day treasury bills slightly went up compared to last week.
Concerned banks said that the liquidity shortage that eased after the central bank issued largest-ever repo, lending by central bank against government bills, worth NRs.5 billion about two weeks ago is a banker
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NRB’s new directives for wool import
The government in collaboration with the central bank has initiated an in-depth investigation over the suspicion of huge misappropriation of foreign currency while importing raw wool for carpet manufacturing from Tibet.
According to a government source, the investigation was initiated on a tip-off by a leading wool importer. Though it is too earlier to guess the volume of misappropriation, a snap investigation has revealed a huge mismatch between
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RBB becoming healthy
Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) has recovered bad loans worth NRs. 17.5 billion during the last six years reducing its non-performing loans (NPL) to 15.42 percent as of the last fiscal year. Its NPL stood at more than 50 percent before the central bank took it under its control. "We aim to reduce NPL to 8 percent by the end of the current fiscal year," said RBB chief executive officer Janardan Acharya speaking at its 45th anniversary celebration Sunday. He added that the repayment rate stands at 99 percent with regard to new lending as the bank has been focusing on quality credit.
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“Poverty alleviation funds have been misused”: PM
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal said on Monday that much of the budget aimed at poverty alleviation had been misused thus depriving the poor from getting the targeted benefits.
Addressing a workshop jointly organised by the National Planning Commission and the Poverty Alleviation Fund, he said, "There must be a probe into misappropriation of the budget for the poor."
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Govt directs NRBto issue NBL’s shares
The government has directed Nepal Rastra Bank to start work to issue fresh public shares of Nepal Bank Limited with a view to recapitalizing it. Nepal Bank has a negative net worth of NRs. 5.5 billion, its paid-up capital is NRs. 380 million against the required NRs. 2 billion and its non-performing loans stand at 15.42 percent."We will require around NRs. 8 billion to turn the country's oldest bank into a completely healthy bank with enough paid-up capital," said Minister Pandey. Even after eight years of implementation of the financial reform programme at Nepal Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank, their capital still remains negative
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Army integration within four months
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who heads the Special Committee on integration, monitoring and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants, has expressed confidence that integration of the combatants will be completed in the next four months.
Speaking at a prorgamme organised for inauguration of construction of a bridge at Danchhi in the capital Monday, PM Nepal said preparations were going on as per the government's plan to complete integration and rehabilitation of the combatants in four months.
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Liquidity crunch will settle soon: NRB
A high-level official of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Friday claimed that the existing liquidity crunch in banks and financial institutions would not last longer.
Speaking at an interaction in the capital, Maha Prasad Adhikari, Executive Director of the country’s central bank, said that higher credit deposit ratio of banks and other financial institutions was behind the liquidity crunch.
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NEA, India sign power deal
The government has signed a deal with India to import an additional 30 MW of electricity. The negotiating team of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the only state utility company, reached an agreement in this regard with Power Trading Corporation (PTC) of India on Wednesday in New Delhi.
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Sugar smuggling increases at border areas
At a time when the Nepali market has experienced a whopping rise in the sugar price, smuggling of sugar to Nepali side from Indian market has also increased in an alarming rate.
The local sugar merchants have involved in the making profits illegally by smuggling of sugar from India causing revenue loss of millions of rupees to the government.
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Tiger Tops resumes operation
Following six months’ of closure, Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge resumed operations from Friday.
Tiger Tops Tented Camp will also reopen from coming Sunday. Issuing a press release, Kristjan Edwards, Chairman of the Tiger Mountain Nepal, announced the reopening of the Jungle Lodge and Tented Camp.
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Fire-affected Bhutanese refugees get aid
More than 400 refugees from Bhutan, who became homeless when fire swept through the Beldangi refugee camp in eastern Nepal Wednesday night, have now received emergency aid.
The government, UNHCR, and its NGO partners (Caritas, Lutheran World Federation, the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia) and WFP are providing immediate emergency assistance said a press release
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Indian PM’s visit likely in March
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to visit Nepal during the March-April period. However, the dates are not finalised yet.
The dates will be finalised after President Dr. Ram Baran Yadhav returns home from his scheduled four-day India visit, which is scheduled to begin on Feb. 15. During the visit of India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna here on Jan. 15-18, the two sides had briefly touched upon Prime Minister Singh's visit and agreed to hold it at the earliest
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ToR brings hope of peace
Finally, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed hope that finalisation of the High Level Political Mechanism (HLPM)'s Terms of Reference (ToR) will go a long way in taking the peace process to a logical conclusion. At the same time, he warned the parties not to use the HLPM as a platform to hatch plots against his party.
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Investors join hands for stock revival
In a program organized by "General Investor Association of Nepal (GIAN)" to find the existing problems in stock market trading, key solutions to those problems and strategy to cope with such situations in near term, more than 200 investors participate with their individual queries and general practices regarding the stock market. Along with general investors, President of broker association Nanda Kishor Mundara, president of GIAN Deepak Karki, General Secretary of Nepal investors forum Sunanda Bahadur shrestha,
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Rajendra Man Shakya, Chief Executive Officer of CMB Finance Limited, a versatile and reputed professional in the financial sector of Nepal, spoke to Nepal Business Times regarding the economic scenario, financial and banking sector of Nepal and the progress achieved by CMB over the years. Excerpts: 
Shekhar Raj Bastakoti
