September 13: The minimum paid-up capital of Rs 3 billion fixed for stock exchange company does not apply for the stock exchange company which is currently in operation.

The Securities Board of Nepal made such arrangement by announcing the second amendment to the Securities Market Operation Regulations, 2079 on Monday. There is also a provision in the revised regulations for the new stock exchange to issue at least 30 per cent of its issued capital shares to the general public within two years of conducting business.

It is also mentioned in the regulations that this arrangement to issue IPO to the general public does not apply to the currently operating stock exchange.

Arrangements have been made so that only private companies or institutions established according to the law can acquire shares of the new stock exchange company.

Provision has been made for the new stock exchange company to take necessary cooperation and technical assistance from internationally renowned securities market regarding the transaction system and other related technologies. Provisions have also been made in the regulations that business system servers and data hosting cannot be kept abroad without the consent of the Government of Nepal.

The state-owned Nepal Stock Exchange is the only stock exchange company currently operation in Nepal. Neighbouring India has two stock exchange companies.