July 3: Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours.…
July 3: Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours.…
July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's…
July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August…
July 3: Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly…
July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice.…
July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut…
July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our…
July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their…
July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday.…
July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports.…
July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year.…
July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per…
uly 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned…
July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's…
ost of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration.…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours. If those who want to convert their two-wheelers into electric vehicles, one can visit the office of Sundar Auto Engineering in Dhumbarahi with the bill book and vehicle. The company will convert it to electric vehicle within three hours after completing necessary processes of documentation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The company has said that it is preparing to launch a nationwide campaign to convert petroleum-powered bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company says that the number of customers coming to convert bikes and scooters into electric vehicle is increasing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We have started converting bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours for immediate service at affordable prices," said Bhesh Bahadur Thapa, chairman of Sundar Auto Engineering. According to him, in the case of scooters and bikes, only Hero brand is being converted into electric-powered vehicles for the time being. He informed that the work of converting the bikes of other companies will be started soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Traveling 20-25 km on petrol-powered bikes and scooters costs 1 liter of fuel, which currently has a market price of Rs 179," Thapa said. According to the company, around Rs 171 will be saved for every 20 to 25 km journey using electric vehicle.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The campaign, aimed at reducing the use of petroleum products, has already started in Kathmandu and Butwal and will soon be extended to Dhalkebar and Narayangarh, the company said. According to the company, it costs up to Rs 100,000 to convert bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company has been converting 10 to 15 two-wheelers into electric vehicles daily. So far, more than 2,000 have been converted to electric vehicles, the company said. Chairman Thapa also said that new orders for 823 vehicles have arrived. He informed that four-wheelers will be converted into electric vehicles soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had published a notice in the Nepal Gazette last April, paving the way for the legalizing conversion of vehicles running on petroleum products. To prepare the technical manpower for this, Sundar Auto has been conducting free training in collaboration with the government and various organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15291', 'image' => '20220703054024_1656824368.Scootor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 17:39:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15548', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rod Industries Running at 3 Percent Capacity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policies. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Industries producing iron rods from billets have failed to operate in full capacity after the government introduced a policy of taxation on billets and tax exemption on sponge iron through the replacement budget of the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Steel operator Kiran Sakha said that the industries that produced iron rods from billet have operated at just 3 per cent of the full capacity. The government had introduced a policy of taxing billets to protect the industries that produce billet from sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policy has hit 20 industries that make iron rods from billet.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We opposed it for nine months. But, the government did not address it in the upcoming budget. Our industries will collapse if this policy gets continuity,” he said during an event organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Association (Nafiz). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A parliamentary committee has instructed the government to maintain the rate before the replacement bill. The committee might conduct a hearing,” he added.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He also said that the businessman are frustrated and have now come to the point of committing suicide.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the event, Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), argued that the policy adopted by the government through the current year's replacement budget does not even benefit the consumers. He shared that revenue from the rod industry has fallen by Rs 8 billion because of the government's policy - and even the price of the iron rod has been affected.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The price of iron rods was Rs 70 per kg before the replacement bill came in. It has now increased to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the government has little to do with losing revenue because of the government's policy of tax exemptions on sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">similarly, Manak Sharda said the policy taken by the government had led to a situation where domestic production could not compete with imported goods. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The upcoming budget has provision of 10 per cent customs duty and Rs 4.50 excise duty on a kilogram of wire rod. It was previously 5 per cent customs duty and Rs 2.25 excise duty.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, India has imposed a 15 per cent export duty for the export of raw materials of GI Wire. However, readymade GI Wire from India is imported to Nepal at 17 per cent customs duty. This makes it difficult for goods produced in Nepal to compete with imported goods, said Sharda.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Jyoti Baniya, president of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum, said industrialists and businessmen were responsible for this. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“It's the industrialists and businessmen who ruined the system. Previously, who were in touch with powerful politicians had their say. Now, it is the ones who are in touch with the power centers enjoying the new provisions.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though many countries in the world have stopped producing rods from sponge iron, Nepal is heading backwards, says Baniya.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The induction furnace has been removed from all over the world,” he said, adding that China has already removed it. Indonesia has decided not to allow furnaces to be kept. But, the government of Nepal is heading in the opposite direction.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Sanitary Pad producer Dolraj Adhikari said the domestic industry is in a state of closure due to the taxation policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a 1.5 per cent tax on imports of the readymade pads. However, it takes 8 types of raw materials for producing such pads and the domestic industries have to pay an average of 8.5 percent tax for importing the raw materials,” he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policies made by policymakers and experts in the country are unfair and discriminatory.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessman Min Bahadur Gurung said the steel industry was in trouble because of the government policy. He said the billions of rupees invested in this sector and the jobs of thousands of people were at risk due to the government’s policy on tax for the current fiscal year and the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15290', 'image' => '20220703040719_1656802520.Clipboard16 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 16:06:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15547', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank is the Main Sponsor of Newbiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Organiser of the event, New Business Age Pvt Ltd, has signed an agreement with the main sponsor Prabhu Bank for organizing the event.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this event, a panel discussion among experts on the topic of management education will also be held.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Colleges across the country will be able to participate in the awards. According to the organisers, registration for the award is free and application is to be submitted online. The company has been organizing such awards since 2013.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the organizing company, this time the award will be given to the best business schools including one from each of the seven provinces. The organisers also informed that there will be a special arrangement to give awards to the community and government sector colleges as well. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the past, awards were given in various categories including the Best BBS College, Best MBS College, Best BBA College, Best MBA College, Best Public College, and Best Hotel Management College. The organizers stated that the award will be given in the same category in the upcoming edition, but the jury can make some modifications to it.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the fifth edition of the awards, Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) was declared the best college of the year. KUSOM also received the award for the best MBA and BBA colleges of the year. The participating colleges in this edition have been selected by an independent panel of experts considering the quality of the faculty, student exposure program and the market demand for the produced manpower.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">KUSOM has previously been the winner of Best Business School Award in 2013, 2014 and 2018 as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15289', 'image' => '20220703013108_1656821631.न्यूबिज बिजनेश स्कूल रेटिङ, र्_याङ्किङ एन्ड अवार्डस्–२०२२.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:30:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15546', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Many Nepalis Visiting Saudi Arabia for Employment get Duped', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: A study conducted by the People’s Forum for Human Rights, an organization that provides free legal aid to those who are in trouble during foreign employment, found that Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was prepared after studying the condition of about 3,000 victims who received legal aid from the organization in a 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the current fiscal year, 64 percent of the people who were duped in course of foreign employment filed complaints in Nepal itself, while 15.45 percent filed cases in Saudi Arabia and 10.45 percent in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study revealed that Nepali migrant workers visiting Malaysia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan for employment are also being cheated. The study report states that 48.21 percent of people were duped by agents and 51.79 percent people were duped by the manpower companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adviser to the People's Forum and Advocate Som Prasad Luintel said that fraud cases in the name of foreign employment has not improved much in recent times. He says that the number of people involved in cheating by sending people abroad on visit visas has increased considerably. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another advocate Sudip Devkota said that the problem of fraud cases increased after the government amended some laws in 2075 BS to make it illegal for manpower to hire agents. In addition, it is difficult to take action. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the People’s Forum, free legal aid has been provided to 26,145 people who were the victims of duping in foreign employment since 2011.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15288', 'image' => '20220703012154_1656823316.साउदी अरेबिया जाने धेरै नेपाली ठगीमा.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:20:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15545', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Dependency on Rice Increasing, Annual Import Reaches Rs 50 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. In fiscal year 2012-13, rice worth Rs 20 billion was imported in the country and the figure rose by 150 percent to reach Rs 50 billion in the first eleven months of the current fiscal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Customs, in the first eleven months of the current fiscal, rice, fragmented rice and husk powder worth Rs 50 billion were imported into the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal mainly imports rice from India, China, Vietnam, the United States of America and Thailand. </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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of fine and aromatic rice make up 70 percent in the import chart and high-class people and hotels are the users of these varieties of rice products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in the budget for the current fiscal year had announced to make the country self-sufficient on rice by the next five years. Though the government had planned to increase rice production through the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project since the fiscal year 2073-74 BS, it is yet to yield any positive result. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country during the fiscal year 2012-13 imported 454,503 metric tons of rice. According to government data, out of around 310,000 hectares of arable land in Nepal, paddy farming is possible on fifty percent of those land. The National Census of Agriculture 2011-12 conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that 100,000 hectares of land has remained unused in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Census is conducted in every 10 years in Nepal. The seventh agro census was conducted from April 19 and concluded on May 2 in the country this year. Hemraj Regmi, an official at the Central Bureau of Statistics, said it will still take seven months to make the results of the census public. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There isn’t any authentic detail about how much arable land have been turned into plotting, as well as eroded by river till the date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although every government since the past three fiscal years has been declaring to bring a strict law prohibiting people from keeping their land barren, it has not been implemented yet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The issue of increasing paddy production through land plotting of arable land, collective farming has been raised in every budget, but the implementation side is weak, said agronomist, Laba Prasad Tripathi. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of ten consecutive years, Nepal saw highest production of rice in the fiscal year 2020/21 at 5.621 million metric tonnes. Rice was planted across 1,473,478 hectares of land. But the same year Nepal imported rice worth Rs 45 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arable land and pocket areas for paddy cultivation have been continuously diminishing since the fiscal year 2003/04, the Ministry's data shows. Paddy cultivation done across 1,477,378 hectares land in 2003/04 shrunk to 82,058 hectares over 19 years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice worth around Rs 200 billion was imported from fiscal year 2015/16 to 2020/21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice, the staple crop of the country, is grown in around 1.5 million hectares of land and it requires around 6 million metric tonnes of rice annually to feed around 30 million population of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Experts emphasize cultivation of rice during spring (mid-March to mid-April), availability of fertilizers, seedlings and irrigation facilities for boosting rice production in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Agricultural Research Council's former senior scientist Dr Bhawa Prasad Tripathi viewed that Nepal could again gain self-sufficiency in rice within five years if the government takes into account a number of measures such as construction of big irrigation projects, plantation of monsoon season paddy crop on 400,000 hectares of land and to prevent fishery industries in the land suitable for rice production. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => 'Rice, import, dependency, production, paddy, agriculture', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15287', 'image' => '20220703121050_ricee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 12:09:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15544', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mustang’s Rural Municipality Announces Incentives to Promote Walnut Farming', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thasang Rural Municipality of Mustang district has initiated a programme to promote walnut farming. The rural municipality considers agriculture as main source of revenue. It has introduced an incentive scheme for the farmers by realizing the potential of walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has come up with the concept of creating “one ward, one agricultural hub” in addition to giving priority to walnut farming. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the rural municipality, Pradip Gauchan shared that priority has been given to walnut farming as the production cost is low and the outcome is good. He added that there is no problem of marketing and once planted, the produce can be harvested for years.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He informed that necessary programs and training for farmers involved in walnut farming has been included in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. According to him, farmers will be given lessons on planting and conservation of walnut while information related to technology will also be provided to them. In addition, the rural municipality has also allocated budget for irrigation facility, said Gauchan.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has adopted a policy of providing subsidy to the farmers on the basis of demand.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The walnut produced in Mustang costs between Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per kilogram. Traders have already started flocking to the orchards to look for produce in Thasang. The rural municipality introduced a program to promote walnut farming to link the farmers with income as bargaining takes place before the tree even bears fruit. In terms of climate, walnut cultivation is good in most of the wards of Thasang.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apples, potatoes, walnuts and other vegetables produced in the rural municipality are also exported abroad. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman Gauchan said, cultivation of barren land will be started next year in an effort to modernize the agricultural sector. The rural municipality has also announced promotion programmes related to animal husbandry in addition to fruits and vegetables.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has also adopted a policy to gradually reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in crops. Gauchan shared that the use of organic fertilizers and traditional home-made pesticides in apples, potatoes, beans, walnuts and other vegetables has been encouraged as the demand for organic products is increasing in the market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15286', 'image' => '20220701051846_1656629260.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 17:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15543', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Radisson Hotel Kathmandu Organizes CSR Activities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the hotel said it organized the “Let’s make impact together” campaign on 23rd of June and 28th of June by conducting various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the hotel, its team visited an old-age home named “Nishaya Sewa Sadan” located at Shantinagar, Kathmandu on June 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The hotel’s team reached the old age home with food and funds for the elderly people. When they reached the place, they were greeted and welcomed with a big bright smile by the senior citizens,” the statement added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">General Manager of Radisson Hotel Kathmandu, Subrata Banerjee, handed over the fund to the organization followed by the cake cutting ceremony. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement further said that the Radisson Hotel Kathmandu team members spent some quality time listening to their stories and taking some pictures with them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the hotel in collaboration with Red Cross Society organized a blood donation campaign on 28th June. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is a shortage of blood in the blood banks after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Therefore, the hotel decided to do a blood donation campaign looking at the current needs of society. Employees of the hotel were happy to participate in the campaign and contribute to helping in saving human lives.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Radisson Hotel Group claimed it is recognized globally for its responsible business practices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“For the same cause, Radisson Hotel Kathmandu has put up continuous effort by showing that they care about the lives of people outside the walls of their businesses by conducting numerous CSR activities every year. The company encourages and advocates for sharing resources with less fortunate ones to unite for common causes and believes that even small efforts can help make a difference,” added the statement.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15285', 'image' => '20220701044642_IMG_8512 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 16:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15542', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Continues Interim Order on Excavation of Stone, Sand and Pebbles ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of justices Kumar Regmi and Hari Prasad Phuyal on Thursday decided to continue the interim order asking the government to not implement its decision to revise the standard on excavation of stone, sand and pebbles and their sales and distribution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the latest version of the standard is yet to be fully implemented, the amendment in it has the strength to pose serious threat to the existence of the river system and the issues related to national life. It will cause irreparable loss, the court argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The amended standard on excavation would cause irreparable loss to human settlement, international border, heritages of cultural and religious importance, marshland, and educational and health institutions,” reads the order. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On behalf of Environment Law Society Nepal, advocate Padam Bahadur Shrestha had filed a writ petition against the amendment of the standard on excavation of sand, pebbles and stones. The defendants the case included the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He had argued that the amendment allowed excavation close to human settlement, forest area, and highway. --- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15284', 'image' => '20220701033256_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:32:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15541', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Nabil Bank Completes One Year of Sustainable Banking', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. The bank had started the campaign with the objective of providing financial access to rural areas and ensuring financial literacy.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank informed that it will celebrate this achievement by organizing “Nabil Green Week”. The bank claimed that one year of sustainable banking has been satisfactory. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A statement issued by the bank said, “We claim that Nabil Sustainable Banking has been established as an innovative approach not only in Nabil Bank but in the entire banking sector of 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank had started sustainable banking by investing in hydropower, providing soft loans and working in the social and environmental sectors. On the occasion of Nabil Sustainable Banking's anniversary and National Paddy Day, the bank started celebrating “Nabil Green Week” from Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15283', 'image' => '20220701032746_Kishan-Karja_600x600.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:27:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15540', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flour Mills of Nepal in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. Before India imposed a ban on wheat exports, ready-made flour did not enter Nepal through the green channel of customs.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India banned exports of wheat in the last week of April saying wheat production had fallen short of its target. Nevertheless, India has been exporting wheat to Fiji. India has said it can provide certain amount of wheat to its neighboring countries as per the requirement. However, 36 flour mills of Nepal are in crisis as Nepal has not taken diplomatic initiative to bring wheat from India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, import of wheat to Nepal has come to a halt after India imposed a ban on wheat export. He said that the import of flour has started instead. Last May, 80 metric tonnes of wheat flour worth Rs 3.148 million was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to spokesperson Dhungana, after India's ban on wheat exports, the biscuit and noodle industries of Nepal have started ordering wheat flour. In June, more wheat flour was imported than in May.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The import of wheat flour started after the Government of Nepal did not show any interest to take up this issue with the Government of India. This has put the flour mills of Nepal at risk. Altogether 36 flour mills of the country produce 650,000 tonnes of flour annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Biratnagar Customs, about 100,000 quintals of wheat worth Rs 327.79 million was imported through this checkpoint in the first ten months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Radheshyam Agrawal, general secretary of the Flour Producers' Association, said that the industry could not even bear the cost as the flour from India was cheaper than the locally produced flour. He said, "The flour mills here are on the verge of closure."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Import duty on wheat is 5 percent. When importing flour, 10 percent customs duty has to be paid. However, Indian flour is cheaper than local produce. The annual production capacity of the domestic flour industry is 1.6 million metric tons. However, due to shortage of wheat, they have been producing only 650,000 tons annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Agrawal said that there is no situation of production this time after India banned export of wheat but allowed export of flour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, the country has about one million tonnes of domestically produced wheat. It is enough for the 36 industries for a maximum of one month. Agarwal said that all the flour industries would be shut down after they run out of stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bikas Vegwani, vice-president of the Morang Trade Association and operator of Vishal Maida Mills, said that there was no alternative to shutting down the local flour mills as India kept the flour exports open by banning wheat exports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier, when India banned the export of wheat, it had still provided wheat to Nepal and its neighbors through the quota system. Russia-Ukraine tensions have reduced global wheat and grain supplies. Harivansh Rathi, the operator of Gaumati Foods, said if the government did not facilitate wheat import by holding talks with the Indian government, there would be a big shortage in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15282', 'image' => '20220701024459_All-about-grain-flours-resized.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 14:44:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15539', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Non-life Insurance Companies Make Significant Improvement in Business', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. The result is clearly evident from the data provided by the Insurance Board.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">During a nine-month period between July 2021 to May 2022, altogether twenty non-life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 34.15 billion in insurance premiums. This is Rs 7.63 billion more than the collection of insurance premium in the corresponding period of the previous year, which stood at Rs 26.52 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Till last year, the growth rate of non-life insurance business was low. In previous years, the non-life insurance business could barely grow by 10 percent. However, encouraging progress is seen in the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the Insurance Board Rajuraman Poudel said that the growth rate of non-life insurance business has been better than the previous years. He said that the business growth rate in the past was not so satisfactory but now it is encouraging.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shikhar Insurance is in the forefront in collecting premiums. The company has collected insurance premiums of Rs 4.40 billion during the period. Everest Insurance secured the second place by collecting insurance premiums of Rs 2.79 billion. Neco Insurance, which is in the third place, collected Rs 2.61 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Lately, there has been a surge in the micro insurance business. In addition, the number of insurers is also on the rise. Term policies are also being considered in non-life insurance category. Apart from this, various development works are being conducted lately. Chunky Chhetry, president of the Non-Life Insurance Association and chief Executive Officer of Sagarmatha Insurance states that all these factors boosted the business of non-life insurance companies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15281', 'image' => '20220701013922_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:38:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15538', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minimum Interest Rate of Microfinance Companies Reaches Upper Limit at 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent. Stating that the cost has gone up due to the liquidity crisis in the market, the microfinance companies have raised the interest rate to the maximum limit set by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB has set a limit that microfinance cannot charge more than 15 per cent interest since last year. With the rise of interest rates of banks and financial institutions, microfinance companies have increased the minimum interest rate to the upper limit.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A report on interest rates of microfinance companies published by NRB states that the interest rate of 35 out of 61 microfinance companies has reached 15 per cent. Apart from this, the minimum interest rate of most of the microfinances is above 10 per cent.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been disbursing loans to the poor through microfinance companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers' Association, Prakash Raj Sharma, said that it was difficult to work within the limits set by the NRB as the interest rate of the banks itself has increased to 15 per cent. "Right now, the interest rate on bank loans has reached 15 per cent," he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that capital should be available to microfinance institutions at cheap interest rates, the association has submitted a demand letter to the NRB to make arrangements to add only a per cent premium to the base rate when giving loans to banks and financial institutions to the poor.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the NRB, there are currently 65 microfinance companies operating in the country with four of them providing wholesale loans and 61 giving out loans in retail. These organizations have formed 1.329 million groups and provided financial services to 57.72 million people. Loans and borrowings of microfinance institutions increased by 23.53 per cent compared to July 2021 and reached Rs 392.05 billion in mid-April 2022.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">About half of the total loans disbursed by the microfinance companies have flowed into the agriculture sector. Out of the total loan disbursed by microfinance companies, 46.02 per cent has gone to the agriculture sector till April 2022. The share of the credit of this sector was 44.82 per cent in July 2021.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, microfinance companies have disbursed 3.41 per cent in cottage and small-scale industries and 30.89 per cent in the service sector.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investment of microfinance companies has declined due to a lack of liquidity in the banking system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15280', 'image' => '20220701012715_interest-rates-e1541025967190.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:26:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15537', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Turns 65 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'uly 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65. NAC was established on July 1, 1958 following the enactment of Nepal Airlines Corporation Act 2019 BS. The main objective was to provide air transport service at home and abroad.</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"">NAC, which commenced its service with Douglas DC and Dakota having 25-seat capacity, is now providing service through wide-body and narrow-body aircraft (Airbus A 330-200). </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"">At present, NAC has been operating two-way international flights from Kathmandu to New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai (India), Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Narita (Japan), Doha (Qatar), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). </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""> Likewise, it has been providing domestic flight services to the airports in remote areas. </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"">NAC Spokesperson Archana Khadka shared that the NAC is organizing various programmes to mark its establishment day. </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"">Issuing a public notice on NAC’s 65th anniversary, newly appointed General Manager of the state-owned airline company Captain Deepu Raj Jwarchan said that the NAC will rise from the past failures and scale new heights. </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"">He said that the NAC will strive to maintain its credibility by operating flights regularly and safely.</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"">Jwarchan said that the NAC plans to add new aircraft to its fleet after expanding its market and destinations. NAC has long-term plans of expanding its flights to Seoul, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Colombo, Ahmedabad, Jakarta, Frankfurt and Australia, reads the notice issued by Jwarchan. </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"">He further said that the NAC has currently formed short-term and long-term plans and is working accordingly to implementing them. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15279', 'image' => '20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 12:09:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15536', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ukraine Crisis has Posed Additional Challenges to Nepal’s Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the oath taking ceremony of Nepal Chartered Accountants' Association on Wednesday, Adhikari said that the impact of Russia Ukraine war has been felt in Nepal as well. This has added new challenges to the economy, said Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The central bank's governor said that the world economy itself was facing crisis and Nepal could not be an exception. As a result, economies aross the world have been facing the problem of inflation. In such situation, Governor Adhikari urged stakeholders of all sectors to work together to improve the country's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further said that the role of chartered accountants is vital for the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the function, newly elected chairman of the Chartered Accountants’ Association Deepak Pandey said that the association was ready to help the central bank with any kind of problem related to the economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => 'economy, challenge, Nepal, Ukraine, pandemic, Covid-19, inflation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15278', 'image' => '20220701110810_maha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 11:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15535', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Most of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area', 'sub_title' => 'Madhes chapter of FNCCI passes Janakpur Declaration', 'summary' => 'ost of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. The assembly passed a proposal to establish industrial zones in at least three places for industrialization of Madhesh Pradesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, most of the industrial establishments are concentrated in the Pathalaiya area of Birgunj and it is becoming difficult to get land for new industries in the corridor.Chairman of the Madhes Province chapter of FNCCI Ganesh Prasad Lath informed that the federation has also passed a proposal to take initiative for the participation of the private sector in the production and management of solar energy and expansion of transmission line in the state. Proposals have been passed to extend the Jayanagar-Janakpur railway from Bardibas to Pathalaiya, set up a revenue tribunal, set up a polytechnic institute to produce skilled workers, speed up the construction of the Postal Highway, solve the problems faced by Indian tourists when they bring Indian currency, set up an agricultural market and build a hospital for the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the General Assembly, FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha said that the country head towards the path of Sri Lanka if a solution is not found in time as the country's economy is in serious trouble. He said the economy was in serious trouble due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and rising tensions over Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Golchha claimed that the government's target of 8 percent economic growth through the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) was not attainable. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Claiming that the federation has always been active involved to uplift the private sector and the country's economy, Golchha said that most of the entrepreneurs were satisfied with the role of the federation. Former FNCCI President Chandiraj Dhakal claimed that the policy taken by the government through the upcoming budget would bring down domestic production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">FNCCI Vice President Dinesh Shrestha said that the government’s claim to increase production for import substitution did not have any basis. According to Shrestha, the budget provision brought by the finance minister for the upcoming fiscal year has discouraged production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another FNCCI vice-president Anjan Shrestha said the government's policy was not investment-friendly. He said there should be a clear and long-term policy for investment. He argued that security of investment should be the first pre-condition. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kishor Pradhan, former vice-president of the federation, said that the FNCCI has not been able to play an effective role as per the expectation of the business community. According to Pradhan, the FNCCI leadership was not serious about the deteriorating economic situation of the country. “While the federation is welcoming the budget at the center, there are protests in the districts. The need for a federation is under questioned. This is unfortunate," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ashok Kumar Temani, former president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of the Nepal-India Socioeconomic Forum, claimed that the government had increased the pressure of tax on the private sector by increasing the size of the budget in the face of economic crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-30', 'modified' => '2022-06-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15277', 'image' => '20220630081143_1656563322.FNCCI Madhesh 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-30 20:10:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $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' => '15549', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Petrol-powered Two-Wheelers can be Converted into EVs in Three Hours', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours. If those who want to convert their two-wheelers into electric vehicles, one can visit the office of Sundar Auto Engineering in Dhumbarahi with the bill book and vehicle. The company will convert it to electric vehicle within three hours after completing necessary processes of documentation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The company has said that it is preparing to launch a nationwide campaign to convert petroleum-powered bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company says that the number of customers coming to convert bikes and scooters into electric vehicle is increasing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We have started converting bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours for immediate service at affordable prices," said Bhesh Bahadur Thapa, chairman of Sundar Auto Engineering. According to him, in the case of scooters and bikes, only Hero brand is being converted into electric-powered vehicles for the time being. He informed that the work of converting the bikes of other companies will be started soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Traveling 20-25 km on petrol-powered bikes and scooters costs 1 liter of fuel, which currently has a market price of Rs 179," Thapa said. According to the company, around Rs 171 will be saved for every 20 to 25 km journey using electric vehicle.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The campaign, aimed at reducing the use of petroleum products, has already started in Kathmandu and Butwal and will soon be extended to Dhalkebar and Narayangarh, the company said. According to the company, it costs up to Rs 100,000 to convert bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company has been converting 10 to 15 two-wheelers into electric vehicles daily. So far, more than 2,000 have been converted to electric vehicles, the company said. Chairman Thapa also said that new orders for 823 vehicles have arrived. He informed that four-wheelers will be converted into electric vehicles soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had published a notice in the Nepal Gazette last April, paving the way for the legalizing conversion of vehicles running on petroleum products. To prepare the technical manpower for this, Sundar Auto has been conducting free training in collaboration with the government and various organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15291', 'image' => '20220703054024_1656824368.Scootor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 17:39:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15548', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rod Industries Running at 3 Percent Capacity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policies. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Industries producing iron rods from billets have failed to operate in full capacity after the government introduced a policy of taxation on billets and tax exemption on sponge iron through the replacement budget of the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Steel operator Kiran Sakha said that the industries that produced iron rods from billet have operated at just 3 per cent of the full capacity. The government had introduced a policy of taxing billets to protect the industries that produce billet from sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policy has hit 20 industries that make iron rods from billet.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We opposed it for nine months. But, the government did not address it in the upcoming budget. Our industries will collapse if this policy gets continuity,” he said during an event organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Association (Nafiz). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A parliamentary committee has instructed the government to maintain the rate before the replacement bill. The committee might conduct a hearing,” he added.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He also said that the businessman are frustrated and have now come to the point of committing suicide.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the event, Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), argued that the policy adopted by the government through the current year's replacement budget does not even benefit the consumers. He shared that revenue from the rod industry has fallen by Rs 8 billion because of the government's policy - and even the price of the iron rod has been affected.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The price of iron rods was Rs 70 per kg before the replacement bill came in. It has now increased to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the government has little to do with losing revenue because of the government's policy of tax exemptions on sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">similarly, Manak Sharda said the policy taken by the government had led to a situation where domestic production could not compete with imported goods. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The upcoming budget has provision of 10 per cent customs duty and Rs 4.50 excise duty on a kilogram of wire rod. It was previously 5 per cent customs duty and Rs 2.25 excise duty.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, India has imposed a 15 per cent export duty for the export of raw materials of GI Wire. However, readymade GI Wire from India is imported to Nepal at 17 per cent customs duty. This makes it difficult for goods produced in Nepal to compete with imported goods, said Sharda.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Jyoti Baniya, president of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum, said industrialists and businessmen were responsible for this. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“It's the industrialists and businessmen who ruined the system. Previously, who were in touch with powerful politicians had their say. Now, it is the ones who are in touch with the power centers enjoying the new provisions.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though many countries in the world have stopped producing rods from sponge iron, Nepal is heading backwards, says Baniya.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The induction furnace has been removed from all over the world,” he said, adding that China has already removed it. Indonesia has decided not to allow furnaces to be kept. But, the government of Nepal is heading in the opposite direction.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Sanitary Pad producer Dolraj Adhikari said the domestic industry is in a state of closure due to the taxation policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a 1.5 per cent tax on imports of the readymade pads. However, it takes 8 types of raw materials for producing such pads and the domestic industries have to pay an average of 8.5 percent tax for importing the raw materials,” he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policies made by policymakers and experts in the country are unfair and discriminatory.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessman Min Bahadur Gurung said the steel industry was in trouble because of the government policy. He said the billions of rupees invested in this sector and the jobs of thousands of people were at risk due to the government’s policy on tax for the current fiscal year and the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15290', 'image' => '20220703040719_1656802520.Clipboard16 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 16:06:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15547', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank is the Main Sponsor of Newbiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Organiser of the event, New Business Age Pvt Ltd, has signed an agreement with the main sponsor Prabhu Bank for organizing the event.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this event, a panel discussion among experts on the topic of management education will also be held.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Colleges across the country will be able to participate in the awards. According to the organisers, registration for the award is free and application is to be submitted online. The company has been organizing such awards since 2013.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the organizing company, this time the award will be given to the best business schools including one from each of the seven provinces. The organisers also informed that there will be a special arrangement to give awards to the community and government sector colleges as well. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the past, awards were given in various categories including the Best BBS College, Best MBS College, Best BBA College, Best MBA College, Best Public College, and Best Hotel Management College. The organizers stated that the award will be given in the same category in the upcoming edition, but the jury can make some modifications to it.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the fifth edition of the awards, Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) was declared the best college of the year. KUSOM also received the award for the best MBA and BBA colleges of the year. The participating colleges in this edition have been selected by an independent panel of experts considering the quality of the faculty, student exposure program and the market demand for the produced manpower.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">KUSOM has previously been the winner of Best Business School Award in 2013, 2014 and 2018 as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15289', 'image' => '20220703013108_1656821631.न्यूबिज बिजनेश स्कूल रेटिङ, र्_याङ्किङ एन्ड अवार्डस्–२०२२.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:30:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15546', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Many Nepalis Visiting Saudi Arabia for Employment get Duped', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: A study conducted by the People’s Forum for Human Rights, an organization that provides free legal aid to those who are in trouble during foreign employment, found that Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was prepared after studying the condition of about 3,000 victims who received legal aid from the organization in a 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the current fiscal year, 64 percent of the people who were duped in course of foreign employment filed complaints in Nepal itself, while 15.45 percent filed cases in Saudi Arabia and 10.45 percent in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study revealed that Nepali migrant workers visiting Malaysia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan for employment are also being cheated. The study report states that 48.21 percent of people were duped by agents and 51.79 percent people were duped by the manpower companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adviser to the People's Forum and Advocate Som Prasad Luintel said that fraud cases in the name of foreign employment has not improved much in recent times. He says that the number of people involved in cheating by sending people abroad on visit visas has increased considerably. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another advocate Sudip Devkota said that the problem of fraud cases increased after the government amended some laws in 2075 BS to make it illegal for manpower to hire agents. In addition, it is difficult to take action. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the People’s Forum, free legal aid has been provided to 26,145 people who were the victims of duping in foreign employment since 2011.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15288', 'image' => '20220703012154_1656823316.साउदी अरेबिया जाने धेरै नेपाली ठगीमा.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:20:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15545', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Dependency on Rice Increasing, Annual Import Reaches Rs 50 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. In fiscal year 2012-13, rice worth Rs 20 billion was imported in the country and the figure rose by 150 percent to reach Rs 50 billion in the first eleven months of the current fiscal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Customs, in the first eleven months of the current fiscal, rice, fragmented rice and husk powder worth Rs 50 billion were imported into the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal mainly imports rice from India, China, Vietnam, the United States of America and Thailand. </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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of fine and aromatic rice make up 70 percent in the import chart and high-class people and hotels are the users of these varieties of rice products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in the budget for the current fiscal year had announced to make the country self-sufficient on rice by the next five years. Though the government had planned to increase rice production through the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project since the fiscal year 2073-74 BS, it is yet to yield any positive result. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country during the fiscal year 2012-13 imported 454,503 metric tons of rice. According to government data, out of around 310,000 hectares of arable land in Nepal, paddy farming is possible on fifty percent of those land. The National Census of Agriculture 2011-12 conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that 100,000 hectares of land has remained unused in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Census is conducted in every 10 years in Nepal. The seventh agro census was conducted from April 19 and concluded on May 2 in the country this year. Hemraj Regmi, an official at the Central Bureau of Statistics, said it will still take seven months to make the results of the census public. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There isn’t any authentic detail about how much arable land have been turned into plotting, as well as eroded by river till the date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although every government since the past three fiscal years has been declaring to bring a strict law prohibiting people from keeping their land barren, it has not been implemented yet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The issue of increasing paddy production through land plotting of arable land, collective farming has been raised in every budget, but the implementation side is weak, said agronomist, Laba Prasad Tripathi. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of ten consecutive years, Nepal saw highest production of rice in the fiscal year 2020/21 at 5.621 million metric tonnes. Rice was planted across 1,473,478 hectares of land. But the same year Nepal imported rice worth Rs 45 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arable land and pocket areas for paddy cultivation have been continuously diminishing since the fiscal year 2003/04, the Ministry's data shows. Paddy cultivation done across 1,477,378 hectares land in 2003/04 shrunk to 82,058 hectares over 19 years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice worth around Rs 200 billion was imported from fiscal year 2015/16 to 2020/21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice, the staple crop of the country, is grown in around 1.5 million hectares of land and it requires around 6 million metric tonnes of rice annually to feed around 30 million population of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Experts emphasize cultivation of rice during spring (mid-March to mid-April), availability of fertilizers, seedlings and irrigation facilities for boosting rice production in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Agricultural Research Council's former senior scientist Dr Bhawa Prasad Tripathi viewed that Nepal could again gain self-sufficiency in rice within five years if the government takes into account a number of measures such as construction of big irrigation projects, plantation of monsoon season paddy crop on 400,000 hectares of land and to prevent fishery industries in the land suitable for rice production. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => 'Rice, import, dependency, production, paddy, agriculture', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15287', 'image' => '20220703121050_ricee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 12:09:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15544', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mustang’s Rural Municipality Announces Incentives to Promote Walnut Farming', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thasang Rural Municipality of Mustang district has initiated a programme to promote walnut farming. The rural municipality considers agriculture as main source of revenue. It has introduced an incentive scheme for the farmers by realizing the potential of walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has come up with the concept of creating “one ward, one agricultural hub” in addition to giving priority to walnut farming. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the rural municipality, Pradip Gauchan shared that priority has been given to walnut farming as the production cost is low and the outcome is good. He added that there is no problem of marketing and once planted, the produce can be harvested for years.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He informed that necessary programs and training for farmers involved in walnut farming has been included in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. According to him, farmers will be given lessons on planting and conservation of walnut while information related to technology will also be provided to them. In addition, the rural municipality has also allocated budget for irrigation facility, said Gauchan.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has adopted a policy of providing subsidy to the farmers on the basis of demand.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The walnut produced in Mustang costs between Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per kilogram. Traders have already started flocking to the orchards to look for produce in Thasang. The rural municipality introduced a program to promote walnut farming to link the farmers with income as bargaining takes place before the tree even bears fruit. In terms of climate, walnut cultivation is good in most of the wards of Thasang.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apples, potatoes, walnuts and other vegetables produced in the rural municipality are also exported abroad. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman Gauchan said, cultivation of barren land will be started next year in an effort to modernize the agricultural sector. The rural municipality has also announced promotion programmes related to animal husbandry in addition to fruits and vegetables.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has also adopted a policy to gradually reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in crops. Gauchan shared that the use of organic fertilizers and traditional home-made pesticides in apples, potatoes, beans, walnuts and other vegetables has been encouraged as the demand for organic products is increasing in the market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15286', 'image' => '20220701051846_1656629260.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 17:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15543', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Radisson Hotel Kathmandu Organizes CSR Activities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the hotel said it organized the “Let’s make impact together” campaign on 23rd of June and 28th of June by conducting various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the hotel, its team visited an old-age home named “Nishaya Sewa Sadan” located at Shantinagar, Kathmandu on June 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The hotel’s team reached the old age home with food and funds for the elderly people. When they reached the place, they were greeted and welcomed with a big bright smile by the senior citizens,” the statement added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">General Manager of Radisson Hotel Kathmandu, Subrata Banerjee, handed over the fund to the organization followed by the cake cutting ceremony. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement further said that the Radisson Hotel Kathmandu team members spent some quality time listening to their stories and taking some pictures with them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the hotel in collaboration with Red Cross Society organized a blood donation campaign on 28th June. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is a shortage of blood in the blood banks after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Therefore, the hotel decided to do a blood donation campaign looking at the current needs of society. Employees of the hotel were happy to participate in the campaign and contribute to helping in saving human lives.