May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect…
May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect…
May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection…
May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point…
May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this…
May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment…
May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial…
May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months.…
The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday.…
May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology…
May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square…
May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal.…
May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local…
May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent…
The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May…
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on…
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The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $80 Million to Strengthen Financial Sector of Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the World Bank said that the third Finance for Growth Development Policy Credit aims to improve the functioning of the financial sector to support private sector-led growth.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation will strengthen the supervision of the banking and insurance sectors in Nepal and foster financial product innovations in capital, insurance, and disaster risk markets. The operation will also increase financial inclusion through digitalization, enhanced credit infrastructure and improved financial literacy, with a focus on women entrepreneurs, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This project supports Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development and will help create an enabling environment for private investment to contribute to Nepal’s economic growth, particularly benefiting the poor and vulnerable,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports Nepal's climate agenda by enhancing supervision of climate risks by requiring disclosures of climate-related risks and impacts of the banking sector portfolio; introducing risk-informed pricing for insurance products, including climate risks; establishing a framework for the issuance of green bonds; and integrating climate-related mitigation and adaptation commitments into credit guarantee products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the government’s transformative financial sector reform agenda to promote private sector-led growth. The reforms in banking, insurance, and capital markets are instrumental for the sector’s resilience and the critical role it plays to enable private capital mobilization,” stated Tatsiana Kliatskova, World Bank’s task team leader for the project.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20640', 'image' => '20240507054611_20240215010906_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 17:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Nepal Facing Significant Challenges due to Ongoing Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. The situation has further worsened since the beginning of April after India decided to provide electricity only during the daytime hours. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Consequently, industrialists in the Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have been severely impacted by irregular power supply, even during designated electricity supply periods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the onset of winter, the country's hydropower projects, reliant on river flows, can only produce electricity at approximately one-third of their total capacity. This limitation necessitates importing electricity from India. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">However, due to the inadequate carrying capacity of internal transmission lines, NEA has struggled to distribute the imported electricity from the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur international transmission line to the industrial sector adequately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite claims of load shedding being entirely eradicated, industrial areas in the Terai region continue to experience power cuts during the dry season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> NEA initially initiated power cuts in industries last year, citing low availability of electricity. However, after these unannounced interruptions disrupted production, entrepreneurs urged NEA leadership to implement a schedule for power cuts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The industries in Bara-Parsa corridor fed electricity through 66 and 11 KV transmission lines experience power cuts from 6 pm to 6 am. NEA states that since India only supplies electricity from 6 am to 6 pm, industries are provided power during this timeframe. However, industrialists report not only unannounced power cuts lasting up to 12 hours a day but also frequent 'tripping' disruptions during NEA's stipulated supply hours.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Industrialists in the Bara-Parsa corridor, particularly those involved in production of construction material, lament significant production losses due to the unannounced power cuts. The irregular electricity supply has exacerbated challenges in production scheduling and worker management, leading to financial losses and decreased productivity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the current economic recession dampening market demand, industrialists express frustration at being unable to capitalize on rising demand for construction materials during peak seasons. Despite the government's capital expenditure surge in the third quarter of the fiscal year, industrialists remain disappointed by their inability to meet market demand due to electricity shortages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Furthermore, industrialists who previously removed generators following NEA's announcement of an end to load shedding now regret their decision. Presently, NEA faces challenges in meeting the country's total electricity demand, necessitating imports from India to bridge the shortfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">NEA spokesperson Chandan Kumar Ghosh attributes power cuts in industries to decreased domestic production and limited imports from India. Ghosh explains that due to the import of electricity only during specified hours, industries are supplied electricity accordingly, leading to tripping issues when demand exceeds capacity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite NEA's efforts to manage the demand of the industrial corridor by augmenting supply from other sources, challenges persist due to weather-related fluctuations and increasing demand. Ghosh remains optimistic that these issues will be mitigated with rising water levels in the rivers following rainfall, ultimately resolving the ongoing power supply issue.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20639', 'image' => '20240507024608_20220330051709_c1d0e043-electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:45:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Gains 2.06 to Close at 1960.81, Turnover Shrinks to Rs 2.14 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session, 314 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 38,214 transactions. A total of 5,064,038 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.14 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pokhara Finance Limited(PFL) took the lead in transaction amount with the total turnover of Rs 8 crores. Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha(HLBSL) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 856 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Bottlers Nepal(Terai) Limited (BNT) incurred the maximum loss of 6.23%, closing at a market price of Rs 13,193.70 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in the negative territory except Microfinance Index, Mutual Index, Development Bank Index and Others Index. Microfinance Index experienced the highest gain of 2.43%, while Trading Index lost the maximum at 1.09%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20638', 'image' => '20240507033412_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 15:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What is the Key Dispute between the Government and Internet Service Providers?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The main reason for the disturbance in the internet service was that India’s Airtel company, which was providing bandwidth to the internet service providers of Nepal, stopped providing the bandwidth. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said that the Indian company turned off the Internet link for about 6 hours after the ISPs of Nepal defaulted in payment for the bandwidth usage for the past one year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In particular, the government has not provided foreign currency exchange facilities for the payment of bandwidth for the past one year because some ISPs have not fully paid the fee to be paid to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and the royalty to be paid to the government from the fees collected from the customers. As a result, they have not been able to pay the dues to the Indian company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN), an umbrella organization of internet service providers operating in the country, Airtel is the company that provides the largest bandwidth to Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Seventy percent of the total bandwidth is being provided by Airtel, according to ISPAN. Due to this, the speed of the internet decreased significantly on last Thursday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">There has been a dispute between the government and the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) whether to consider the maintenance service provided by the ISPs as a telecommunication service or not and whether to pay a certain percentage of the fees collected by the ISPs to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and to the government as royalty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The government has been considering maintenance as a telecommunication service and has been asking the ISPs to pay two-tier tax. In addition, the government has been refusing to provide foreign exchange facilities to those who do not pay such fees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The ISPs have refused to pay taxes from maintenance fee claiming that the maintenance service does not belong to the telecommunication service according to the law and they do not have to pay the fee to the government. This dispute is currently pending before the Supreme Court. Even though the internet service was disrupted, both sides did not back down from their stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a statement on May 2 and requested the ISPs not to act in such a way as to disrupt essential services like the Internet without paying the rural telecommunication development fees and royalties to the state on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Issuing a press statement the following day, the regulatory body Nepal Telecommunications Authority said that a certain number of internet service providers have not paid the due amount as per the rules despite repeated requests from the authority over the years under various pretexts, so it did not recommend foreign exchange facility to the defaulters.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the service provider's statement?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the ISPs have been regularly paying royalties and rural telecommunication development fees to be paid from income from telecommunication services in accordance to the Telecommunication Act, Telecommunication Regulations and Rural Telecommunication Development Fund Regulations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Apart from that, there is no legal provision to pay royalties and rural telecommunication development fund fee from income generated from non-telecommunication services such as maintenance services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">“The state-owned service providers are easily getting recommendation for foreign currency exchange facility even though they have billions of rupees in arrears, which is a discriminatory policy of the government," said Subas Khadka, Chief Executive Officer of ISPAN, in a statement issued on Saturday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the government cannot charge fees for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and royalties from the maintenance fees according to the instructions of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, the decision taken by the Office of the Auditor General and the interim order issued by the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the legal provision?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 2 (d) of Telecommunications Act 2053 defines 'telecommunication service' as service related to sound, sign, signal, writing, figure, any kind of secret signal or message whether or not such sound, sign, signal, writing has been rearranged, calculated or otherwise altered in any way for the purpose of emission, transmission or reception by electronic means using wire, radio, light (optical) or other electromagnetic system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In schedule 6 (a) of the regulation, 13 areas have been considered as telecommunication services. Types of telecommunications services licensed include Internet (including email), fax, mail, VSAT, local data network (for commercial use), local telephone service, intra-nation trunk call service, international trunk call service, intra-nation telegraph service, international telegraph service, Telex service, leased circuit service, telefax service, package switching data service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In the regulation, internet maintenance fee is not included under telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Santosh Paudel, the director of the NTA, the government has not published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and has not included the maintenance under the telecommunication service as liable for the rural telecommunication development fund. However, he claims that maintenance is also a telecommunication service and there is no need to publish a notice in the Nepal Gazette define it as telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Since this matter has reached the court, we cannot say anything more," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">How much is due?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to the NTA’s claim, nine ISPs are yet to pay dues worth Rs 3.70 billion. WorldLink is yet to pay Rs 1.94 billion while Vianet is yet to pay Rs 420 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 5 of the Telecommunications Regulations and the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Regulations 2068 stipulates that the licensee must deposit 2 percent of the annual income collected from the telecommunications services into the fund every year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 26 of Telecommunication Regulation 2054 explains that 'annual total income' means the income received by the licensee for providing telecommunication services, excluding the amount received from the customer, service tax, value added tax, etc.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to these two provisions, the authority has maintained the arrears of unpaid tax from the amount collected by the ISPs under maintenance charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What did the parliamentary committee say?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">After the Auditor General's 56th annual report pointed out that the ISPs had not paid royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fee from the fees collected from customers as maintenance services, this issue was discussed in the Public Accounts Committee of the House of.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Public Accounts Committee explained that the support charge, annual maintenance fee, technical fee and monitoring fee collected by the ISPs are non-telecommunication services and decided to give instructions to remove the unnecessary charges and royalties for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is happening in court?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">On June 21, 2020, WorldLink filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking an interim order not to charge additional fees related to royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Supreme Court issued an interim order on June 23 in favour of the petitioner.