February 20: Although the remote Himalayan district of Manang lags behind in some indicators, it is at the forefront in terms of access to finance.

Data up to mid-January 2022 shows that the access of finance of the people of Manang is better than those of the well-facilitated people in Kathmandu. According to the data released by Nepal Rastra Bank, there is one branch of bank for 571 people in Manang district as of December this year. There are altogether 11 branches  in this district.

Meanwhile, in Kathmandu district, there is one branch for 2,247 people. So far, 1,024 branch offices of commercial banks, development banks and finance companies have been established in Kathmandu. In terms of population, the people of Manang district have better access to banks than Kathmandu. However, there are more branches in Kathmandu than in Manang.

Similarly, there is one branch for 661 people in Mustang. There are 16 branches of commercial banks and one branch of development bank in this district.

Even though a small population makes use of a branch office, the service seekers often face difficulty in receiving service. In some areas, the bank’s customers are obliged to stay overnight to get banking services.

There are only six branches in Chame, the district headquarters of Manang district. According to Laxman Gauli, the acting chief administrative officer of Chame rural municipality, the six branch offices have been set up by Mega Bank, Nepal Bank, NMB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Citizens Bank and Rastriya Banijya Bank in Chame. The other five branch offices are in Narpa Bhumi Municipality, Manang Ngisyang Municipality and Nason Municipality.

Service seekers have not been able to benefit much from these branches.  The reason is that the banks have opened branches only in accessible places of villages.

According to Bishwamani Poudel, the branch manager of Nepal Bank in Chame, the bank has been providing services to the customers in this area conveniently.

“Business is good in Chame branch as there are government offices here,” he said. However, it is difficult to operate the branch opened in Narfa. Only one or two service seekers come to this branch in 2/3 days. “As it snows a lot here. The human settlement is also dependent on the weather,” said Poudel. However, the Nepal Bankers Association has said that the business of the bank has increased with the expansion of branch offices at the local levels.

Executive Director and Spokesperson of Nepal Rastra Bank, Gunakar Bhatta said that access to finance has reached the rural areas easily as the banks have followed the policy of the government.

Similarly, although most of the branches of the banks have reached the local level, the branch offices of the banks are less in some districts on the basis of population. According to NRB, Jajarkot and Baitadi have the lowest number of branches in terms of population as of December last year. There are only 19 branches in Baitadi where one branch serves 14,102 customers. Similarly, there are just 14 branches in Jajarkot. Based on the population of the district, 14,422 people receive banking services from one branch here.

In Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, a branch office is shared by 2,000 people. According to the statistics, Kathmandu has the largest number of branches. The total number of branches in Kathmandu is 1,024, while Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have 252 and 135 branches respectively.

Three villages are out of banking reach

As of January this year, three of the local levels are still devoid of branches of banks. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, there are no branches yet in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading, Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Saipal Municipality of Bajhang. The government had set a target of introducing branches of commercial banks to all the 753 local units in the budget of fiscal year 2074/75.

Bank of Kathmandu has been directed to expand its branch office in Ruby Valley Municipality of Dhading. Similarly, Agricultural Development Bank has been asked to expand its branch in Junichande Municipality of Jajarkot and Everest Bank in Saipal Municipality, Bajhang. Anil Sharma, CEO of Nepal Bankers' Association said that the expansion of the branches was delayed due to lack of population in these three local levels and legal matters in the courts.