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Radisson Hotel Group claimed it is recognized globally for its responsible business practices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“For the same cause, Radisson Hotel Kathmandu has put up continuous effort by showing that they care about the lives of people outside the walls of their businesses by conducting numerous CSR activities every year. The company encourages and advocates for sharing resources with less fortunate ones to unite for common causes and believes that even small efforts can help make a difference,” added the statement.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15285', 'image' => '20220701044642_IMG_8512 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 16:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15542', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Continues Interim Order on Excavation of Stone, Sand and Pebbles ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of justices Kumar Regmi and Hari Prasad Phuyal on Thursday decided to continue the interim order asking the government to not implement its decision to revise the standard on excavation of stone, sand and pebbles and their sales and distribution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the latest version of the standard is yet to be fully implemented, the amendment in it has the strength to pose serious threat to the existence of the river system and the issues related to national life. It will cause irreparable loss, the court argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The amended standard on excavation would cause irreparable loss to human settlement, international border, heritages of cultural and religious importance, marshland, and educational and health institutions,” reads the order. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On behalf of Environment Law Society Nepal, advocate Padam Bahadur Shrestha had filed a writ petition against the amendment of the standard on excavation of sand, pebbles and stones. The defendants the case included the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He had argued that the amendment allowed excavation close to human settlement, forest area, and highway. --- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15284', 'image' => '20220701033256_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:32:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15541', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Nabil Bank Completes One Year of Sustainable Banking', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. The bank had started the campaign with the objective of providing financial access to rural areas and ensuring financial literacy.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank informed that it will celebrate this achievement by organizing “Nabil Green Week”. The bank claimed that one year of sustainable banking has been satisfactory. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A statement issued by the bank said, “We claim that Nabil Sustainable Banking has been established as an innovative approach not only in Nabil Bank but in the entire banking sector of 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank had started sustainable banking by investing in hydropower, providing soft loans and working in the social and environmental sectors. On the occasion of Nabil Sustainable Banking's anniversary and National Paddy Day, the bank started celebrating “Nabil Green Week” from Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15283', 'image' => '20220701032746_Kishan-Karja_600x600.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:27:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15540', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flour Mills of Nepal in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. Before India imposed a ban on wheat exports, ready-made flour did not enter Nepal through the green channel of customs.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India banned exports of wheat in the last week of April saying wheat production had fallen short of its target. Nevertheless, India has been exporting wheat to Fiji. India has said it can provide certain amount of wheat to its neighboring countries as per the requirement. However, 36 flour mills of Nepal are in crisis as Nepal has not taken diplomatic initiative to bring wheat from India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, import of wheat to Nepal has come to a halt after India imposed a ban on wheat export. He said that the import of flour has started instead. Last May, 80 metric tonnes of wheat flour worth Rs 3.148 million was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to spokesperson Dhungana, after India's ban on wheat exports, the biscuit and noodle industries of Nepal have started ordering wheat flour. In June, more wheat flour was imported than in May.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The import of wheat flour started after the Government of Nepal did not show any interest to take up this issue with the Government of India. This has put the flour mills of Nepal at risk. Altogether 36 flour mills of the country produce 650,000 tonnes of flour annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Biratnagar Customs, about 100,000 quintals of wheat worth Rs 327.79 million was imported through this checkpoint in the first ten months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Radheshyam Agrawal, general secretary of the Flour Producers' Association, said that the industry could not even bear the cost as the flour from India was cheaper than the locally produced flour. He said, "The flour mills here are on the verge of closure."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Import duty on wheat is 5 percent. When importing flour, 10 percent customs duty has to be paid. However, Indian flour is cheaper than local produce. The annual production capacity of the domestic flour industry is 1.6 million metric tons. However, due to shortage of wheat, they have been producing only 650,000 tons annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Agrawal said that there is no situation of production this time after India banned export of wheat but allowed export of flour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, the country has about one million tonnes of domestically produced wheat. It is enough for the 36 industries for a maximum of one month. Agarwal said that all the flour industries would be shut down after they run out of stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bikas Vegwani, vice-president of the Morang Trade Association and operator of Vishal Maida Mills, said that there was no alternative to shutting down the local flour mills as India kept the flour exports open by banning wheat exports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier, when India banned the export of wheat, it had still provided wheat to Nepal and its neighbors through the quota system. Russia-Ukraine tensions have reduced global wheat and grain supplies. Harivansh Rathi, the operator of Gaumati Foods, said if the government did not facilitate wheat import by holding talks with the Indian government, there would be a big shortage in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15282', 'image' => '20220701024459_All-about-grain-flours-resized.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 14:44:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15539', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Non-life Insurance Companies Make Significant Improvement in Business', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. The result is clearly evident from the data provided by the Insurance Board.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">During a nine-month period between July 2021 to May 2022, altogether twenty non-life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 34.15 billion in insurance premiums. This is Rs 7.63 billion more than the collection of insurance premium in the corresponding period of the previous year, which stood at Rs 26.52 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Till last year, the growth rate of non-life insurance business was low. In previous years, the non-life insurance business could barely grow by 10 percent. However, encouraging progress is seen in the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the Insurance Board Rajuraman Poudel said that the growth rate of non-life insurance business has been better than the previous years. He said that the business growth rate in the past was not so satisfactory but now it is encouraging.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shikhar Insurance is in the forefront in collecting premiums. The company has collected insurance premiums of Rs 4.40 billion during the period. Everest Insurance secured the second place by collecting insurance premiums of Rs 2.79 billion. Neco Insurance, which is in the third place, collected Rs 2.61 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Lately, there has been a surge in the micro insurance business. In addition, the number of insurers is also on the rise. Term policies are also being considered in non-life insurance category. Apart from this, various development works are being conducted lately. Chunky Chhetry, president of the Non-Life Insurance Association and chief Executive Officer of Sagarmatha Insurance states that all these factors boosted the business of non-life insurance companies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15281', 'image' => '20220701013922_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:38:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15538', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minimum Interest Rate of Microfinance Companies Reaches Upper Limit at 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent. Stating that the cost has gone up due to the liquidity crisis in the market, the microfinance companies have raised the interest rate to the maximum limit set by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB has set a limit that microfinance cannot charge more than 15 per cent interest since last year. With the rise of interest rates of banks and financial institutions, microfinance companies have increased the minimum interest rate to the upper limit.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A report on interest rates of microfinance companies published by NRB states that the interest rate of 35 out of 61 microfinance companies has reached 15 per cent. Apart from this, the minimum interest rate of most of the microfinances is above 10 per cent.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been disbursing loans to the poor through microfinance companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers' Association, Prakash Raj Sharma, said that it was difficult to work within the limits set by the NRB as the interest rate of the banks itself has increased to 15 per cent. "Right now, the interest rate on bank loans has reached 15 per cent," he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that capital should be available to microfinance institutions at cheap interest rates, the association has submitted a demand letter to the NRB to make arrangements to add only a per cent premium to the base rate when giving loans to banks and financial institutions to the poor.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the NRB, there are currently 65 microfinance companies operating in the country with four of them providing wholesale loans and 61 giving out loans in retail. These organizations have formed 1.329 million groups and provided financial services to 57.72 million people. Loans and borrowings of microfinance institutions increased by 23.53 per cent compared to July 2021 and reached Rs 392.05 billion in mid-April 2022.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">About half of the total loans disbursed by the microfinance companies have flowed into the agriculture sector. Out of the total loan disbursed by microfinance companies, 46.02 per cent has gone to the agriculture sector till April 2022. The share of the credit of this sector was 44.82 per cent in July 2021.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, microfinance companies have disbursed 3.41 per cent in cottage and small-scale industries and 30.89 per cent in the service sector.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investment of microfinance companies has declined due to a lack of liquidity in the banking system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15280', 'image' => '20220701012715_interest-rates-e1541025967190.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:26:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15537', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Turns 65 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'uly 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65. NAC was established on July 1, 1958 following the enactment of Nepal Airlines Corporation Act 2019 BS. The main objective was to provide air transport service at home and abroad.</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"">NAC, which commenced its service with Douglas DC and Dakota having 25-seat capacity, is now providing service through wide-body and narrow-body aircraft (Airbus A 330-200). </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"">At present, NAC has been operating two-way international flights from Kathmandu to New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai (India), Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Narita (Japan), Doha (Qatar), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). </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""> Likewise, it has been providing domestic flight services to the airports in remote areas. </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"">NAC Spokesperson Archana Khadka shared that the NAC is organizing various programmes to mark its establishment day. </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"">Issuing a public notice on NAC’s 65th anniversary, newly appointed General Manager of the state-owned airline company Captain Deepu Raj Jwarchan said that the NAC will rise from the past failures and scale new heights. </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"">He said that the NAC will strive to maintain its credibility by operating flights regularly and safely.</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"">Jwarchan said that the NAC plans to add new aircraft to its fleet after expanding its market and destinations. NAC has long-term plans of expanding its flights to Seoul, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Colombo, Ahmedabad, Jakarta, Frankfurt and Australia, reads the notice issued by Jwarchan. </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"">He further said that the NAC has currently formed short-term and long-term plans and is working accordingly to implementing them. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15279', 'image' => '20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 12:09:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15536', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ukraine Crisis has Posed Additional Challenges to Nepal’s Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the oath taking ceremony of Nepal Chartered Accountants' Association on Wednesday, Adhikari said that the impact of Russia Ukraine war has been felt in Nepal as well. This has added new challenges to the economy, said Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The central bank's governor said that the world economy itself was facing crisis and Nepal could not be an exception. As a result, economies aross the world have been facing the problem of inflation. In such situation, Governor Adhikari urged stakeholders of all sectors to work together to improve the country's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further said that the role of chartered accountants is vital for the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the function, newly elected chairman of the Chartered Accountants’ Association Deepak Pandey said that the association was ready to help the central bank with any kind of problem related to the economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => 'economy, challenge, Nepal, Ukraine, pandemic, Covid-19, inflation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15278', 'image' => '20220701110810_maha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 11:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15535', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Most of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area', 'sub_title' => 'Madhes chapter of FNCCI passes Janakpur Declaration', 'summary' => 'ost of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. The assembly passed a proposal to establish industrial zones in at least three places for industrialization of Madhesh Pradesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, most of the industrial establishments are concentrated in the Pathalaiya area of Birgunj and it is becoming difficult to get land for new industries in the corridor.Chairman of the Madhes Province chapter of FNCCI Ganesh Prasad Lath informed that the federation has also passed a proposal to take initiative for the participation of the private sector in the production and management of solar energy and expansion of transmission line in the state. Proposals have been passed to extend the Jayanagar-Janakpur railway from Bardibas to Pathalaiya, set up a revenue tribunal, set up a polytechnic institute to produce skilled workers, speed up the construction of the Postal Highway, solve the problems faced by Indian tourists when they bring Indian currency, set up an agricultural market and build a hospital for the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the General Assembly, FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha said that the country head towards the path of Sri Lanka if a solution is not found in time as the country's economy is in serious trouble. He said the economy was in serious trouble due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and rising tensions over Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Golchha claimed that the government's target of 8 percent economic growth through the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) was not attainable. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Claiming that the federation has always been active involved to uplift the private sector and the country's economy, Golchha said that most of the entrepreneurs were satisfied with the role of the federation. Former FNCCI President Chandiraj Dhakal claimed that the policy taken by the government through the upcoming budget would bring down domestic production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">FNCCI Vice President Dinesh Shrestha said that the government’s claim to increase production for import substitution did not have any basis. According to Shrestha, the budget provision brought by the finance minister for the upcoming fiscal year has discouraged production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another FNCCI vice-president Anjan Shrestha said the government's policy was not investment-friendly. He said there should be a clear and long-term policy for investment. He argued that security of investment should be the first pre-condition. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kishor Pradhan, former vice-president of the federation, said that the FNCCI has not been able to play an effective role as per the expectation of the business community. According to Pradhan, the FNCCI leadership was not serious about the deteriorating economic situation of the country. “While the federation is welcoming the budget at the center, there are protests in the districts. The need for a federation is under questioned. This is unfortunate," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ashok Kumar Temani, former president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of the Nepal-India Socioeconomic Forum, claimed that the government had increased the pressure of tax on the private sector by increasing the size of the budget in the face of economic crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-30', 'modified' => '2022-06-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15277', 'image' => '20220630081143_1656563322.FNCCI Madhesh 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-30 20:10:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $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' => '15549', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Petrol-powered Two-Wheelers can be Converted into EVs in Three Hours', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours. If those who want to convert their two-wheelers into electric vehicles, one can visit the office of Sundar Auto Engineering in Dhumbarahi with the bill book and vehicle. The company will convert it to electric vehicle within three hours after completing necessary processes of documentation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The company has said that it is preparing to launch a nationwide campaign to convert petroleum-powered bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company says that the number of customers coming to convert bikes and scooters into electric vehicle is increasing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We have started converting bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours for immediate service at affordable prices," said Bhesh Bahadur Thapa, chairman of Sundar Auto Engineering. According to him, in the case of scooters and bikes, only Hero brand is being converted into electric-powered vehicles for the time being. He informed that the work of converting the bikes of other companies will be started soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Traveling 20-25 km on petrol-powered bikes and scooters costs 1 liter of fuel, which currently has a market price of Rs 179," Thapa said. According to the company, around Rs 171 will be saved for every 20 to 25 km journey using electric vehicle.