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Despite the fact that even the court has ordered the government not to take action until the case is settled, the government is torturing us again and again," Dilip Agarwal, president and managing director of WorldLink Communications, told New Business Age. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the solution?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to ISPAN, Airtel denied bandwidth because the government has not provided the foreign currency exchange facility to the ISPs since the last 13 months. Airtel provided the bandwidth after about six hours following the assurance given by the NTA and the initiative taken by the ministry. According to ISPs, it is not certain when Indian companies will stop providing the bandwidth.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">However, the government and internet service providers do not seem to budge from the respective stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Agarwal said that they are ready to proceed according to the court's order. The government wants to collect the outstanding amount. However, Paudel, the spokesperson for the NTA, also says that the court's decision will be important to solve this case. "Let's not say too much now, the court's decision will be the final decision," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20637', 'image' => '20240507022836_20230907105804_internet.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:27:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reconstruction of Malla-era Thanthu Durbar Begins ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area. The Thanthu Durbar was constructed 346 years ago. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised by Bhaktapur municipality on the occasion, Secretary of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and lawmaker Prem Suwal said excavation of 99 thoroughfares in Bhaktapur Durbar area should be continued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pointing out the need of examination from technicians whether or not 100-year-old houses in Bhaktapur are safe to live in, he stressed the need of protecting originality in reconstruction of heritages. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Coordinator of Thanthu Durbar Reconstruction Direction Committee and Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality, Sunil Prajapati, shared Bhaktapur municipality had been operating its activities from Thanthu Durbar before 2072 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality now has forwarded the work of reconstruction of Thanthu Durbar keeping it in priority. An estimated cost for the reconstruction of the Thanthu Durbar is Rs 128.5 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province Assembly member Srijana Sainju, Deputy-Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality Rajani Joshi, Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur Roshani Kumari Shrestha, among others were present on the occasion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20636', 'image' => '20240507013610_thantu palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'inDrive Officially Registered in Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'The ride-sharing app has partnered with IME Pay for digital payment', 'summary' => 'May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. Renowned as the fastest-growing mobility service worldwide, inDrive has been operating informally since some time in key cities, including Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Bharatpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a diverse array of services encompassing bike and car rides, courier services, and inter-city rides, inDrive will now formally address the varied needs of Nepali commuters with PAN registration. Director Rita Pokhrel and Pavit Nanda Anand, inDrive's PR Manager for South Asia, jointly announced the official registration during an event at the Marriott Hotel in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Pokhrel disclosed the company's dedication to providing seamless digital payment options, having partnered with IME Pay to facilitate convenient transactions post-formal entry. She also underscored inDrive's rider-friendly policy, affirming that the company will only levy a nominal 10% commission from riders, inclusive of taxes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, acknowledging the paramount importance of safety and security, inDrive is in the process of introducing insurance facilities for both riders and users. Pokhrel assured the media during a Q&A session that the necessary paperwork is underway, and the insurance services will be rolled out shortly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The head office of inDrive for Nepal is located in Hattisar, serving as a strategic hub for its operations. Pokhrel noted that what began as a trial period has now evolved into a fully registered entity under the PAN with Foreign Direct Investment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The formal entry of inDrive into the Nepali market is anticipated not only to enrich transportation options but also to generate employment opportunities and foster economic growth. Alongside Indrive, Pathao, JumJum, and Tootle are offering ride-sharing services in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a widespread presence in over 45 countries and 700 cities worldwide, inDrive brings global expertise and innovation to Nepal's transportation landscape, ensuring a more efficient and convenient commuting experience for all, shared Anand, emphasizing the company's commitment to fairer fares and lower charges compared to other players in the market, thereby ensuring affordability and accessibility for all.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Anand added that inDrive will continue exploring and adding other services similar to what it has been offering in other markets.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20635', 'image' => '20240507123611_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:35:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rainfall Predicted in Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that the country has been facing incidents of wildfire due to the prolonged drought in the current dry season. It has also resulted in poor visibility due to air pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, department has forecast that some parts of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces will see moderate rainfall along with lightning, thunder and storm later in the day, while some parts of Gandaki, Lumbini and Karnali provinces are predicted to have heavy rainfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Few places in the upper hills and mountainous region of the country will have light snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Partial change in weather is expected tonight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department has requested all for precaution in the wake of change in weather. Agriculture, health, tourism, mountaineering, and road and air transports have been urged to take safety measures. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20634', 'image' => '20240507114808_sno.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 11:45:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Change in Tax Rate will be Transparent: Minister Pun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction in the capital on Monday, Minister Pun pledged to change the scope of tax in a transparent manner based on the recommendations of the Revenue Advisory Committee and suggestions of the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He claimed that the number of Nepali citizens going abroad has decreased and efforts are being made to bring back those who have gone abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The process of transferring knowledge, skills and capital from those who have gone abroad is underway, he said, adding that a good example has been seen in the field of information technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He pledged to bring programmes in the upcoming budget to instill hope among the people and encourage the youth. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20633', 'image' => '20240507120815_20200907074520_1599400665.tax.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:07:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Slashes Broker Commission by 10%, Effective from May 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON had proposed a 10% reduction in broker commissions, submitting the proposal to the Ministry of Finance for approval on October 18, 2023. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Barshaman Pun approved the proposal to decrease brokerage commissions, aligning with SEBON’s recommendation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following thorough research and analysis, the Board concluded to lower broker commissions. Former Board Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal had advocated for reducing brokerage commissions based on demands from share investors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Board has decided to reduce the upper limit from 0.40% to 0.36% and the lower threshold from 0.27% to 0.24%, implementing these changes accordingly. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to current regulations, investments up to Rs 50,000 incur a commission rate of 0.40%, while investments ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 are charged at 0.37%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 carry a commission rate of 0.34%. Similarly, for investments ranging from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.30%, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.27%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the new decision, commissions for investments up to Rs 50,000 will be 0.36%, for investments from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 the commission rate will be 0.33%, and for investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 the rate will be 0.30%. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For investments from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, a commission rate of 0.27% will apply, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate will be 0.24%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20632', 'image' => '20240507121033_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 09:14:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Plunges by 15.62 Points to Close at 1958.75', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 6: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 310 scrips were traded via 48,709 transactions. As many as 6,978,321 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 2.89 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Citizen Life Insurance Company Limited (CLI) took the lead in transaction volume, with a turnover of Rs 31 crores. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Bottlers Nepal (Terai) Limited (BNT) saw the highest increase, climbing by 9.03% to close at Rs 14,069 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the flip side, Pokhara Finance Limited (PFL) and Dolti Power Company Limited (DOLTI) faced significant losses of 10% each.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sector-wise, all sectors closed in the negative zone except for the Development Bank Index, which saw a modest gain of 0.23%. The Finance Index experienced the highest decline, dropping by 1.96%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-06', 'modified' => '2024-05-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20631', 'image' => '20240506033051_20240418032246_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-06 15:27:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Demand Strict Debt Recovery Laws like in India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries wrote a letter to the Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives on May 5 stating that loans are not being paid since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and this has caused unexpected problems in the business cycle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Government of India amended the Micro, Small and Medium Industries Development Act and the Income Tax Act last March to introduce a provision for the loans to be paid to micro, small and medium industries for the supply of goods within 15 days with a possibility of extension for a period of 45 days with bilateral agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to this amended law which came into effect from April 1, if the payment is not made on time, the interest on the outstanding money will also have to be paid based on the bank rate fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $80 Million to Strengthen Financial Sector of Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the World Bank said that the third Finance for Growth Development Policy Credit aims to improve the functioning of the financial sector to support private sector-led growth.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation will strengthen the supervision of the banking and insurance sectors in Nepal and foster financial product innovations in capital, insurance, and disaster risk markets. The operation will also increase financial inclusion through digitalization, enhanced credit infrastructure and improved financial literacy, with a focus on women entrepreneurs, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This project supports Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development and will help create an enabling environment for private investment to contribute to Nepal’s economic growth, particularly benefiting the poor and vulnerable,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports Nepal's climate agenda by enhancing supervision of climate risks by requiring disclosures of climate-related risks and impacts of the banking sector portfolio; introducing risk-informed pricing for insurance products, including climate risks; establishing a framework for the issuance of green bonds; and integrating climate-related mitigation and adaptation commitments into credit guarantee products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the government’s transformative financial sector reform agenda to promote private sector-led growth. The reforms in banking, insurance, and capital markets are instrumental for the sector’s resilience and the critical role it plays to enable private capital mobilization,” stated Tatsiana Kliatskova, World Bank’s task team leader for the project.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20640', 'image' => '20240507054611_20240215010906_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 17:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Nepal Facing Significant Challenges due to Ongoing Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. The situation has further worsened since the beginning of April after India decided to provide electricity only during the daytime hours. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Consequently, industrialists in the Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have been severely impacted by irregular power supply, even during designated electricity supply periods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the onset of winter, the country's hydropower projects, reliant on river flows, can only produce electricity at approximately one-third of their total capacity. This limitation necessitates importing electricity from India. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">However, due to the inadequate carrying capacity of internal transmission lines, NEA has struggled to distribute the imported electricity from the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur international transmission line to the industrial sector adequately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite claims of load shedding being entirely eradicated, industrial areas in the Terai region continue to experience power cuts during the dry season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> NEA initially initiated power cuts in industries last year, citing low availability of electricity. However, after these unannounced interruptions disrupted production, entrepreneurs urged NEA leadership to implement a schedule for power cuts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The industries in Bara-Parsa corridor fed electricity through 66 and 11 KV transmission lines experience power cuts from 6 pm to 6 am. NEA states that since India only supplies electricity from 6 am to 6 pm, industries are provided power during this timeframe. However, industrialists report not only unannounced power cuts lasting up to 12 hours a day but also frequent 'tripping' disruptions during NEA's stipulated supply hours.