September 21: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has urged banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to increase investment in the industrial and manufacturing sector.    
Speaking at the 49th anniversary of the Deposit and Credit Guarantee Fund (DCGF) on Tuesday, Minister Sharma said that the industrial and productive sector should not be jeopardized due to lack of investment.    
Stating that economic development of the country would not be possible without development of industrial and manufacturing sector, Sharma called for a system wherein investment in projects are considered by keeping the project itself as a collateral.    
The minister argued that the country cannot become economically strong unless rural economy is developed. He viewed that stakeholders should pay attention whether the loans given by the BFIs for agriculture sector were being invested in real estate.

"BFIs should invest in manufacturing sector. Loans should be provided to industrial and manufacturing sectors at less than two per cent interest," said Minister Sharma.    
According to him, there is no alternative to increasing production to substitute imports and called for more investment to boost domestic production.    
Similarly, Governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank Maha Prasad Adhikari said that although it had been a long time since the DCGF came into operation, it could not devise effective policies, programmes and plans.    
Urging the concerned stakeholders to pay attention to this aspect, Governor Adhikari requested the DCGF to deliver its services effectively by devising long-term plans and to function within the jurisdiction of the DCGF's Act. "The DCGF should not only collect money. Consider investing in other sectors as well," said  Adhikari.    
Likewise, Revenue Secretary Rameshwar Dangal, who is also the chairperson of the DCGF, pledged utmost efforts on his part to make the fund more effective.    
The DCGF, as a deposit insurer, started the deposit guarantee scheme in Nepal since 2010. -- RSS