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The campaign, aimed at reducing the use of petroleum products, has already started in Kathmandu and Butwal and will soon be extended to Dhalkebar and Narayangarh, the company said. According to the company, it costs up to Rs 100,000 to convert bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company has been converting 10 to 15 two-wheelers into electric vehicles daily. So far, more than 2,000 have been converted to electric vehicles, the company said. Chairman Thapa also said that new orders for 823 vehicles have arrived. He informed that four-wheelers will be converted into electric vehicles soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had published a notice in the Nepal Gazette last April, paving the way for the legalizing conversion of vehicles running on petroleum products. To prepare the technical manpower for this, Sundar Auto has been conducting free training in collaboration with the government and various organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15291', 'image' => '20220703054024_1656824368.Scootor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 17:39:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15548', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rod Industries Running at 3 Percent Capacity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policies. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Industries producing iron rods from billets have failed to operate in full capacity after the government introduced a policy of taxation on billets and tax exemption on sponge iron through the replacement budget of the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Steel operator Kiran Sakha said that the industries that produced iron rods from billet have operated at just 3 per cent of the full capacity. The government had introduced a policy of taxing billets to protect the industries that produce billet from sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policy has hit 20 industries that make iron rods from billet.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We opposed it for nine months. But, the government did not address it in the upcoming budget. Our industries will collapse if this policy gets continuity,” he said during an event organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Association (Nafiz). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A parliamentary committee has instructed the government to maintain the rate before the replacement bill. The committee might conduct a hearing,” he added.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He also said that the businessman are frustrated and have now come to the point of committing suicide.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the event, Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), argued that the policy adopted by the government through the current year's replacement budget does not even benefit the consumers. He shared that revenue from the rod industry has fallen by Rs 8 billion because of the government's policy - and even the price of the iron rod has been affected.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The price of iron rods was Rs 70 per kg before the replacement bill came in. It has now increased to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the government has little to do with losing revenue because of the government's policy of tax exemptions on sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">similarly, Manak Sharda said the policy taken by the government had led to a situation where domestic production could not compete with imported goods. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The upcoming budget has provision of 10 per cent customs duty and Rs 4.50 excise duty on a kilogram of wire rod. It was previously 5 per cent customs duty and Rs 2.25 excise duty.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, India has imposed a 15 per cent export duty for the export of raw materials of GI Wire. However, readymade GI Wire from India is imported to Nepal at 17 per cent customs duty. This makes it difficult for goods produced in Nepal to compete with imported goods, said Sharda.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Jyoti Baniya, president of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum, said industrialists and businessmen were responsible for this. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“It's the industrialists and businessmen who ruined the system. Previously, who were in touch with powerful politicians had their say. Now, it is the ones who are in touch with the power centers enjoying the new provisions.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though many countries in the world have stopped producing rods from sponge iron, Nepal is heading backwards, says Baniya.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The induction furnace has been removed from all over the world,” he said, adding that China has already removed it. Indonesia has decided not to allow furnaces to be kept. But, the government of Nepal is heading in the opposite direction.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Sanitary Pad producer Dolraj Adhikari said the domestic industry is in a state of closure due to the taxation policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a 1.5 per cent tax on imports of the readymade pads. However, it takes 8 types of raw materials for producing such pads and the domestic industries have to pay an average of 8.5 percent tax for importing the raw materials,” he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policies made by policymakers and experts in the country are unfair and discriminatory.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessman Min Bahadur Gurung said the steel industry was in trouble because of the government policy. He said the billions of rupees invested in this sector and the jobs of thousands of people were at risk due to the government’s policy on tax for the current fiscal year and the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15290', 'image' => '20220703040719_1656802520.Clipboard16 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 16:06:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15547', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank is the Main Sponsor of Newbiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Organiser of the event, New Business Age Pvt Ltd, has signed an agreement with the main sponsor Prabhu Bank for organizing the event.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this event, a panel discussion among experts on the topic of management education will also be held.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Colleges across the country will be able to participate in the awards. According to the organisers, registration for the award is free and application is to be submitted online. The company has been organizing such awards since 2013.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the organizing company, this time the award will be given to the best business schools including one from each of the seven provinces. The organisers also informed that there will be a special arrangement to give awards to the community and government sector colleges as well. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the past, awards were given in various categories including the Best BBS College, Best MBS College, Best BBA College, Best MBA College, Best Public College, and Best Hotel Management College. The organizers stated that the award will be given in the same category in the upcoming edition, but the jury can make some modifications to it.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the fifth edition of the awards, Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) was declared the best college of the year. KUSOM also received the award for the best MBA and BBA colleges of the year. The participating colleges in this edition have been selected by an independent panel of experts considering the quality of the faculty, student exposure program and the market demand for the produced manpower.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">KUSOM has previously been the winner of Best Business School Award in 2013, 2014 and 2018 as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15289', 'image' => '20220703013108_1656821631.न्यूबिज बिजनेश स्कूल रेटिङ, र्_याङ्किङ एन्ड अवार्डस्–२०२२.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:30:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15546', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Many Nepalis Visiting Saudi Arabia for Employment get Duped', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: A study conducted by the People’s Forum for Human Rights, an organization that provides free legal aid to those who are in trouble during foreign employment, found that Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was prepared after studying the condition of about 3,000 victims who received legal aid from the organization in a 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the current fiscal year, 64 percent of the people who were duped in course of foreign employment filed complaints in Nepal itself, while 15.45 percent filed cases in Saudi Arabia and 10.45 percent in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study revealed that Nepali migrant workers visiting Malaysia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan for employment are also being cheated. The study report states that 48.21 percent of people were duped by agents and 51.79 percent people were duped by the manpower companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adviser to the People's Forum and Advocate Som Prasad Luintel said that fraud cases in the name of foreign employment has not improved much in recent times. He says that the number of people involved in cheating by sending people abroad on visit visas has increased considerably. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another advocate Sudip Devkota said that the problem of fraud cases increased after the government amended some laws in 2075 BS to make it illegal for manpower to hire agents. In addition, it is difficult to take action. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the People’s Forum, free legal aid has been provided to 26,145 people who were the victims of duping in foreign employment since 2011.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15288', 'image' => '20220703012154_1656823316.साउदी अरेबिया जाने धेरै नेपाली ठगीमा.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:20:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15545', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Dependency on Rice Increasing, Annual Import Reaches Rs 50 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. In fiscal year 2012-13, rice worth Rs 20 billion was imported in the country and the figure rose by 150 percent to reach Rs 50 billion in the first eleven months of the current fiscal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Customs, in the first eleven months of the current fiscal, rice, fragmented rice and husk powder worth Rs 50 billion were imported into the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal mainly imports rice from India, China, Vietnam, the United States of America and Thailand. </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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of fine and aromatic rice make up 70 percent in the import chart and high-class people and hotels are the users of these varieties of rice products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in the budget for the current fiscal year had announced to make the country self-sufficient on rice by the next five years. Though the government had planned to increase rice production through the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project since the fiscal year 2073-74 BS, it is yet to yield any positive result. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country during the fiscal year 2012-13 imported 454,503 metric tons of rice. According to government data, out of around 310,000 hectares of arable land in Nepal, paddy farming is possible on fifty percent of those land. The National Census of Agriculture 2011-12 conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that 100,000 hectares of land has remained unused in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Census is conducted in every 10 years in Nepal. The seventh agro census was conducted from April 19 and concluded on May 2 in the country this year. Hemraj Regmi, an official at the Central Bureau of Statistics, said it will still take seven months to make the results of the census public. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There isn’t any authentic detail about how much arable land have been turned into plotting, as well as eroded by river till the date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although every government since the past three fiscal years has been declaring to bring a strict law prohibiting people from keeping their land barren, it has not been implemented yet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The issue of increasing paddy production through land plotting of arable land, collective farming has been raised in every budget, but the implementation side is weak, said agronomist, Laba Prasad Tripathi. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of ten consecutive years, Nepal saw highest production of rice in the fiscal year 2020/21 at 5.621 million metric tonnes. Rice was planted across 1,473,478 hectares of land. But the same year Nepal imported rice worth Rs 45 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arable land and pocket areas for paddy cultivation have been continuously diminishing since the fiscal year 2003/04, the Ministry's data shows. Paddy cultivation done across 1,477,378 hectares land in 2003/04 shrunk to 82,058 hectares over 19 years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice worth around Rs 200 billion was imported from fiscal year 2015/16 to 2020/21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice, the staple crop of the country, is grown in around 1.5 million hectares of land and it requires around 6 million metric tonnes of rice annually to feed around 30 million population of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Experts emphasize cultivation of rice during spring (mid-March to mid-April), availability of fertilizers, seedlings and irrigation facilities for boosting rice production in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Agricultural Research Council's former senior scientist Dr Bhawa Prasad Tripathi viewed that Nepal could again gain self-sufficiency in rice within five years if the government takes into account a number of measures such as construction of big irrigation projects, plantation of monsoon season paddy crop on 400,000 hectares of land and to prevent fishery industries in the land suitable for rice production. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => 'Rice, import, dependency, production, paddy, agriculture', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15287', 'image' => '20220703121050_ricee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 12:09:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15544', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mustang’s Rural Municipality Announces Incentives to Promote Walnut Farming', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thasang Rural Municipality of Mustang district has initiated a programme to promote walnut farming. The rural municipality considers agriculture as main source of revenue. It has introduced an incentive scheme for the farmers by realizing the potential of walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has come up with the concept of creating “one ward, one agricultural hub” in addition to giving priority to walnut farming. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the rural municipality, Pradip Gauchan shared that priority has been given to walnut farming as the production cost is low and the outcome is good. He added that there is no problem of marketing and once planted, the produce can be harvested for years.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He informed that necessary programs and training for farmers involved in walnut farming has been included in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. According to him, farmers will be given lessons on planting and conservation of walnut while information related to technology will also be provided to them. In addition, the rural municipality has also allocated budget for irrigation facility, said Gauchan.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has adopted a policy of providing subsidy to the farmers on the basis of demand.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The walnut produced in Mustang costs between Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per kilogram. Traders have already started flocking to the orchards to look for produce in Thasang. The rural municipality introduced a program to promote walnut farming to link the farmers with income as bargaining takes place before the tree even bears fruit. In terms of climate, walnut cultivation is good in most of the wards of Thasang.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apples, potatoes, walnuts and other vegetables produced in the rural municipality are also exported abroad. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman Gauchan said, cultivation of barren land will be started next year in an effort to modernize the agricultural sector. The rural municipality has also announced promotion programmes related to animal husbandry in addition to fruits and vegetables.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has also adopted a policy to gradually reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in crops. Gauchan shared that the use of organic fertilizers and traditional home-made pesticides in apples, potatoes, beans, walnuts and other vegetables has been encouraged as the demand for organic products is increasing in the market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15286', 'image' => '20220701051846_1656629260.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 17:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15543', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Radisson Hotel Kathmandu Organizes CSR Activities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the hotel said it organized the “Let’s make impact together” campaign on 23rd of June and 28th of June by conducting various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the hotel, its team visited an old-age home named “Nishaya Sewa Sadan” located at Shantinagar, Kathmandu on June 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The hotel’s team reached the old age home with food and funds for the elderly people. When they reached the place, they were greeted and welcomed with a big bright smile by the senior citizens,” the statement added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">General Manager of Radisson Hotel Kathmandu, Subrata Banerjee, handed over the fund to the organization followed by the cake cutting ceremony. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement further said that the Radisson Hotel Kathmandu team members spent some quality time listening to their stories and taking some pictures with them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the hotel in collaboration with Red Cross Society organized a blood donation campaign on 28th June. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is a shortage of blood in the blood banks after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Therefore, the hotel decided to do a blood donation campaign looking at the current needs of society. Employees of the hotel were happy to participate in the campaign and contribute to helping in saving human lives.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Radisson Hotel Group claimed it is recognized globally for its responsible business practices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“For the same cause, Radisson Hotel Kathmandu has put up continuous effort by showing that they care about the lives of people outside the walls of their businesses by conducting numerous CSR activities every year. The company encourages and advocates for sharing resources with less fortunate ones to unite for common causes and believes that even small efforts can help make a difference,” added the statement.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15285', 'image' => '20220701044642_IMG_8512 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 16:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15542', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Continues Interim Order on Excavation of Stone, Sand and Pebbles ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of justices Kumar Regmi and Hari Prasad Phuyal on Thursday decided to continue the interim order asking the government to not implement its decision to revise the standard on excavation of stone, sand and pebbles and their sales and distribution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the latest version of the standard is yet to be fully implemented, the amendment in it has the strength to pose serious threat to the existence of the river system and the issues related to national life. It will cause irreparable loss, the court argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The amended standard on excavation would cause irreparable loss to human settlement, international border, heritages of cultural and religious importance, marshland, and educational and health institutions,” reads the order. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On behalf of Environment Law Society Nepal, advocate Padam Bahadur Shrestha had filed a writ petition against the amendment of the standard on excavation of sand, pebbles and stones. The defendants the case included the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He had argued that the amendment allowed excavation close to human settlement, forest area, and highway. --- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15284', 'image' => '20220701033256_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:32:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15541', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Nabil Bank Completes One Year of Sustainable Banking', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. The bank had started the campaign with the objective of providing financial access to rural areas and ensuring financial literacy.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank informed that it will celebrate this achievement by organizing “Nabil Green Week”. The bank claimed that one year of sustainable banking has been satisfactory. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A statement issued by the bank said, “We claim that Nabil Sustainable Banking has been established as an innovative approach not only in Nabil Bank but in the entire banking sector of 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank had started sustainable banking by investing in hydropower, providing soft loans and working in the social and environmental sectors. On the occasion of Nabil Sustainable Banking's anniversary and National Paddy Day, the bank started celebrating “Nabil Green Week” from Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15283', 'image' => '20220701032746_Kishan-Karja_600x600.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:27:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15540', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flour Mills of Nepal in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. Before India imposed a ban on wheat exports, ready-made flour did not enter Nepal through the green channel of customs.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India banned exports of wheat in the last week of April saying wheat production had fallen short of its target. Nevertheless, India has been exporting wheat to Fiji. India has said it can provide certain amount of wheat to its neighboring countries as per the requirement. However, 36 flour mills of Nepal are in crisis as Nepal has not taken diplomatic initiative to bring wheat from India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, import of wheat to Nepal has come to a halt after India imposed a ban on wheat export. He said that the import of flour has started instead. Last May, 80 metric tonnes of wheat flour worth Rs 3.148 million was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to spokesperson Dhungana, after India's ban on wheat exports, the biscuit and noodle industries of Nepal have started ordering wheat flour. In June, more wheat flour was imported than in May.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The import of wheat flour started after the Government of Nepal did not show any interest to take up this issue with the Government of India. This has put the flour mills of Nepal at risk. Altogether 36 flour mills of the country produce 650,000 tonnes of flour annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Biratnagar Customs, about 100,000 quintals of wheat worth Rs 327.79 million was imported through this checkpoint in the first ten months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Radheshyam Agrawal, general secretary of the Flour Producers' Association, said that the industry could not even bear the cost as the flour from India was cheaper than the locally produced flour. He said, "The flour mills here are on the verge of closure."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Import duty on wheat is 5 percent. When importing flour, 10 percent customs duty has to be paid. However, Indian flour is cheaper than local produce. The annual production capacity of the domestic flour industry is 1.6 million metric tons. However, due to shortage of wheat, they have been producing only 650,000 tons annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Agrawal said that there is no situation of production this time after India banned export of wheat but allowed export of flour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, the country has about one million tonnes of domestically produced wheat. It is enough for the 36 industries for a maximum of one month. Agarwal said that all the flour industries would be shut down after they run out of stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bikas Vegwani, vice-president of the Morang Trade Association and operator of Vishal Maida Mills, said that there was no alternative to shutting down the local flour mills as India kept the flour exports open by banning wheat exports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier, when India banned the export of wheat, it had still provided wheat to Nepal and its neighbors through the quota system. Russia-Ukraine tensions have reduced global wheat and grain supplies. Harivansh Rathi, the operator of Gaumati Foods, said if the government did not facilitate wheat import by holding talks with the Indian government, there would be a big shortage in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15282', 'image' => '20220701024459_All-about-grain-flours-resized.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 14:44:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15539', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Non-life Insurance Companies Make Significant Improvement in Business', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. The result is clearly evident from the data provided by the Insurance Board.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">During a nine-month period between July 2021 to May 2022, altogether twenty non-life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 34.15 billion in insurance premiums. This is Rs 7.63 billion more than the collection of insurance premium in the corresponding period of the previous year, which stood at Rs 26.52 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Till last year, the growth rate of non-life insurance business was low. In previous years, the non-life insurance business could barely grow by 10 percent. However, encouraging progress is seen in the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the Insurance Board Rajuraman Poudel said that the growth rate of non-life insurance business has been better than the previous years. He said that the business growth rate in the past was not so satisfactory but now it is encouraging.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shikhar Insurance is in the forefront in collecting premiums. The company has collected insurance premiums of Rs 4.40 billion during the period. Everest Insurance secured the second place by collecting insurance premiums of Rs 2.79 billion. Neco Insurance, which is in the third place, collected Rs 2.61 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Lately, there has been a surge in the micro insurance business. In addition, the number of insurers is also on the rise. Term policies are also being considered in non-life insurance category. Apart from this, various development works are being conducted lately. Chunky Chhetry, president of the Non-Life Insurance Association and chief Executive Officer of Sagarmatha Insurance states that all these factors boosted the business of non-life insurance companies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15281', 'image' => '20220701013922_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:38:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15538', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minimum Interest Rate of Microfinance Companies Reaches Upper Limit at 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent. Stating that the cost has gone up due to the liquidity crisis in the market, the microfinance companies have raised the interest rate to the maximum limit set by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB has set a limit that microfinance cannot charge more than 15 per cent interest since last year. With the rise of interest rates of banks and financial institutions, microfinance companies have increased the minimum interest rate to the upper limit.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A report on interest rates of microfinance companies published by NRB states that the interest rate of 35 out of 61 microfinance companies has reached 15 per cent. Apart from this, the minimum interest rate of most of the microfinances is above 10 per cent.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been disbursing loans to the poor through microfinance companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers' Association, Prakash Raj Sharma, said that it was difficult to work within the limits set by the NRB as the interest rate of the banks itself has increased to 15 per cent. "Right now, the interest rate on bank loans has reached 15 per cent," he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that capital should be available to microfinance institutions at cheap interest rates, the association has submitted a demand letter to the NRB to make arrangements to add only a per cent premium to the base rate when giving loans to banks and financial institutions to the poor.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the NRB, there are currently 65 microfinance companies operating in the country with four of them providing wholesale loans and 61 giving out loans in retail. These organizations have formed 1.329 million groups and provided financial services to 57.72 million people. Loans and borrowings of microfinance institutions increased by 23.53 per cent compared to July 2021 and reached Rs 392.05 billion in mid-April 2022.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">About half of the total loans disbursed by the microfinance companies have flowed into the agriculture sector. Out of the total loan disbursed by microfinance companies, 46.02 per cent has gone to the agriculture sector till April 2022. The share of the credit of this sector was 44.82 per cent in July 2021.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, microfinance companies have disbursed 3.41 per cent in cottage and small-scale industries and 30.89 per cent in the service sector.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investment of microfinance companies has declined due to a lack of liquidity in the banking system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15280', 'image' => '20220701012715_interest-rates-e1541025967190.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:26:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15537', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Turns 65 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'uly 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65. NAC was established on July 1, 1958 following the enactment of Nepal Airlines Corporation Act 2019 BS. The main objective was to provide air transport service at home and abroad.</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"">NAC, which commenced its service with Douglas DC and Dakota having 25-seat capacity, is now providing service through wide-body and narrow-body aircraft (Airbus A 330-200). </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"">At present, NAC has been operating two-way international flights from Kathmandu to New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai (India), Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Narita (Japan), Doha (Qatar), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). </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""> Likewise, it has been providing domestic flight services to the airports in remote areas. </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"">NAC Spokesperson Archana Khadka shared that the NAC is organizing various programmes to mark its establishment day. </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"">Issuing a public notice on NAC’s 65th anniversary, newly appointed General Manager of the state-owned airline company Captain Deepu Raj Jwarchan said that the NAC will rise from the past failures and scale new heights. </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"">He said that the NAC will strive to maintain its credibility by operating flights regularly and safely.</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"">Jwarchan said that the NAC plans to add new aircraft to its fleet after expanding its market and destinations. NAC has long-term plans of expanding its flights to Seoul, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Colombo, Ahmedabad, Jakarta, Frankfurt and Australia, reads the notice issued by Jwarchan. </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"">He further said that the NAC has currently formed short-term and long-term plans and is working accordingly to implementing them. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15279', 'image' => '20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 12:09:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15536', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ukraine Crisis has Posed Additional Challenges to Nepal’s Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the oath taking ceremony of Nepal Chartered Accountants' Association on Wednesday, Adhikari said that the impact of Russia Ukraine war has been felt in Nepal as well. This has added new challenges to the economy, said Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The central bank's governor said that the world economy itself was facing crisis and Nepal could not be an exception. As a result, economies aross the world have been facing the problem of inflation. In such situation, Governor Adhikari urged stakeholders of all sectors to work together to improve the country's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further said that the role of chartered accountants is vital for the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the function, newly elected chairman of the Chartered Accountants’ Association Deepak Pandey said that the association was ready to help the central bank with any kind of problem related to the economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => 'economy, challenge, Nepal, Ukraine, pandemic, Covid-19, inflation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15278', 'image' => '20220701110810_maha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 11:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15535', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Most of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area', 'sub_title' => 'Madhes chapter of FNCCI passes Janakpur Declaration', 'summary' => 'ost of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. The assembly passed a proposal to establish industrial zones in at least three places for industrialization of Madhesh Pradesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, most of the industrial establishments are concentrated in the Pathalaiya area of Birgunj and it is becoming difficult to get land for new industries in the corridor.Chairman of the Madhes Province chapter of FNCCI Ganesh Prasad Lath informed that the federation has also passed a proposal to take initiative for the participation of the private sector in the production and management of solar energy and expansion of transmission line in the state. Proposals have been passed to extend the Jayanagar-Janakpur railway from Bardibas to Pathalaiya, set up a revenue tribunal, set up a polytechnic institute to produce skilled workers, speed up the construction of the Postal Highway, solve the problems faced by Indian tourists when they bring Indian currency, set up an agricultural market and build a hospital for the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the General Assembly, FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha said that the country head towards the path of Sri Lanka if a solution is not found in time as the country's economy is in serious trouble. He said the economy was in serious trouble due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and rising tensions over Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Golchha claimed that the government's target of 8 percent economic growth through the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) was not attainable. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Claiming that the federation has always been active involved to uplift the private sector and the country's economy, Golchha said that most of the entrepreneurs were satisfied with the role of the federation. Former FNCCI President Chandiraj Dhakal claimed that the policy taken by the government through the upcoming budget would bring down domestic production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">FNCCI Vice President Dinesh Shrestha said that the government’s claim to increase production for import substitution did not have any basis. According to Shrestha, the budget provision brought by the finance minister for the upcoming fiscal year has discouraged production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another FNCCI vice-president Anjan Shrestha said the government's policy was not investment-friendly. He said there should be a clear and long-term policy for investment. He argued that security of investment should be the first pre-condition. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kishor Pradhan, former vice-president of the federation, said that the FNCCI has not been able to play an effective role as per the expectation of the business community. According to Pradhan, the FNCCI leadership was not serious about the deteriorating economic situation of the country. “While the federation is welcoming the budget at the center, there are protests in the districts. The need for a federation is under questioned. This is unfortunate," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ashok Kumar Temani, former president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of the Nepal-India Socioeconomic Forum, claimed that the government had increased the pressure of tax on the private sector by increasing the size of the budget in the face of economic crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-30', 'modified' => '2022-06-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15277', 'image' => '20220630081143_1656563322.FNCCI Madhesh 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-30 20:10:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $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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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Sundar Auto Engineering Pvt Ltd, run by Sundar Transport Pvt Ltd, has started converting petrol-powered bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours. If those who want to convert their two-wheelers into electric vehicles, one can visit the office of Sundar Auto Engineering in Dhumbarahi with the bill book and vehicle. The company will convert it to electric vehicle within three hours after completing necessary processes of documentation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The company has said that it is preparing to launch a nationwide campaign to convert petroleum-powered bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company says that the number of customers coming to convert bikes and scooters into electric vehicle is increasing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We have started converting bikes and scooters into electric vehicles within three hours for immediate service at affordable prices," said Bhesh Bahadur Thapa, chairman of Sundar Auto Engineering. According to him, in the case of scooters and bikes, only Hero brand is being converted into electric-powered vehicles for the time being. He informed that the work of converting the bikes of other companies will be started soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"Traveling 20-25 km on petrol-powered bikes and scooters costs 1 liter of fuel, which currently has a market price of Rs 179," Thapa said. According to the company, around Rs 171 will be saved for every 20 to 25 km journey using electric vehicle.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The campaign, aimed at reducing the use of petroleum products, has already started in Kathmandu and Butwal and will soon be extended to Dhalkebar and Narayangarh, the company said. According to the company, it costs up to Rs 100,000 to convert bikes and scooters into electric ones. The company has been converting 10 to 15 two-wheelers into electric vehicles daily. So far, more than 2,000 have been converted to electric vehicles, the company said. Chairman Thapa also said that new orders for 823 vehicles have arrived. He informed that four-wheelers will be converted into electric vehicles soon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government had published a notice in the Nepal Gazette last April, paving the way for the legalizing conversion of vehicles running on petroleum products. To prepare the technical manpower for this, Sundar Auto has been conducting free training in collaboration with the government and various organizations.