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Industrialists in the Bara-Parsa corridor, particularly those involved in production of construction material, lament significant production losses due to the unannounced power cuts. The irregular electricity supply has exacerbated challenges in production scheduling and worker management, leading to financial losses and decreased productivity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the current economic recession dampening market demand, industrialists express frustration at being unable to capitalize on rising demand for construction materials during peak seasons. Despite the government's capital expenditure surge in the third quarter of the fiscal year, industrialists remain disappointed by their inability to meet market demand due to electricity shortages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Furthermore, industrialists who previously removed generators following NEA's announcement of an end to load shedding now regret their decision. Presently, NEA faces challenges in meeting the country's total electricity demand, necessitating imports from India to bridge the shortfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">NEA spokesperson Chandan Kumar Ghosh attributes power cuts in industries to decreased domestic production and limited imports from India. Ghosh explains that due to the import of electricity only during specified hours, industries are supplied electricity accordingly, leading to tripping issues when demand exceeds capacity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite NEA's efforts to manage the demand of the industrial corridor by augmenting supply from other sources, challenges persist due to weather-related fluctuations and increasing demand. Ghosh remains optimistic that these issues will be mitigated with rising water levels in the rivers following rainfall, ultimately resolving the ongoing power supply issue.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20639', 'image' => '20240507024608_20220330051709_c1d0e043-electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:45:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Gains 2.06 to Close at 1960.81, Turnover Shrinks to Rs 2.14 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session, 314 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 38,214 transactions. A total of 5,064,038 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.14 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pokhara Finance Limited(PFL) took the lead in transaction amount with the total turnover of Rs 8 crores. Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha(HLBSL) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 856 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Bottlers Nepal(Terai) Limited (BNT) incurred the maximum loss of 6.23%, closing at a market price of Rs 13,193.70 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in the negative territory except Microfinance Index, Mutual Index, Development Bank Index and Others Index. Microfinance Index experienced the highest gain of 2.43%, while Trading Index lost the maximum at 1.09%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20638', 'image' => '20240507033412_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 15:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What is the Key Dispute between the Government and Internet Service Providers?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The main reason for the disturbance in the internet service was that India’s Airtel company, which was providing bandwidth to the internet service providers of Nepal, stopped providing the bandwidth. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said that the Indian company turned off the Internet link for about 6 hours after the ISPs of Nepal defaulted in payment for the bandwidth usage for the past one year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In particular, the government has not provided foreign currency exchange facilities for the payment of bandwidth for the past one year because some ISPs have not fully paid the fee to be paid to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and the royalty to be paid to the government from the fees collected from the customers. As a result, they have not been able to pay the dues to the Indian company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN), an umbrella organization of internet service providers operating in the country, Airtel is the company that provides the largest bandwidth to Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Seventy percent of the total bandwidth is being provided by Airtel, according to ISPAN. Due to this, the speed of the internet decreased significantly on last Thursday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">There has been a dispute between the government and the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) whether to consider the maintenance service provided by the ISPs as a telecommunication service or not and whether to pay a certain percentage of the fees collected by the ISPs to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and to the government as royalty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The government has been considering maintenance as a telecommunication service and has been asking the ISPs to pay two-tier tax. In addition, the government has been refusing to provide foreign exchange facilities to those who do not pay such fees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The ISPs have refused to pay taxes from maintenance fee claiming that the maintenance service does not belong to the telecommunication service according to the law and they do not have to pay the fee to the government. This dispute is currently pending before the Supreme Court. Even though the internet service was disrupted, both sides did not back down from their stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a statement on May 2 and requested the ISPs not to act in such a way as to disrupt essential services like the Internet without paying the rural telecommunication development fees and royalties to the state on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Issuing a press statement the following day, the regulatory body Nepal Telecommunications Authority said that a certain number of internet service providers have not paid the due amount as per the rules despite repeated requests from the authority over the years under various pretexts, so it did not recommend foreign exchange facility to the defaulters.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the service provider's statement?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the ISPs have been regularly paying royalties and rural telecommunication development fees to be paid from income from telecommunication services in accordance to the Telecommunication Act, Telecommunication Regulations and Rural Telecommunication Development Fund Regulations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Apart from that, there is no legal provision to pay royalties and rural telecommunication development fund fee from income generated from non-telecommunication services such as maintenance services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">“The state-owned service providers are easily getting recommendation for foreign currency exchange facility even though they have billions of rupees in arrears, which is a discriminatory policy of the government," said Subas Khadka, Chief Executive Officer of ISPAN, in a statement issued on Saturday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the government cannot charge fees for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and royalties from the maintenance fees according to the instructions of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, the decision taken by the Office of the Auditor General and the interim order issued by the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the legal provision?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 2 (d) of Telecommunications Act 2053 defines 'telecommunication service' as service related to sound, sign, signal, writing, figure, any kind of secret signal or message whether or not such sound, sign, signal, writing has been rearranged, calculated or otherwise altered in any way for the purpose of emission, transmission or reception by electronic means using wire, radio, light (optical) or other electromagnetic system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In schedule 6 (a) of the regulation, 13 areas have been considered as telecommunication services. Types of telecommunications services licensed include Internet (including email), fax, mail, VSAT, local data network (for commercial use), local telephone service, intra-nation trunk call service, international trunk call service, intra-nation telegraph service, international telegraph service, Telex service, leased circuit service, telefax service, package switching data service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In the regulation, internet maintenance fee is not included under telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Santosh Paudel, the director of the NTA, the government has not published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and has not included the maintenance under the telecommunication service as liable for the rural telecommunication development fund. However, he claims that maintenance is also a telecommunication service and there is no need to publish a notice in the Nepal Gazette define it as telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Since this matter has reached the court, we cannot say anything more," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">How much is due?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to the NTA’s claim, nine ISPs are yet to pay dues worth Rs 3.70 billion. WorldLink is yet to pay Rs 1.94 billion while Vianet is yet to pay Rs 420 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 5 of the Telecommunications Regulations and the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Regulations 2068 stipulates that the licensee must deposit 2 percent of the annual income collected from the telecommunications services into the fund every year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 26 of Telecommunication Regulation 2054 explains that 'annual total income' means the income received by the licensee for providing telecommunication services, excluding the amount received from the customer, service tax, value added tax, etc.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to these two provisions, the authority has maintained the arrears of unpaid tax from the amount collected by the ISPs under maintenance charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What did the parliamentary committee say?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">After the Auditor General's 56th annual report pointed out that the ISPs had not paid royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fee from the fees collected from customers as maintenance services, this issue was discussed in the Public Accounts Committee of the House of.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Public Accounts Committee explained that the support charge, annual maintenance fee, technical fee and monitoring fee collected by the ISPs are non-telecommunication services and decided to give instructions to remove the unnecessary charges and royalties for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is happening in court?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">On June 21, 2020, WorldLink filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking an interim order not to charge additional fees related to royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Supreme Court issued an interim order on June 23 in favour of the petitioner.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Despite the fact that even the court has ordered the government not to take action until the case is settled, the government is torturing us again and again," Dilip Agarwal, president and managing director of WorldLink Communications, told New Business Age. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the solution?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to ISPAN, Airtel denied bandwidth because the government has not provided the foreign currency exchange facility to the ISPs since the last 13 months. Airtel provided the bandwidth after about six hours following the assurance given by the NTA and the initiative taken by the ministry. According to ISPs, it is not certain when Indian companies will stop providing the bandwidth.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">However, the government and internet service providers do not seem to budge from the respective stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Agarwal said that they are ready to proceed according to the court's order. The government wants to collect the outstanding amount. However, Paudel, the spokesperson for the NTA, also says that the court's decision will be important to solve this case. "Let's not say too much now, the court's decision will be the final decision," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20637', 'image' => '20240507022836_20230907105804_internet.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:27:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reconstruction of Malla-era Thanthu Durbar Begins ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area. The Thanthu Durbar was constructed 346 years ago. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised by Bhaktapur municipality on the occasion, Secretary of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and lawmaker Prem Suwal said excavation of 99 thoroughfares in Bhaktapur Durbar area should be continued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pointing out the need of examination from technicians whether or not 100-year-old houses in Bhaktapur are safe to live in, he stressed the need of protecting originality in reconstruction of heritages. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Coordinator of Thanthu Durbar Reconstruction Direction Committee and Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality, Sunil Prajapati, shared Bhaktapur municipality had been operating its activities from Thanthu Durbar before 2072 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality now has forwarded the work of reconstruction of Thanthu Durbar keeping it in priority. An estimated cost for the reconstruction of the Thanthu Durbar is Rs 128.5 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province Assembly member Srijana Sainju, Deputy-Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality Rajani Joshi, Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur Roshani Kumari Shrestha, among others were present on the occasion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20636', 'image' => '20240507013610_thantu palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'inDrive Officially Registered in Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'The ride-sharing app has partnered with IME Pay for digital payment', 'summary' => 'May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. Renowned as the fastest-growing mobility service worldwide, inDrive has been operating informally since some time in key cities, including Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Bharatpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a diverse array of services encompassing bike and car rides, courier services, and inter-city rides, inDrive will now formally address the varied needs of Nepali commuters with PAN registration. Director Rita Pokhrel and Pavit Nanda Anand, inDrive's PR Manager for South Asia, jointly announced the official registration during an event at the Marriott Hotel in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Pokhrel disclosed the company's dedication to providing seamless digital payment options, having partnered with IME Pay to facilitate convenient transactions post-formal entry. She also underscored inDrive's rider-friendly policy, affirming that the company will only levy a nominal 10% commission from riders, inclusive of taxes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, acknowledging the paramount importance of safety and security, inDrive is in the process of introducing insurance facilities for both riders and users. Pokhrel assured the media during a Q&A session that the necessary paperwork is underway, and the insurance services will be rolled out shortly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The head office of inDrive for Nepal is located in Hattisar, serving as a strategic hub for its operations. Pokhrel noted that what began as a trial period has now evolved into a fully registered entity under the PAN with Foreign Direct Investment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The formal entry of inDrive into the Nepali market is anticipated not only to enrich transportation options but also to generate employment opportunities and foster economic growth. Alongside Indrive, Pathao, JumJum, and Tootle are offering ride-sharing services in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a widespread presence in over 45 countries and 700 cities worldwide, inDrive brings global expertise and innovation to Nepal's transportation landscape, ensuring a more efficient and convenient commuting experience for all, shared Anand, emphasizing the company's commitment to fairer fares and lower charges compared to other players in the market, thereby ensuring affordability and accessibility for all.