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15291', 'image' => '20220703054024_1656824368.Scootor.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 17:39:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15548', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rod Industries Running at 3 Percent Capacity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policies. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: Industries producing iron rods from billets have complained that they are forced to operate at just 3 percent capacity because of the government's policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Industries producing iron rods from billets have failed to operate in full capacity after the government introduced a policy of taxation on billets and tax exemption on sponge iron through the replacement budget of the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Steel operator Kiran Sakha said that the industries that produced iron rods from billet have operated at just 3 per cent of the full capacity. The government had introduced a policy of taxing billets to protect the industries that produce billet from sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policy has hit 20 industries that make iron rods from billet.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“We opposed it for nine months. But, the government did not address it in the upcoming budget. Our industries will collapse if this policy gets continuity,” he said during an event organized by the Nepal Economic Journalists Association (Nafiz). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A parliamentary committee has instructed the government to maintain the rate before the replacement bill. The committee might conduct a hearing,” he added.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He also said that the businessman are frustrated and have now come to the point of committing suicide.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the event, Pradeep Kumar Shrestha, former president of the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), argued that the policy adopted by the government through the current year's replacement budget does not even benefit the consumers. He shared that revenue from the rod industry has fallen by Rs 8 billion because of the government's policy - and even the price of the iron rod has been affected.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The price of iron rods was Rs 70 per kg before the replacement bill came in. It has now increased to Rs 120 per kg. He said that the government has little to do with losing revenue because of the government's policy of tax exemptions on sponge iron.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">similarly, Manak Sharda said the policy taken by the government had led to a situation where domestic production could not compete with imported goods. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The upcoming budget has provision of 10 per cent customs duty and Rs 4.50 excise duty on a kilogram of wire rod. It was previously 5 per cent customs duty and Rs 2.25 excise duty.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">At the same time, India has imposed a 15 per cent export duty for the export of raw materials of GI Wire. However, readymade GI Wire from India is imported to Nepal at 17 per cent customs duty. This makes it difficult for goods produced in Nepal to compete with imported goods, said Sharda.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, Jyoti Baniya, president of the Consumer Interest Protection Forum, said industrialists and businessmen were responsible for this. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“It's the industrialists and businessmen who ruined the system. Previously, who were in touch with powerful politicians had their say. Now, it is the ones who are in touch with the power centers enjoying the new provisions.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Even though many countries in the world have stopped producing rods from sponge iron, Nepal is heading backwards, says Baniya.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The induction furnace has been removed from all over the world,” he said, adding that China has already removed it. Indonesia has decided not to allow furnaces to be kept. But, the government of Nepal is heading in the opposite direction.”</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the Sanitary Pad producer Dolraj Adhikari said the domestic industry is in a state of closure due to the taxation policy. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">“There is a 1.5 per cent tax on imports of the readymade pads. However, it takes 8 types of raw materials for producing such pads and the domestic industries have to pay an average of 8.5 percent tax for importing the raw materials,” he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The policies made by policymakers and experts in the country are unfair and discriminatory.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Businessman Min Bahadur Gurung said the steel industry was in trouble because of the government policy. He said the billions of rupees invested in this sector and the jobs of thousands of people were at risk due to the government’s policy on tax for the current fiscal year and the upcoming fiscal year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15290', 'image' => '20220703040719_1656802520.Clipboard16 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 16:06:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15547', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Prabhu Bank is the Main Sponsor of Newbiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: New Business Age is organizing the sixth edition of “NewBiz Business School Rating, Ranking and Awards, 2022” on August 17. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Organiser of the event, New Business Age Pvt Ltd, has signed an agreement with the main sponsor Prabhu Bank for organizing the event.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this event, a panel discussion among experts on the topic of management education will also be held.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Colleges across the country will be able to participate in the awards. According to the organisers, registration for the award is free and application is to be submitted online. The company has been organizing such awards since 2013.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the organizing company, this time the award will be given to the best business schools including one from each of the seven provinces. The organisers also informed that there will be a special arrangement to give awards to the community and government sector colleges as well. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the past, awards were given in various categories including the Best BBS College, Best MBS College, Best BBA College, Best MBA College, Best Public College, and Best Hotel Management College. The organizers stated that the award will be given in the same category in the upcoming edition, but the jury can make some modifications to it.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the fifth edition of the awards, Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) was declared the best college of the year. KUSOM also received the award for the best MBA and BBA colleges of the year. The participating colleges in this edition have been selected by an independent panel of experts considering the quality of the faculty, student exposure program and the market demand for the produced manpower.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">KUSOM has previously been the winner of Best Business School Award in 2013, 2014 and 2018 as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15289', 'image' => '20220703013108_1656821631.न्यूबिज बिजनेश स्कूल रेटिङ, र्_याङ्किङ एन्ड अवार्डस्–२०२२.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:30:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15546', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Many Nepalis Visiting Saudi Arabia for Employment get Duped', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 3: A study conducted by the People’s Forum for Human Rights, an organization that provides free legal aid to those who are in trouble during foreign employment, found that Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The report was prepared after studying the condition of about 3,000 victims who received legal aid from the organization in a 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the current fiscal year, 64 percent of the people who were duped in course of foreign employment filed complaints in Nepal itself, while 15.45 percent filed cases in Saudi Arabia and 10.45 percent in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The study revealed that Nepali migrant workers visiting Malaysia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan for employment are also being cheated. The study report states that 48.21 percent of people were duped by agents and 51.79 percent people were duped by the manpower companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Adviser to the People's Forum and Advocate Som Prasad Luintel said that fraud cases in the name of foreign employment has not improved much in recent times. He says that the number of people involved in cheating by sending people abroad on visit visas has increased considerably. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another advocate Sudip Devkota said that the problem of fraud cases increased after the government amended some laws in 2075 BS to make it illegal for manpower to hire agents. In addition, it is difficult to take action. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the People’s Forum, free legal aid has been provided to 26,145 people who were the victims of duping in foreign employment since 2011.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15288', 'image' => '20220703012154_1656823316.साउदी अरेबिया जाने धेरै नेपाली ठगीमा.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 13:20:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15545', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Dependency on Rice Increasing, Annual Import Reaches Rs 50 Billion ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 3: The government’s data since the last one decade indicate the country's rising dependency on rice. In fiscal year 2012-13, rice worth Rs 20 billion was imported in the country and the figure rose by 150 percent to reach Rs 50 billion in the first eleven months of the current fiscal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the Department of Customs, in the first eleven months of the current fiscal, rice, fragmented rice and husk powder worth Rs 50 billion were imported into the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal mainly imports rice from India, China, Vietnam, the United States of America and Thailand. </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 Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the import of fine and aromatic rice make up 70 percent in the import chart and high-class people and hotels are the users of these varieties of rice products. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government in the budget for the current fiscal year had announced to make the country self-sufficient on rice by the next five years. Though the government had planned to increase rice production through the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernisation Project since the fiscal year 2073-74 BS, it is yet to yield any positive result. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The country during the fiscal year 2012-13 imported 454,503 metric tons of rice. According to government data, out of around 310,000 hectares of arable land in Nepal, paddy farming is possible on fifty percent of those land. The National Census of Agriculture 2011-12 conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that 100,000 hectares of land has remained unused in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Agriculture Census is conducted in every 10 years in Nepal. The seventh agro census was conducted from April 19 and concluded on May 2 in the country this year. Hemraj Regmi, an official at the Central Bureau of Statistics, said it will still take seven months to make the results of the census public. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There isn’t any authentic detail about how much arable land have been turned into plotting, as well as eroded by river till the date. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although every government since the past three fiscal years has been declaring to bring a strict law prohibiting people from keeping their land barren, it has not been implemented yet. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The issue of increasing paddy production through land plotting of arable land, collective farming has been raised in every budget, but the implementation side is weak, said agronomist, Laba Prasad Tripathi. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Out of ten consecutive years, Nepal saw highest production of rice in the fiscal year 2020/21 at 5.621 million metric tonnes. Rice was planted across 1,473,478 hectares of land. But the same year Nepal imported rice worth Rs 45 billion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arable land and pocket areas for paddy cultivation have been continuously diminishing since the fiscal year 2003/04, the Ministry's data shows. Paddy cultivation done across 1,477,378 hectares land in 2003/04 shrunk to 82,058 hectares over 19 years. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice worth around Rs 200 billion was imported from fiscal year 2015/16 to 2020/21. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rice, the staple crop of the country, is grown in around 1.5 million hectares of land and it requires around 6 million metric tonnes of rice annually to feed around 30 million population of the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Experts emphasize cultivation of rice during spring (mid-March to mid-April), availability of fertilizers, seedlings and irrigation facilities for boosting rice production in the country. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Agricultural Research Council's former senior scientist Dr Bhawa Prasad Tripathi viewed that Nepal could again gain self-sufficiency in rice within five years if the government takes into account a number of measures such as construction of big irrigation projects, plantation of monsoon season paddy crop on 400,000 hectares of land and to prevent fishery industries in the land suitable for rice production. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-03', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => 'Rice, import, dependency, production, paddy, agriculture', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15287', 'image' => '20220703121050_ricee.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-03 12:09:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15544', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mustang’s Rural Municipality Announces Incentives to Promote Walnut Farming', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Mustang, the district beyond the mountains renowned for its apples, has now shifted its focus to walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thasang Rural Municipality of Mustang district has initiated a programme to promote walnut farming. The rural municipality considers agriculture as main source of revenue. It has introduced an incentive scheme for the farmers by realizing the potential of walnut farming.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has come up with the concept of creating “one ward, one agricultural hub” in addition to giving priority to walnut farming. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the rural municipality, Pradip Gauchan shared that priority has been given to walnut farming as the production cost is low and the outcome is good. He added that there is no problem of marketing and once planted, the produce can be harvested for years.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">He informed that necessary programs and training for farmers involved in walnut farming has been included in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. According to him, farmers will be given lessons on planting and conservation of walnut while information related to technology will also be provided to them. In addition, the rural municipality has also allocated budget for irrigation facility, said Gauchan.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has adopted a policy of providing subsidy to the farmers on the basis of demand.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The walnut produced in Mustang costs between Rs 500 to Rs 1000 per kilogram. Traders have already started flocking to the orchards to look for produce in Thasang. The rural municipality introduced a program to promote walnut farming to link the farmers with income as bargaining takes place before the tree even bears fruit. In terms of climate, walnut cultivation is good in most of the wards of Thasang.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Apples, potatoes, walnuts and other vegetables produced in the rural municipality are also exported abroad. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman Gauchan said, cultivation of barren land will be started next year in an effort to modernize the agricultural sector. The rural municipality has also announced promotion programmes related to animal husbandry in addition to fruits and vegetables.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The rural municipality has also adopted a policy to gradually reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in crops. Gauchan shared that the use of organic fertilizers and traditional home-made pesticides in apples, potatoes, beans, walnuts and other vegetables has been encouraged as the demand for organic products is increasing in the market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15286', 'image' => '20220701051846_1656629260.Clipboard05.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 17:18:13', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15543', 'article_category_id' => '266', 'title' => 'Radisson Hotel Kathmandu Organizes CSR Activities', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 1: Radisson Hotel Group marked the month of June as Community Action Month by finding ways to positively impact sustainable and responsible business for people, the community, and “our planet”.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Issuing a statement, the hotel said it organized the “Let’s make impact together” campaign on 23rd of June and 28th of June by conducting various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the hotel, its team visited an old-age home named “Nishaya Sewa Sadan” located at Shantinagar, Kathmandu on June 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The hotel’s team reached the old age home with food and funds for the elderly people. When they reached the place, they were greeted and welcomed with a big bright smile by the senior citizens,” the statement added. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">General Manager of Radisson Hotel Kathmandu, Subrata Banerjee, handed over the fund to the organization followed by the cake cutting ceremony. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement further said that the Radisson Hotel Kathmandu team members spent some quality time listening to their stories and taking some pictures with them. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, the hotel in collaboration with Red Cross Society organized a blood donation campaign on 28th June. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“There is a shortage of blood in the blood banks after the Covid-19 Pandemic. Therefore, the hotel decided to do a blood donation campaign looking at the current needs of society. Employees of the hotel were happy to participate in the campaign and contribute to helping in saving human lives.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Radisson Hotel Group claimed it is recognized globally for its responsible business practices. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“For the same cause, Radisson Hotel Kathmandu has put up continuous effort by showing that they care about the lives of people outside the walls of their businesses by conducting numerous CSR activities every year. The company encourages and advocates for sharing resources with less fortunate ones to unite for common causes and believes that even small efforts can help make a difference,” added the statement.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15285', 'image' => '20220701044642_IMG_8512 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 16:45:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15542', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'SC Continues Interim Order on Excavation of Stone, Sand and Pebbles ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: The Supreme Court has stayed the government decision to amend standard on excavation of stones, pebbles, and their sales. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A division bench of justices Kumar Regmi and Hari Prasad Phuyal on Thursday decided to continue the interim order asking the government to not implement its decision to revise the standard on excavation of stone, sand and pebbles and their sales and distribution. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Although the latest version of the standard is yet to be fully implemented, the amendment in it has the strength to pose serious threat to the existence of the river system and the issues related to national life. It will cause irreparable loss, the court argued. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“The amended standard on excavation would cause irreparable loss to human settlement, international border, heritages of cultural and religious importance, marshland, and educational and health institutions,” reads the order. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On behalf of Environment Law Society Nepal, advocate Padam Bahadur Shrestha had filed a writ petition against the amendment of the standard on excavation of sand, pebbles and stones. The defendants the case included the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He had argued that the amendment allowed excavation close to human settlement, forest area, and highway. --- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-03', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15284', 'image' => '20220701033256_Supreme Court.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:32:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15541', 'article_category_id' => '218', 'title' => 'Nabil Bank Completes One Year of Sustainable Banking', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. ', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Nabil Bank completed one year of “Nabil Sustainable Banking” campaign on Wednesday. The bank had started the campaign with the objective of providing financial access to rural areas and ensuring financial literacy.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank informed that it will celebrate this achievement by organizing “Nabil Green Week”. The bank claimed that one year of sustainable banking has been satisfactory. </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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A statement issued by the bank said, “We claim that Nabil Sustainable Banking has been established as an innovative approach not only in Nabil Bank but in the entire banking sector of 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The bank had started sustainable banking by investing in hydropower, providing soft loans and working in the social and environmental sectors. On the occasion of Nabil Sustainable Banking's anniversary and National Paddy Day, the bank started celebrating “Nabil Green Week” from Wednesday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15283', 'image' => '20220701032746_Kishan-Karja_600x600.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 15:27:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15540', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Flour Mills of Nepal in Crisis ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: Wheat imports from Biratnagar customs have dropped to zero after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. Before India imposed a ban on wheat exports, ready-made flour did not enter Nepal through the green channel of customs.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">India banned exports of wheat in the last week of April saying wheat production had fallen short of its target. Nevertheless, India has been exporting wheat to Fiji. India has said it can provide certain amount of wheat to its neighboring countries as per the requirement. However, 36 flour mills of Nepal are in crisis as Nepal has not taken diplomatic initiative to bring wheat from India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Ram Chandra Dhungana, spokesperson of the Biratnagar Customs Office, import of wheat to Nepal has come to a halt after India imposed a ban on wheat export. He said that the import of flour has started instead. Last May, 80 metric tonnes of wheat flour worth Rs 3.148 million was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to spokesperson Dhungana, after India's ban on wheat exports, the biscuit and noodle industries of Nepal have started ordering wheat flour. In June, more wheat flour was imported than in May.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The import of wheat flour started after the Government of Nepal did not show any interest to take up this issue with the Government of India. This has put the flour mills of Nepal at risk. Altogether 36 flour mills of the country produce 650,000 tonnes of flour annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the Biratnagar Customs, about 100,000 quintals of wheat worth Rs 327.79 million was imported through this checkpoint in the first ten months of the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Radheshyam Agrawal, general secretary of the Flour Producers' Association, said that the industry could not even bear the cost as the flour from India was cheaper than the locally produced flour. He said, "The flour mills here are on the verge of closure."</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Import duty on wheat is 5 percent. When importing flour, 10 percent customs duty has to be paid. However, Indian flour is cheaper than local produce. The annual production capacity of the domestic flour industry is 1.6 million metric tons. However, due to shortage of wheat, they have been producing only 650,000 tons annually. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Agrawal said that there is no situation of production this time after India banned export of wheat but allowed export of flour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, the country has about one million tonnes of domestically produced wheat. It is enough for the 36 industries for a maximum of one month. Agarwal said that all the flour industries would be shut down after they run out of stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bikas Vegwani, vice-president of the Morang Trade Association and operator of Vishal Maida Mills, said that there was no alternative to shutting down the local flour mills as India kept the flour exports open by banning wheat exports.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier, when India banned the export of wheat, it had still provided wheat to Nepal and its neighbors through the quota system. Russia-Ukraine tensions have reduced global wheat and grain supplies. Harivansh Rathi, the operator of Gaumati Foods, said if the government did not facilitate wheat import by holding talks with the Indian government, there would be a big shortage in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15282', 'image' => '20220701024459_All-about-grain-flours-resized.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 14:44:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15539', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Non-life Insurance Companies Make Significant Improvement in Business', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:15.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by 29 percent by mid-June of the current fiscal year. The result is clearly evident from the data provided by the Insurance Board.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">During a nine-month period between July 2021 to May 2022, altogether twenty non-life insurance companies collected a total of Rs 34.15 billion in insurance premiums. This is Rs 7.63 billion more than the collection of insurance premium in the corresponding period of the previous year, which stood at Rs 26.52 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Till last year, the growth rate of non-life insurance business was low. In previous years, the non-life insurance business could barely grow by 10 percent. However, encouraging progress is seen in the current fiscal 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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Executive Director of the Insurance Board Rajuraman Poudel said that the growth rate of non-life insurance business has been better than the previous years. He said that the business growth rate in the past was not so satisfactory but now it is encouraging.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shikhar Insurance is in the forefront in collecting premiums. The company has collected insurance premiums of Rs 4.40 billion during the period. Everest Insurance secured the second place by collecting insurance premiums of Rs 2.79 billion. Neco Insurance, which is in the third place, collected Rs 2.61 billion.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Lately, there has been a surge in the micro insurance business. In addition, the number of insurers is also on the rise. Term policies are also being considered in non-life insurance category. Apart from this, various development works are being conducted lately. Chunky Chhetry, president of the Non-Life Insurance Association and chief Executive Officer of Sagarmatha Insurance states that all these factors boosted the business of non-life insurance companies.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15281', 'image' => '20220701013922_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:38:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15538', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Minimum Interest Rate of Microfinance Companies Reaches Upper Limit at 15 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent.', '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:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 1: The minimum interest rate of microfinance companies providing financial services to the poor and needy has reached 15 per cent. Stating that the cost has gone up due to the liquidity crisis in the market, the microfinance companies have raised the interest rate to the maximum limit set by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">NRB has set a limit that microfinance cannot charge more than 15 per cent interest since last year. With the rise of interest rates of banks and financial institutions, microfinance companies have increased the minimum interest rate to the upper limit.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">A report on interest rates of microfinance companies published by NRB states that the interest rate of 35 out of 61 microfinance companies has reached 15 per cent. Apart from this, the minimum interest rate of most of the microfinances is above 10 per cent.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Banks and financial institutions have been disbursing loans to the poor through microfinance companies.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers' Association, Prakash Raj Sharma, said that it was difficult to work within the limits set by the NRB as the interest rate of the banks itself has increased to 15 per cent. "Right now, the interest rate on bank loans has reached 15 per cent," he said.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stating that capital should be available to microfinance institutions at cheap interest rates, the association has submitted a demand letter to the NRB to make arrangements to add only a per cent premium to the base rate when giving loans to banks and financial institutions to the poor.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the NRB, there are currently 65 microfinance companies operating in the country with four of them providing wholesale loans and 61 giving out loans in retail. These organizations have formed 1.329 million groups and provided financial services to 57.72 million people. Loans and borrowings of microfinance institutions increased by 23.53 per cent compared to July 2021 and reached Rs 392.05 billion in mid-April 2022.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">About half of the total loans disbursed by the microfinance companies have flowed into the agriculture sector. Out of the total loan disbursed by microfinance companies, 46.02 per cent has gone to the agriculture sector till April 2022. The share of the credit of this sector was 44.82 per cent in July 2021.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, microfinance companies have disbursed 3.41 per cent in cottage and small-scale industries and 30.89 per cent in the service sector.</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:"Arial","sans-serif"">The investment of microfinance companies has declined due to a lack of liquidity in the banking system. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15280', 'image' => '20220701012715_interest-rates-e1541025967190.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 13:26:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15537', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Turns 65 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'uly 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the country’s national flag carrier, has turned 65. NAC was established on July 1, 1958 following the enactment of Nepal Airlines Corporation Act 2019 BS. The main objective was to provide air transport service at home and abroad.</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"">NAC, which commenced its service with Douglas DC and Dakota having 25-seat capacity, is now providing service through wide-body and narrow-body aircraft (Airbus A 330-200). </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"">At present, NAC has been operating two-way international flights from Kathmandu to New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai (India), Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Narita (Japan), Doha (Qatar), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). </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""> Likewise, it has been providing domestic flight services to the airports in remote areas. </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"">NAC Spokesperson Archana Khadka shared that the NAC is organizing various programmes to mark its establishment day. </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"">Issuing a public notice on NAC’s 65th anniversary, newly appointed General Manager of the state-owned airline company Captain Deepu Raj Jwarchan said that the NAC will rise from the past failures and scale new heights. </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"">He said that the NAC will strive to maintain its credibility by operating flights regularly and safely.</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"">Jwarchan said that the NAC plans to add new aircraft to its fleet after expanding its market and destinations. NAC has long-term plans of expanding its flights to Seoul, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Colombo, Ahmedabad, Jakarta, Frankfurt and Australia, reads the notice issued by Jwarchan. </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"">He further said that the NAC has currently formed short-term and long-term plans and is working accordingly to implementing them. (With inputs from RSS)</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15279', 'image' => '20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 12:09:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15536', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Ukraine Crisis has Posed Additional Challenges to Nepal’s Economy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 1: Nepal Rastra Bank's governor Maha Prasad Adhikari has said that the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the Russia-Ukraine war have posed additional challenges to Nepal's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking at the oath taking ceremony of Nepal Chartered Accountants' Association on Wednesday, Adhikari said that the impact of Russia Ukraine war has been felt in Nepal as well. This has added new challenges to the economy, said Adhikari.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The central bank's governor said that the world economy itself was facing crisis and Nepal could not be an exception. As a result, economies aross the world have been facing the problem of inflation. In such situation, Governor Adhikari urged stakeholders of all sectors to work together to improve the country's economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He further said that the role of chartered accountants is vital for the monetary policy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the function, newly elected chairman of the Chartered Accountants’ Association Deepak Pandey said that the association was ready to help the central bank with any kind of problem related to the economy.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-01', 'modified' => '2022-07-01', 'keywords' => 'economy, challenge, Nepal, Ukraine, pandemic, Covid-19, inflation', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15278', 'image' => '20220701110810_maha.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-01 11:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15535', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => ' Most of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area', 'sub_title' => 'Madhes chapter of FNCCI passes Janakpur Declaration', 'summary' => 'ost of the Industries in Madhes are Centered in Pathlaiya Area June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">June 30: The third general assembly of the Madhes Province chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded on Wednesday by passing a 15-point Janakpur Declaration. The assembly passed a proposal to establish industrial zones in at least three places for industrialization of Madhesh Pradesh.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">At present, most of the industrial establishments are concentrated in the Pathalaiya area of Birgunj and it is becoming difficult to get land for new industries in the corridor.Chairman of the Madhes Province chapter of FNCCI Ganesh Prasad Lath informed that the federation has also passed a proposal to take initiative for the participation of the private sector in the production and management of solar energy and expansion of transmission line in the state. Proposals have been passed to extend the Jayanagar-Janakpur railway from Bardibas to Pathalaiya, set up a revenue tribunal, set up a polytechnic institute to produce skilled workers, speed up the construction of the Postal Highway, solve the problems faced by Indian tourists when they bring Indian currency, set up an agricultural market and build a hospital for the workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the inaugural session of the General Assembly, FNCCI President Shekhar Golchha said that the country head towards the path of Sri Lanka if a solution is not found in time as the country's economy is in serious trouble. He said the economy was in serious trouble due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and rising tensions over Russia-Ukraine war.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Golchha claimed that the government's target of 8 percent economic growth through the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022/23) was not attainable. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Claiming that the federation has always been active involved to uplift the private sector and the country's economy, Golchha said that most of the entrepreneurs were satisfied with the role of the federation. Former FNCCI President Chandiraj Dhakal claimed that the policy taken by the government through the upcoming budget would bring down domestic production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">FNCCI Vice President Dinesh Shrestha said that the government’s claim to increase production for import substitution did not have any basis. According to Shrestha, the budget provision brought by the finance minister for the upcoming fiscal year has discouraged production. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Another FNCCI vice-president Anjan Shrestha said the government's policy was not investment-friendly. He said there should be a clear and long-term policy for investment. He argued that security of investment should be the first pre-condition. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Kishor Pradhan, former vice-president of the federation, said that the FNCCI has not been able to play an effective role as per the expectation of the business community. According to Pradhan, the FNCCI leadership was not serious about the deteriorating economic situation of the country. “While the federation is welcoming the budget at the center, there are protests in the districts. The need for a federation is under questioned. This is unfortunate," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Ashok Kumar Temani, former president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of the Nepal-India Socioeconomic Forum, claimed that the government had increased the pressure of tax on the private sector by increasing the size of the budget in the face of economic crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-06-30', 'modified' => '2022-06-30', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15277', 'image' => '20220630081143_1656563322.FNCCI Madhesh 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-06-30 20:10:39', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $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