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Anand added that inDrive will continue exploring and adding other services similar to what it has been offering in other markets.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20635', 'image' => '20240507123611_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:35:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rainfall Predicted in Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that the country has been facing incidents of wildfire due to the prolonged drought in the current dry season. It has also resulted in poor visibility due to air pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, department has forecast that some parts of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces will see moderate rainfall along with lightning, thunder and storm later in the day, while some parts of Gandaki, Lumbini and Karnali provinces are predicted to have heavy rainfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Few places in the upper hills and mountainous region of the country will have light snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Partial change in weather is expected tonight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department has requested all for precaution in the wake of change in weather. Agriculture, health, tourism, mountaineering, and road and air transports have been urged to take safety measures. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20634', 'image' => '20240507114808_sno.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 11:45:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Change in Tax Rate will be Transparent: Minister Pun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction in the capital on Monday, Minister Pun pledged to change the scope of tax in a transparent manner based on the recommendations of the Revenue Advisory Committee and suggestions of the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He claimed that the number of Nepali citizens going abroad has decreased and efforts are being made to bring back those who have gone abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The process of transferring knowledge, skills and capital from those who have gone abroad is underway, he said, adding that a good example has been seen in the field of information technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He pledged to bring programmes in the upcoming budget to instill hope among the people and encourage the youth. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20633', 'image' => '20240507120815_20200907074520_1599400665.tax.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:07:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Slashes Broker Commission by 10%, Effective from May 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON had proposed a 10% reduction in broker commissions, submitting the proposal to the Ministry of Finance for approval on October 18, 2023. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Barshaman Pun approved the proposal to decrease brokerage commissions, aligning with SEBON’s recommendation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following thorough research and analysis, the Board concluded to lower broker commissions. Former Board Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal had advocated for reducing brokerage commissions based on demands from share investors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Board has decided to reduce the upper limit from 0.40% to 0.36% and the lower threshold from 0.27% to 0.24%, implementing these changes accordingly. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to current regulations, investments up to Rs 50,000 incur a commission rate of 0.40%, while investments ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 are charged at 0.37%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 carry a commission rate of 0.34%. Similarly, for investments ranging from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.30%, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.27%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the new decision, commissions for investments up to Rs 50,000 will be 0.36%, for investments from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 the commission rate will be 0.33%, and for investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 the rate will be 0.30%. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For investments from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, a commission rate of 0.27% will apply, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate will be 0.24%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20632', 'image' => '20240507121033_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 09:14:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Plunges by 15.62 Points to Close at 1958.75', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 6: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 310 scrips were traded via 48,709 transactions. As many as 6,978,321 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 2.89 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Citizen Life Insurance Company Limited (CLI) took the lead in transaction volume, with a turnover of Rs 31 crores. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Bottlers Nepal (Terai) Limited (BNT) saw the highest increase, climbing by 9.03% to close at Rs 14,069 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the flip side, Pokhara Finance Limited (PFL) and Dolti Power Company Limited (DOLTI) faced significant losses of 10% each.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sector-wise, all sectors closed in the negative zone except for the Development Bank Index, which saw a modest gain of 0.23%. The Finance Index experienced the highest decline, dropping by 1.96%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-06', 'modified' => '2024-05-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20631', 'image' => '20240506033051_20240418032246_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-06 15:27:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20918', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists Demand Strict Debt Recovery Laws like in India', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 8: After India introduced a law to pay the loans owed by micro, small and medium industries within 45 days, the industrialists of Nepal have also demanded a strict law in Nepal to collect loans.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries wrote a letter to the Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives on May 5 stating that loans are not being paid since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and this has caused unexpected problems in the business cycle. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Government of India amended the Micro, Small and Medium Industries Development Act and the Income Tax Act last March to introduce a provision for the loans to be paid to micro, small and medium industries for the supply of goods within 15 days with a possibility of extension for a period of 45 days with bilateral agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to this amended law which came into effect from April 1, if the payment is not made on time, the interest on the outstanding money will also have to be paid based on the bank rate fixed by the Reserve Bank of India. The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $80 Million to Strengthen Financial Sector of Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the World Bank said that the third Finance for Growth Development Policy Credit aims to improve the functioning of the financial sector to support private sector-led growth.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation will strengthen the supervision of the banking and insurance sectors in Nepal and foster financial product innovations in capital, insurance, and disaster risk markets. The operation will also increase financial inclusion through digitalization, enhanced credit infrastructure and improved financial literacy, with a focus on women entrepreneurs, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This project supports Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development and will help create an enabling environment for private investment to contribute to Nepal’s economic growth, particularly benefiting the poor and vulnerable,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports Nepal's climate agenda by enhancing supervision of climate risks by requiring disclosures of climate-related risks and impacts of the banking sector portfolio; introducing risk-informed pricing for insurance products, including climate risks; establishing a framework for the issuance of green bonds; and integrating climate-related mitigation and adaptation commitments into credit guarantee products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the government’s transformative financial sector reform agenda to promote private sector-led growth. The reforms in banking, insurance, and capital markets are instrumental for the sector’s resilience and the critical role it plays to enable private capital mobilization,” stated Tatsiana Kliatskova, World Bank’s task team leader for the project.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20640', 'image' => '20240507054611_20240215010906_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 17:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Nepal Facing Significant Challenges due to Ongoing Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. The situation has further worsened since the beginning of April after India decided to provide electricity only during the daytime hours. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Consequently, industrialists in the Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have been severely impacted by irregular power supply, even during designated electricity supply periods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the onset of winter, the country's hydropower projects, reliant on river flows, can only produce electricity at approximately one-third of their total capacity. This limitation necessitates importing electricity from India. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">However, due to the inadequate carrying capacity of internal transmission lines, NEA has struggled to distribute the imported electricity from the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur international transmission line to the industrial sector adequately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite claims of load shedding being entirely eradicated, industrial areas in the Terai region continue to experience power cuts during the dry season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> NEA initially initiated power cuts in industries last year, citing low availability of electricity. However, after these unannounced interruptions disrupted production, entrepreneurs urged NEA leadership to implement a schedule for power cuts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The industries in Bara-Parsa corridor fed electricity through 66 and 11 KV transmission lines experience power cuts from 6 pm to 6 am. NEA states that since India only supplies electricity from 6 am to 6 pm, industries are provided power during this timeframe. However, industrialists report not only unannounced power cuts lasting up to 12 hours a day but also frequent 'tripping' disruptions during NEA's stipulated supply hours.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Industrialists in the Bara-Parsa corridor, particularly those involved in production of construction material, lament significant production losses due to the unannounced power cuts. The irregular electricity supply has exacerbated challenges in production scheduling and worker management, leading to financial losses and decreased productivity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the current economic recession dampening market demand, industrialists express frustration at being unable to capitalize on rising demand for construction materials during peak seasons. Despite the government's capital expenditure surge in the third quarter of the fiscal year, industrialists remain disappointed by their inability to meet market demand due to electricity shortages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Furthermore, industrialists who previously removed generators following NEA's announcement of an end to load shedding now regret their decision. Presently, NEA faces challenges in meeting the country's total electricity demand, necessitating imports from India to bridge the shortfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">NEA spokesperson Chandan Kumar Ghosh attributes power cuts in industries to decreased domestic production and limited imports from India. Ghosh explains that due to the import of electricity only during specified hours, industries are supplied electricity accordingly, leading to tripping issues when demand exceeds capacity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite NEA's efforts to manage the demand of the industrial corridor by augmenting supply from other sources, challenges persist due to weather-related fluctuations and increasing demand. Ghosh remains optimistic that these issues will be mitigated with rising water levels in the rivers following rainfall, ultimately resolving the ongoing power supply issue.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20639', 'image' => '20240507024608_20220330051709_c1d0e043-electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:45:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Gains 2.06 to Close at 1960.81, Turnover Shrinks to Rs 2.14 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session, 314 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 38,214 transactions. A total of 5,064,038 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.14 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pokhara Finance Limited(PFL) took the lead in transaction amount with the total turnover of Rs 8 crores. Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha(HLBSL) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 856 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Bottlers Nepal(Terai) Limited (BNT) incurred the maximum loss of 6.23%, closing at a market price of Rs 13,193.70 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in the negative territory except Microfinance Index, Mutual Index, Development Bank Index and Others Index. Microfinance Index experienced the highest gain of 2.43%, while Trading Index lost the maximum at 1.09%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20638', 'image' => '20240507033412_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 15:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What is the Key Dispute between the Government and Internet Service Providers?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The main reason for the disturbance in the internet service was that India’s Airtel company, which was providing bandwidth to the internet service providers of Nepal, stopped providing the bandwidth. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said that the Indian company turned off the Internet link for about 6 hours after the ISPs of Nepal defaulted in payment for the bandwidth usage for the past one year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In particular, the government has not provided foreign currency exchange facilities for the payment of bandwidth for the past one year because some ISPs have not fully paid the fee to be paid to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and the royalty to be paid to the government from the fees collected from the customers. As a result, they have not been able to pay the dues to the Indian company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN), an umbrella organization of internet service providers operating in the country, Airtel is the company that provides the largest bandwidth to Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Seventy percent of the total bandwidth is being provided by Airtel, according to ISPAN. Due to this, the speed of the internet decreased significantly on last Thursday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">There has been a dispute between the government and the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) whether to consider the maintenance service provided by the ISPs as a telecommunication service or not and whether to pay a certain percentage of the fees collected by the ISPs to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and to the government as royalty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The government has been considering maintenance as a telecommunication service and has been asking the ISPs to pay two-tier tax. In addition, the government has been refusing to provide foreign exchange facilities to those who do not pay such fees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The ISPs have refused to pay taxes from maintenance fee claiming that the maintenance service does not belong to the telecommunication service according to the law and they do not have to pay the fee to the government. This dispute is currently pending before the Supreme Court. Even though the internet service was disrupted, both sides did not back down from their stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a statement on May 2 and requested the ISPs not to act in such a way as to disrupt essential services like the Internet without paying the rural telecommunication development fees and royalties to the state on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Issuing a press statement the following day, the regulatory body Nepal Telecommunications Authority said that a certain number of internet service providers have not paid the due amount as per the rules despite repeated requests from the authority over the years under various pretexts, so it did not recommend foreign exchange facility to the defaulters.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the service provider's statement?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the ISPs have been regularly paying royalties and rural telecommunication development fees to be paid from income from telecommunication services in accordance to the Telecommunication Act, Telecommunication Regulations and Rural Telecommunication Development Fund Regulations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Apart from that, there is no legal provision to pay royalties and rural telecommunication development fund fee from income generated from non-telecommunication services such as maintenance services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">“The state-owned service providers are easily getting recommendation for foreign currency exchange facility even though they have billions of rupees in arrears, which is a discriminatory policy of the government," said Subas Khadka, Chief Executive Officer of ISPAN, in a statement issued on Saturday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the government cannot charge fees for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and royalties from the maintenance fees according to the instructions of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, the decision taken by the Office of the Auditor General and the interim order issued by the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the legal provision?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 2 (d) of Telecommunications Act 2053 defines 'telecommunication service' as service related to sound, sign, signal, writing, figure, any kind of secret signal or message whether or not such sound, sign, signal, writing has been rearranged, calculated or otherwise altered in any way for the purpose of emission, transmission or reception by electronic means using wire, radio, light (optical) or other electromagnetic system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In schedule 6 (a) of the regulation, 13 areas have been considered as telecommunication services. Types of telecommunications services licensed include Internet (including email), fax, mail, VSAT, local data network (for commercial use), local telephone service, intra-nation trunk call service, international trunk call service, intra-nation telegraph service, international telegraph service, Telex service, leased circuit service, telefax service, package switching data service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In the regulation, internet maintenance fee is not included under telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Santosh Paudel, the director of the NTA, the government has not published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and has not included the maintenance under the telecommunication service as liable for the rural telecommunication development fund. However, he claims that maintenance is also a telecommunication service and there is no need to publish a notice in the Nepal Gazette define it as telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Since this matter has reached the court, we cannot say anything more," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">How much is due?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to the NTA’s claim, nine ISPs are yet to pay dues worth Rs 3.70 billion. WorldLink is yet to pay Rs 1.94 billion while Vianet is yet to pay Rs 420 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 5 of the Telecommunications Regulations and the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Regulations 2068 stipulates that the licensee must deposit 2 percent of the annual income collected from the telecommunications services into the fund every year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 26 of Telecommunication Regulation 2054 explains that 'annual total income' means the income received by the licensee for providing telecommunication services, excluding the amount received from the customer, service tax, value added tax, etc.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to these two provisions, the authority has maintained the arrears of unpaid tax from the amount collected by the ISPs under maintenance charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What did the parliamentary committee say?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">After the Auditor General's 56th annual report pointed out that the ISPs had not paid royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fee from the fees collected from customers as maintenance services, this issue was discussed in the Public Accounts Committee of the House of.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Public Accounts Committee explained that the support charge, annual maintenance fee, technical fee and monitoring fee collected by the ISPs are non-telecommunication services and decided to give instructions to remove the unnecessary charges and royalties for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is happening in court?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">On June 21, 2020, WorldLink filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking an interim order not to charge additional fees related to royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Supreme Court issued an interim order on June 23 in favour of the petitioner.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Despite the fact that even the court has ordered the government not to take action until the case is settled, the government is torturing us again and again," Dilip Agarwal, president and managing director of WorldLink Communications, told New Business Age. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the solution?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to ISPAN, Airtel denied bandwidth because the government has not provided the foreign currency exchange facility to the ISPs since the last 13 months. Airtel provided the bandwidth after about six hours following the assurance given by the NTA and the initiative taken by the ministry. According to ISPs, it is not certain when Indian companies will stop providing the bandwidth.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">However, the government and internet service providers do not seem to budge from the respective stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Agarwal said that they are ready to proceed according to the court's order. The government wants to collect the outstanding amount. However, Paudel, the spokesperson for the NTA, also says that the court's decision will be important to solve this case. "Let's not say too much now, the court's decision will be the final decision," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20637', 'image' => '20240507022836_20230907105804_internet.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:27:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reconstruction of Malla-era Thanthu Durbar Begins ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area. The Thanthu Durbar was constructed 346 years ago. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised by Bhaktapur municipality on the occasion, Secretary of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and lawmaker Prem Suwal said excavation of 99 thoroughfares in Bhaktapur Durbar area should be continued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pointing out the need of examination from technicians whether or not 100-year-old houses in Bhaktapur are safe to live in, he stressed the need of protecting originality in reconstruction of heritages. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Coordinator of Thanthu Durbar Reconstruction Direction Committee and Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality, Sunil Prajapati, shared Bhaktapur municipality had been operating its activities from Thanthu Durbar before 2072 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality now has forwarded the work of reconstruction of Thanthu Durbar keeping it in priority. An estimated cost for the reconstruction of the Thanthu Durbar is Rs 128.5 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province Assembly member Srijana Sainju, Deputy-Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality Rajani Joshi, Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur Roshani Kumari Shrestha, among others were present on the occasion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20636', 'image' => '20240507013610_thantu palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'inDrive Officially Registered in Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'The ride-sharing app has partnered with IME Pay for digital payment', 'summary' => 'May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. Renowned as the fastest-growing mobility service worldwide, inDrive has been operating informally since some time in key cities, including Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Bharatpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a diverse array of services encompassing bike and car rides, courier services, and inter-city rides, inDrive will now formally address the varied needs of Nepali commuters with PAN registration. Director Rita Pokhrel and Pavit Nanda Anand, inDrive's PR Manager for South Asia, jointly announced the official registration during an event at the Marriott Hotel in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Pokhrel disclosed the company's dedication to providing seamless digital payment options, having partnered with IME Pay to facilitate convenient transactions post-formal entry. She also underscored inDrive's rider-friendly policy, affirming that the company will only levy a nominal 10% commission from riders, inclusive of taxes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, acknowledging the paramount importance of safety and security, inDrive is in the process of introducing insurance facilities for both riders and users. Pokhrel assured the media during a Q&A session that the necessary paperwork is underway, and the insurance services will be rolled out shortly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The head office of inDrive for Nepal is located in Hattisar, serving as a strategic hub for its operations. Pokhrel noted that what began as a trial period has now evolved into a fully registered entity under the PAN with Foreign Direct Investment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The formal entry of inDrive into the Nepali market is anticipated not only to enrich transportation options but also to generate employment opportunities and foster economic growth. Alongside Indrive, Pathao, JumJum, and Tootle are offering ride-sharing services in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a widespread presence in over 45 countries and 700 cities worldwide, inDrive brings global expertise and innovation to Nepal's transportation landscape, ensuring a more efficient and convenient commuting experience for all, shared Anand, emphasizing the company's commitment to fairer fares and lower charges compared to other players in the market, thereby ensuring affordability and accessibility for all.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Anand added that inDrive will continue exploring and adding other services similar to what it has been offering in other markets.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20635', 'image' => '20240507123611_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:35:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rainfall Predicted in Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that the country has been facing incidents of wildfire due to the prolonged drought in the current dry season. It has also resulted in poor visibility due to air pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, department has forecast that some parts of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces will see moderate rainfall along with lightning, thunder and storm later in the day, while some parts of Gandaki, Lumbini and Karnali provinces are predicted to have heavy rainfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Few places in the upper hills and mountainous region of the country will have light snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Partial change in weather is expected tonight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department has requested all for precaution in the wake of change in weather. Agriculture, health, tourism, mountaineering, and road and air transports have been urged to take safety measures. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20634', 'image' => '20240507114808_sno.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 11:45:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Change in Tax Rate will be Transparent: Minister Pun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction in the capital on Monday, Minister Pun pledged to change the scope of tax in a transparent manner based on the recommendations of the Revenue Advisory Committee and suggestions of the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He claimed that the number of Nepali citizens going abroad has decreased and efforts are being made to bring back those who have gone abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The process of transferring knowledge, skills and capital from those who have gone abroad is underway, he said, adding that a good example has been seen in the field of information technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He pledged to bring programmes in the upcoming budget to instill hope among the people and encourage the youth. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20633', 'image' => '20240507120815_20200907074520_1599400665.tax.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:07:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Slashes Broker Commission by 10%, Effective from May 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON had proposed a 10% reduction in broker commissions, submitting the proposal to the Ministry of Finance for approval on October 18, 2023. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Barshaman Pun approved the proposal to decrease brokerage commissions, aligning with SEBON’s recommendation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following thorough research and analysis, the Board concluded to lower broker commissions. Former Board Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal had advocated for reducing brokerage commissions based on demands from share investors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Board has decided to reduce the upper limit from 0.40% to 0.36% and the lower threshold from 0.27% to 0.24%, implementing these changes accordingly. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to current regulations, investments up to Rs 50,000 incur a commission rate of 0.40%, while investments ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 are charged at 0.37%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 carry a commission rate of 0.34%. Similarly, for investments ranging from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.30%, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.27%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the new decision, commissions for investments up to Rs 50,000 will be 0.36%, for investments from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 the commission rate will be 0.33%, and for investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 the rate will be 0.30%. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For investments from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, a commission rate of 0.27% will apply, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate will be 0.24%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20632', 'image' => '20240507121033_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 09:14:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Plunges by 15.62 Points to Close at 1958.75', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 6: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 310 scrips were traded via 48,709 transactions. As many as 6,978,321 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 2.89 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Citizen Life Insurance Company Limited (CLI) took the lead in transaction volume, with a turnover of Rs 31 crores. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Bottlers Nepal (Terai) Limited (BNT) saw the highest increase, climbing by 9.03% to close at Rs 14,069 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the flip side, Pokhara Finance Limited (PFL) and Dolti Power Company Limited (DOLTI) faced significant losses of 10% each.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sector-wise, all sectors closed in the negative zone except for the Development Bank Index, which saw a modest gain of 0.23%. The Finance Index experienced the highest decline, dropping by 1.96%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-06', 'modified' => '2024-05-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20631', 'image' => '20240506033051_20240418032246_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-06 15:27:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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The unpaid money cannot be shown as expenditure for tax purposes in the current fiscal year. Therefore, the chamber wrote a letter to the Parliamentary Committee requesting to bring a strict loan management law like in India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Because of the recession in the market due to the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of non-payment of loans, it has become clear that the loan transactions should be regulated by law," Ashok Kumar Temani, president of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told New Business Age. The private sector has been demanding for this kind of law since a long time. However, the government has not shown much interest in it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Traders say that due to the decline in the demand in the market, the competition in lending goods has increased. They say that the borrowers have exploited this situation and there is an increasing trend of not paying on time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Meanwhile, the problem of not getting loans in the face of recession has become a headache for entrepreneurs. The cycle of business has been broken because of the lack of money in the market. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Birgunj Chamber of Commerce Industries, an organization of industrialists and traders of Bara-Parsa, wrote a letter to the finance minister and requested him to adopt an effective policy of loan recovery through the next year's budget.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The senior vice president of the chamber, Hari Gautam, confirmed that he had written a letter to the Industry, Commerce, Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee on May 5 and asked the lawmakers to take initiatives for the debt recovery law. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"The biggest problem of industrialists nowadays has become business on credit. This problem has increased after the onset of coronavirus pandemic. Some businessmen even committed suicide due to the failure to recover loans," said Gautam, adding, "The trend of taking loans but refusing to pay money should be curbed legally.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20645', 'image' => '20240508021615_orders.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 14:15:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20917', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Under Pressure to Increase the Size of Budget', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">May 8: The government has indicated it will announce a large-sized budget for the upcoming fiscal year even though it is currently struggling to meet the revised revenue collection target.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The resource committee chaired by the vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission had recommended a budget ceiling of Rs 1800 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, speaking at the parliamentary party meeting of the CPN (Maoist Center) on Saturday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government is moving ahead to introduce a budget equal to Rs 1900 billion, a leader of the party informed New Business Age.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"The prime minister has hinted that we are under pressure to bring a large-sized budget to keep the economy afloat," said MP Madhav Sapkota of the Maoist Center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">As soon as the investment summit was over, Finance Minister VBarshman Pun has started intensifying discussions for preparing the budget, indicating that the size of the budget will exceed the limit fixed by the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister Pun has already discussed the budget with former finance secretaries, industrialists and bankers. The government has already formed a committee under the leadership of joint secretary Dhaniram Sharma for drafting the budget for the upcoming fiscal year by incorporating the suggestions received from various stakeholders.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">However, the confusion about reducing the size of the budget still lingers. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">An officer involved in the drafting of the budget told New Business Age that they were under pressure to prepare a large-sized budget due to the prime minister's aspiration to bring an ambitious budget.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"There will be a lot of pressure to raise resources if the size of the budget is increased,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the officer, the work has already progressed to determine the priorities of the budget and which program to include, but the size of the budget has not been decided yet. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Every year, the Ministry of Finance gets requests for more budget than the limit set by the resource committee of the NPC. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The size of the budget is usually larger than the limit because the government has to include projects of political interest.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to the constitutional provision, the government has to present the budget for the upcoming fiscal year on May 28.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Finance Minister's Senior Economic Adviser Dr Surya Bahadur Thapa has hinted that the budget may increase as various ministries have expressed dissatisfaction with the limit set by the resource committee. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">"Physical infrastructure, urban development, energy and other ministries are dissatisfied with the budget ceiling. This has created pressure on increasing the size of the budget," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">Increasing the size of the budget will increase the challenge of raising resources for the government. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">The National Statistics Office has recently estimated that the economy will grow by only 3.87 percent in the current fiscal year due to sluggish economic activities. According to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, there is no possibility of a high growth rate of the economy in the next fiscal year as well. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have estimated that Nepal's economic will grow by 4.6 percent and 4.8 percent respectively in the next year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">In the absence of high economic growth, the government will have to face the challenge of raising revenue. Since the growth rate of revenue was also high in the past, when the government increased the size of the budget, there was less concern about lack of resources. However, after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. The government has had to rely more on internal and external loans to raise resources.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">This year too, the government has not been able to raise revenue as per the target. Although the budget has set a target of collecting revenue of Rs 1422.54 billion in the current fiscal year, the half-yearly review of the budget has estimated that the revenue collection will be limited to Rs 1202 billion. The Financial Comptroller General Office has said that the revenue collection stood at Rs 804 billion as of Monday. It seems that it will be difficult to collect revenue as per the revised estimate as there is a shortfall of Rs 400 biillion which needs to be collected in the next two months.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">At present, the budget deficit has exceeded Rs 200 billion. Economist Keshav Acharya says that when the government is struggling to meet the budget of Rs 1500 billion in the current year, increasing the size of the budget for the next fiscal year is not appropriate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to him, instead of introducing a large-sized budget for the next fiscal year, it should be implementation-oriented by taking care of the resources. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Nirmala UI","sans-serif"">According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, the government has not achieved the target of collecting foreign loans and grants so far this year. There is no basis for meeting the target in the next two months. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20644', 'image' => '20240508015444_budget.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 13:53:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20916', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Make in Nepal Swadeshi Summit 2024 Concludes with a 35-Point Declaration', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Make in Nepal-Swadheshi Summit-2024' concluded on Tuesday with a 35-point declaration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The summit was organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) with the goals of empowering local industries and increasing domestic production and encouraging consumption. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration was handed over to Minister for Finance Barshaman Pun during the closure of the summit. Minister Pun pledged to make utmost efforts to incorporate the important recommendations collected from the panel discussions in the conference in the upcoming budget. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Minister Pun assured that the government would adopt the policy to increase domestic production and to promote home-grown products. He added that the government will procure domestic products for public offices. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the prime minister had instructed him to move ahead by adopting flexible policy for the private sector, Pun reaffirmed to introduce upcoming budget that would encourage the private sector. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration includes issues ranging from taking initiatives for reforming the existing laws and devising industry-friendly laws to address the policy, legal, procedural and practical difficulties seen in creating favorable industrial environment to holding dialogues to create enabling environment for investment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, CNI pledged to take initiative towards making domestic products and services the first choice among Nepali consumer. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, the declaration demanded an easy and smooth supply of raw materials and the customs rates of the finished goods and raw materials should be differentiated to promote domestic industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Furthermore, the declaration called for establishment for a specialized financial institution to invest in industrial sector, putting a provision that the government and government agencies should use locally made products while gifting. It also demanded establishing a 'Domestic Product Identification Portal' to identify domestic products among others. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, the declaration drew the attention of the government towards implementing separate Terms of Reference to effectively operate One-Stop Service Centre, implementing Integrated Industrial Development Strategy for development and promotion of industrial areas and taking forward the construction of industrial infrastructures in public and private partnership. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also pressed for positive intervention by the government while importing goods or products in which Nepal has gained self-sufficiency. The declaration pointed out the need to encourage production and import of domestic products by identifying comparative advantage and competitive areas. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the declaration suggested that fine should be imposed on the erring or accused industrialists rather than lodging criminal charges against them as detention and misbehaving with the alleged industrialists in financial offence cases. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The CNI has demanded that until the accused industrialists are proven guilty, they should not be detained. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A separate Act is needed to regulate the industrial sector, the declaration mentioned, adding that the industrial and investment environment tend to deteriorate while taking action as per the criminal law against the erring industrialists. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The declaration also called for timely review of the bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties Nepal inked in regard to trade and investment. It also drew attention towards forging a common viewpoint among the major political parties on the agenda of economic prosperity and industrial development for stability at policy level to effectively implement the budget. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20643', 'image' => '20240508125602_a11ac95f.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 12:55:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20915', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '414 Climbers Get Permission for Climbing Mt Everest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: As many as 414 people have taken permission for climbing Mount Everest (Sagarmatha), the world's highest peak, in the spring season this year. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Tourism, a total of 414 climbers, including 75 women and 339 men of 41 mountaineering groups have so far been granted permits for the climbing Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Last year, 478 climbers – the highest ever – had obtained permission for climbing Mount Everest. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Section Officer at the Department of Tourism, Chun Bahadur Tamang, told the state-owned RSS that a total of 971 mountaineers from 112 climbing group have obtained permission for climbing 30 mountains, including Mount Everest, this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has collected royalties of Rs 674.7 million by issuing climbing permits. Around Rs 592.3 million has been raised from Mount Everest alone this season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has made it mandatory for mountaineers aspiring to climb Mt Everest to carry GPS trackers to ensure their safety.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Department of Tourism has also made it mandatory for climbers to remove their excrement using compostable bags similar to those used for dog waste. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The move comes amid widespread criticism that Mt Everest is turning into a dumping yard due to lack of proper regulations to manage waste in the mountains of Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20642', 'image' => '20240508115653_20230518094613_20230330102040_1680132652.Clipboard32.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:56:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20914', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Poudel gets 9 Years Jail Term, Fined Rs 232.7 Million in Payment Gateway Scam ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: The Special Court has sentenced the then Managing Director of Nepal Telecom Sunil Poudel to nine years in jail and fined Rs 232.7 million after convicting him on a corruption charge in the procurement of National Payment Gateway. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chairman of Special Court Tek Narayan Kunwar and Judge Murari Babu Shrestha decided the jail term and penalty on Tuesday although the court had convicted Poudel on April 19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Poudel has been sent to the Dillibazar Prison following the court's verdict. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">G<span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">overnment's secretary Madhu Kumar Marasani and seven others were acquitted in the same case. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had lodged the case at the Special Court some six months ago claiming that a huge amount of the state money was misused while procuring the National Payment Gateway six years ago by preparing an inflated estimate. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The others getting a clean chit from the Special Court include the then Secretary of Ministry of Science and Technology, and Chairman of the National Information Technology Centre Sanjay Sharma, the then Executive Director of National Information Technology Centre Pranita Upadhyay and the then Director of the centre Saphal Shrestha. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-08', 'modified' => '2024-05-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20641', 'image' => '20240508110455_20210116081214_Clipboard38.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-08 11:04:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20913', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Approves $80 Million to Strengthen Financial Sector of Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Monday approved an $80 million development policy credit for Nepal to strengthen the stability of the financial sector, diversify financial solutions, and increase access to financial services.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement on Monday, the World Bank said that the third Finance for Growth Development Policy Credit aims to improve the functioning of the financial sector to support private sector-led growth.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the World Bank, the operation will strengthen the supervision of the banking and insurance sectors in Nepal and foster financial product innovations in capital, insurance, and disaster risk markets. The operation will also increase financial inclusion through digitalization, enhanced credit infrastructure and improved financial literacy, with a focus on women entrepreneurs, the statement added.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This project supports Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development and will help create an enabling environment for private investment to contribute to Nepal’s economic growth, particularly benefiting the poor and vulnerable,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The operation also supports Nepal's climate agenda by enhancing supervision of climate risks by requiring disclosures of climate-related risks and impacts of the banking sector portfolio; introducing risk-informed pricing for insurance products, including climate risks; establishing a framework for the issuance of green bonds; and integrating climate-related mitigation and adaptation commitments into credit guarantee products.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This operation supports the government’s transformative financial sector reform agenda to promote private sector-led growth. The reforms in banking, insurance, and capital markets are instrumental for the sector’s resilience and the critical role it plays to enable private capital mobilization,” stated Tatsiana Kliatskova, World Bank’s task team leader for the project.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20640', 'image' => '20240507054611_20240215010906_World.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 17:45:08', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20911', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries in Nepal Facing Significant Challenges due to Ongoing Power Cuts', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">May 7: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been implementing unannounced power cuts in the industrial establishments for the past four months. The situation has further worsened since the beginning of April after India decided to provide electricity only during the daytime hours. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Consequently, industrialists in the Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have been severely impacted by irregular power supply, even during designated electricity supply periods.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the onset of winter, the country's hydropower projects, reliant on river flows, can only produce electricity at approximately one-third of their total capacity. This limitation necessitates importing electricity from India. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">However, due to the inadequate carrying capacity of internal transmission lines, NEA has struggled to distribute the imported electricity from the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur international transmission line to the industrial sector adequately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite claims of load shedding being entirely eradicated, industrial areas in the Terai region continue to experience power cuts during the dry season.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"> NEA initially initiated power cuts in industries last year, citing low availability of electricity. However, after these unannounced interruptions disrupted production, entrepreneurs urged NEA leadership to implement a schedule for power cuts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The industries in Bara-Parsa corridor fed electricity through 66 and 11 KV transmission lines experience power cuts from 6 pm to 6 am. NEA states that since India only supplies electricity from 6 am to 6 pm, industries are provided power during this timeframe. However, industrialists report not only unannounced power cuts lasting up to 12 hours a day but also frequent 'tripping' disruptions during NEA's stipulated supply hours.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Industrialists in the Bara-Parsa corridor, particularly those involved in production of construction material, lament significant production losses due to the unannounced power cuts. The irregular electricity supply has exacerbated challenges in production scheduling and worker management, leading to financial losses and decreased productivity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">With the current economic recession dampening market demand, industrialists express frustration at being unable to capitalize on rising demand for construction materials during peak seasons. Despite the government's capital expenditure surge in the third quarter of the fiscal year, industrialists remain disappointed by their inability to meet market demand due to electricity shortages.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Furthermore, industrialists who previously removed generators following NEA's announcement of an end to load shedding now regret their decision. Presently, NEA faces challenges in meeting the country's total electricity demand, necessitating imports from India to bridge the shortfall.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">NEA spokesperson Chandan Kumar Ghosh attributes power cuts in industries to decreased domestic production and limited imports from India. Ghosh explains that due to the import of electricity only during specified hours, industries are supplied electricity accordingly, leading to tripping issues when demand exceeds capacity.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Despite NEA's efforts to manage the demand of the industrial corridor by augmenting supply from other sources, challenges persist due to weather-related fluctuations and increasing demand. Ghosh remains optimistic that these issues will be mitigated with rising water levels in the rivers following rainfall, ultimately resolving the ongoing power supply issue.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20639', 'image' => '20240507024608_20220330051709_c1d0e043-electricity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:45:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20912', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Gains 2.06 to Close at 1960.81, Turnover Shrinks to Rs 2.14 Billion', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">May 7: The Nepal Stock Exchange(NEPSE) Index recorded a minimal gain of 2.06 points or 0.10%, closing at 1960.81 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During today’s trading session, 314 scrips were traded on the NEPSE through 38,214 transactions. A total of 5,064,038 shares changed their hands, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 2.14 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pokhara Finance Limited(PFL) took the lead in transaction amount with the total turnover of Rs 8 crores. Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha(HLBSL) saw the highest gain of 9.99%, closing at a market price of Rs 856 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Conversely, Bottlers Nepal(Terai) Limited (BNT) incurred the maximum loss of 6.23%, closing at a market price of Rs 13,193.70 per share. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In terms of sector indices, all sectors closed in the negative territory except Microfinance Index, Mutual Index, Development Bank Index and Others Index. Microfinance Index experienced the highest gain of 2.43%, while Trading Index lost the maximum at 1.09%. </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20638', 'image' => '20240507033412_collage (6).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 15:33:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20910', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'What is the Key Dispute between the Government and Internet Service Providers?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">May 7: The internet service provided by the big internet service providers (ISPs) of Nepal suddenly slowed down on the evening of May 2 while the country was observing the National Information and Communication Technology Day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The main reason for the disturbance in the internet service was that India’s Airtel company, which was providing bandwidth to the internet service providers of Nepal, stopped providing the bandwidth. The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said that the Indian company turned off the Internet link for about 6 hours after the ISPs of Nepal defaulted in payment for the bandwidth usage for the past one year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In particular, the government has not provided foreign currency exchange facilities for the payment of bandwidth for the past one year because some ISPs have not fully paid the fee to be paid to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and the royalty to be paid to the government from the fees collected from the customers. As a result, they have not been able to pay the dues to the Indian company. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN), an umbrella organization of internet service providers operating in the country, Airtel is the company that provides the largest bandwidth to Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Seventy percent of the total bandwidth is being provided by Airtel, according to ISPAN. Due to this, the speed of the internet decreased significantly on last Thursday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">There has been a dispute between the government and the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) whether to consider the maintenance service provided by the ISPs as a telecommunication service or not and whether to pay a certain percentage of the fees collected by the ISPs to the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and to the government as royalty.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The government has been considering maintenance as a telecommunication service and has been asking the ISPs to pay two-tier tax. In addition, the government has been refusing to provide foreign exchange facilities to those who do not pay such fees. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The ISPs have refused to pay taxes from maintenance fee claiming that the maintenance service does not belong to the telecommunication service according to the law and they do not have to pay the fee to the government. This dispute is currently pending before the Supreme Court. Even though the internet service was disrupted, both sides did not back down from their stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology issued a statement on May 2 and requested the ISPs not to act in such a way as to disrupt essential services like the Internet without paying the rural telecommunication development fees and royalties to the state on time.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Issuing a press statement the following day, the regulatory body Nepal Telecommunications Authority said that a certain number of internet service providers have not paid the due amount as per the rules despite repeated requests from the authority over the years under various pretexts, so it did not recommend foreign exchange facility to the defaulters.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the service provider's statement?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the ISPs have been regularly paying royalties and rural telecommunication development fees to be paid from income from telecommunication services in accordance to the Telecommunication Act, Telecommunication Regulations and Rural Telecommunication Development Fund Regulations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Apart from that, there is no legal provision to pay royalties and rural telecommunication development fund fee from income generated from non-telecommunication services such as maintenance services.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">“The state-owned service providers are easily getting recommendation for foreign currency exchange facility even though they have billions of rupees in arrears, which is a discriminatory policy of the government," said Subas Khadka, Chief Executive Officer of ISPAN, in a statement issued on Saturday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">ISPAN claims that the government cannot charge fees for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund and royalties from the maintenance fees according to the instructions of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament, the decision taken by the Office of the Auditor General and the interim order issued by the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the legal provision?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 2 (d) of Telecommunications Act 2053 defines 'telecommunication service' as service related to sound, sign, signal, writing, figure, any kind of secret signal or message whether or not such sound, sign, signal, writing has been rearranged, calculated or otherwise altered in any way for the purpose of emission, transmission or reception by electronic means using wire, radio, light (optical) or other electromagnetic system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In schedule 6 (a) of the regulation, 13 areas have been considered as telecommunication services. Types of telecommunications services licensed include Internet (including email), fax, mail, VSAT, local data network (for commercial use), local telephone service, intra-nation trunk call service, international trunk call service, intra-nation telegraph service, international telegraph service, Telex service, leased circuit service, telefax service, package switching data service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">In the regulation, internet maintenance fee is not included under telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to Santosh Paudel, the director of the NTA, the government has not published a notice in the Nepal Gazette and has not included the maintenance under the telecommunication service as liable for the rural telecommunication development fund. However, he claims that maintenance is also a telecommunication service and there is no need to publish a notice in the Nepal Gazette define it as telecommunication service.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Since this matter has reached the court, we cannot say anything more," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">How much is due?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to the NTA’s claim, nine ISPs are yet to pay dues worth Rs 3.70 billion. WorldLink is yet to pay Rs 1.94 billion while Vianet is yet to pay Rs 420 million.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 5 of the Telecommunications Regulations and the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund Regulations 2068 stipulates that the licensee must deposit 2 percent of the annual income collected from the telecommunications services into the fund every year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Section 26 of Telecommunication Regulation 2054 explains that 'annual total income' means the income received by the licensee for providing telecommunication services, excluding the amount received from the customer, service tax, value added tax, etc.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to these two provisions, the authority has maintained the arrears of unpaid tax from the amount collected by the ISPs under maintenance charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What did the parliamentary committee say?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">After the Auditor General's 56th annual report pointed out that the ISPs had not paid royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fee from the fees collected from customers as maintenance services, this issue was discussed in the Public Accounts Committee of the House of.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Public Accounts Committee explained that the support charge, annual maintenance fee, technical fee and monitoring fee collected by the ISPs are non-telecommunication services and decided to give instructions to remove the unnecessary charges and royalties for the Rural Telecommunication Development Fund.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is happening in court?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">On June 21, 2020, WorldLink filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking an interim order not to charge additional fees related to royalty and rural telecommunication development fund fees.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">The Supreme Court issued an interim order on June 23 in favour of the petitioner.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">"Despite the fact that even the court has ordered the government not to take action until the case is settled, the government is torturing us again and again," Dilip Agarwal, president and managing director of WorldLink Communications, told New Business Age. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><strong><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">What is the solution?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">According to ISPAN, Airtel denied bandwidth because the government has not provided the foreign currency exchange facility to the ISPs since the last 13 months. Airtel provided the bandwidth after about six hours following the assurance given by the NTA and the initiative taken by the ministry. According to ISPs, it is not certain when Indian companies will stop providing the bandwidth.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">However, the government and internet service providers do not seem to budge from the respective stance.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"ekmukta","serif"">Agarwal said that they are ready to proceed according to the court's order. The government wants to collect the outstanding amount. However, Paudel, the spokesperson for the NTA, also says that the court's decision will be important to solve this case. "Let's not say too much now, the court's decision will be the final decision," he said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20637', 'image' => '20240507022836_20230907105804_internet.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 14:27:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20909', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Reconstruction of Malla-era Thanthu Durbar Begins ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Stakeholders on Monday laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the historic Thanthu Durbar in Bhaktapur Dubar Square area. The Thanthu Durbar was constructed 346 years ago. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at a programme organised by Bhaktapur municipality on the occasion, Secretary of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and lawmaker Prem Suwal said excavation of 99 thoroughfares in Bhaktapur Durbar area should be continued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Pointing out the need of examination from technicians whether or not 100-year-old houses in Bhaktapur are safe to live in, he stressed the need of protecting originality in reconstruction of heritages. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Coordinator of Thanthu Durbar Reconstruction Direction Committee and Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality, Sunil Prajapati, shared Bhaktapur municipality had been operating its activities from Thanthu Durbar before 2072 BS. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The municipality now has forwarded the work of reconstruction of Thanthu Durbar keeping it in priority. An estimated cost for the reconstruction of the Thanthu Durbar is Rs 128.5 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bagmati Province Assembly member Srijana Sainju, Deputy-Mayor of Bhaktapur municipality Rajani Joshi, Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur Roshani Kumari Shrestha, among others were present on the occasion. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20636', 'image' => '20240507013610_thantu palace.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 13:35:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20908', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'inDrive Officially Registered in Nepal', 'sub_title' => 'The ride-sharing app has partnered with IME Pay for digital payment', 'summary' => 'May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: Globally acclaimed mobility company inDrive has officially registered its services in Nepal. Renowned as the fastest-growing mobility service worldwide, inDrive has been operating informally since some time in key cities, including Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Bharatpur.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a diverse array of services encompassing bike and car rides, courier services, and inter-city rides, inDrive will now formally address the varied needs of Nepali commuters with PAN registration. Director Rita Pokhrel and Pavit Nanda Anand, inDrive's PR Manager for South Asia, jointly announced the official registration during an event at the Marriott Hotel in Kathmandu.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Pokhrel disclosed the company's dedication to providing seamless digital payment options, having partnered with IME Pay to facilitate convenient transactions post-formal entry. She also underscored inDrive's rider-friendly policy, affirming that the company will only levy a nominal 10% commission from riders, inclusive of taxes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, acknowledging the paramount importance of safety and security, inDrive is in the process of introducing insurance facilities for both riders and users. Pokhrel assured the media during a Q&A session that the necessary paperwork is underway, and the insurance services will be rolled out shortly.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The head office of inDrive for Nepal is located in Hattisar, serving as a strategic hub for its operations. Pokhrel noted that what began as a trial period has now evolved into a fully registered entity under the PAN with Foreign Direct Investment.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The formal entry of inDrive into the Nepali market is anticipated not only to enrich transportation options but also to generate employment opportunities and foster economic growth. Alongside Indrive, Pathao, JumJum, and Tootle are offering ride-sharing services in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With a widespread presence in over 45 countries and 700 cities worldwide, inDrive brings global expertise and innovation to Nepal's transportation landscape, ensuring a more efficient and convenient commuting experience for all, shared Anand, emphasizing the company's commitment to fairer fares and lower charges compared to other players in the market, thereby ensuring affordability and accessibility for all.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Anand added that inDrive will continue exploring and adding other services similar to what it has been offering in other markets.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20635', 'image' => '20240507123611_thumb.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:35:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20906', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rainfall Predicted in Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Much to the respite from the raging wildfires across the country, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has informed that some parts of Bagmati and Koshi provinces are witnessing light rainfall since Tuesday morning due to the low pressure system generated in the vicinity of Bihar, India along with the westerly and local winds. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It maybe noted that the country has been facing incidents of wildfire due to the prolonged drought in the current dry season. It has also resulted in poor visibility due to air pollution.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, department has forecast that some parts of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces will see moderate rainfall along with lightning, thunder and storm later in the day, while some parts of Gandaki, Lumbini and Karnali provinces are predicted to have heavy rainfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Few places in the upper hills and mountainous region of the country will have light snowfall. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Partial change in weather is expected tonight. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The department has requested all for precaution in the wake of change in weather. Agriculture, health, tourism, mountaineering, and road and air transports have been urged to take safety measures. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20634', 'image' => '20240507114808_sno.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 11:45:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20907', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Change in Tax Rate will be Transparent: Minister Pun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">May 7: Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun has pledged to determine the tax rate in a transparent manner.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at an interaction in the capital on Monday, Minister Pun pledged to change the scope of tax in a transparent manner based on the recommendations of the Revenue Advisory Committee and suggestions of the stakeholders. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He claimed that the number of Nepali citizens going abroad has decreased and efforts are being made to bring back those who have gone abroad. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The process of transferring knowledge, skills and capital from those who have gone abroad is underway, he said, adding that a good example has been seen in the field of information technology. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He pledged to bring programmes in the upcoming budget to instill hope among the people and encourage the youth. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20633', 'image' => '20240507120815_20200907074520_1599400665.tax.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 12:07:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20905', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SEBON Slashes Broker Commission by 10%, Effective from May 14', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 7: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has announced its decision to reduce broker commissions by 10%. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">This decision was made during a meeting of the Board of Directors, according to Mukti Shrestha, the spokesperson for the Securities Board of Nepal. The revised broker commission rate will come into effect from May 14.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">SEBON had proposed a 10% reduction in broker commissions, submitting the proposal to the Ministry of Finance for approval on October 18, 2023. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Finance Minister Barshaman Pun approved the proposal to decrease brokerage commissions, aligning with SEBON’s recommendation.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following thorough research and analysis, the Board concluded to lower broker commissions. Former Board Chairman Ramesh Kumar Hamal had advocated for reducing brokerage commissions based on demands from share investors.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Board has decided to reduce the upper limit from 0.40% to 0.36% and the lower threshold from 0.27% to 0.24%, implementing these changes accordingly. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to current regulations, investments up to Rs 50,000 incur a commission rate of 0.40%, while investments ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 are charged at 0.37%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 carry a commission rate of 0.34%. Similarly, for investments ranging from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.30%, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate is 0.27%.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With the new decision, commissions for investments up to Rs 50,000 will be 0.36%, for investments from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000 the commission rate will be 0.33%, and for investments from Rs 500,000 to Rs 2,000,000 the rate will be 0.30%. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For investments from Rs 2,000,000 to Rs 10,000,000, a commission rate of 0.27% will apply, and for investments exceeding Rs 10,000,000, the commission rate will be 0.24%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-07', 'modified' => '2024-05-07', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20632', 'image' => '20240507121033_Sebon-update.jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-07 09:14:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '20904', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEPSE Plunges by 15.62 Points to Close at 1958.75', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">May 6: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continued its downward trend, slipping by 0.79% or 15.62 points, closing at 1958.75 on the second trading day of the week on Monday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Throughout today's trading session, a total of 310 scrips were traded via 48,709 transactions. As many as 6,978,321 shares changed their hands, resulting in a total turnover of Rs 2.89 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Citizen Life Insurance Company Limited (CLI) took the lead in transaction volume, with a turnover of Rs 31 crores. </span></span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Meanwhile, Bottlers Nepal (Terai) Limited (BNT) saw the highest increase, climbing by 9.03% to close at Rs 14,069 per share.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the flip side, Pokhara Finance Limited (PFL) and Dolti Power Company Limited (DOLTI) faced significant losses of 10% each.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sector-wise, all sectors closed in the negative zone except for the Development Bank Index, which saw a modest gain of 0.23%. The Finance Index experienced the highest decline, dropping by 1.96%.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2024-05-06', 'modified' => '2024-05-06', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '20631', 'image' => '20240506033051_20240418032246_collage (59).jpg', 'article_date' => '2024-05-06 15:27:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '42' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
