April 26: A dispute has arisen regarding one of the three companies that applied for the license of a new stock exchange platform. Himalayan Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange of Nepal and Annapurna Stock Exchange Limited have submitted applications to SEBON for the license of the new stock exchange.

The dispute is related to the Himalayan Stock Exchange, which had applied for the license with the board. Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, chief executive officer of Mahalakshmi Life Insurance Limited, has claimed that they have already registered an application for a license in the year 2066 in the name of Himalayan Stock Exchange Limited.

He has said that on 15th Mangisr 2066, 17 companies together applied for a license with all the necessary documents in the name of Himalayan Stock Exchange Limited. Bhattarai questioned that “How can a new application with the same name be accepted without finalizing the application given with a deposit of Rs 25,000?”

The board has been facing various controversies regarding the new license since the early days. It seems that the board which proceeded with the process after two petitions filed against the new license distribution process were rejected by the Supreme Court, should also answer Bhattarai's question.

Tej Prasad Devkota, information officer of the board, said that according to the provisions of the law, the board has received applications from three companies and only one of them will get a license. 

According to Devkota, there will be no error in the process as the board will give a stock exchange license to only one of the three companies.

Regarding the allegation that the board took another application with the same name, he clarified that the matter will be investigated.

Devkota said that there will be an investigation into whether the previously registered companies are operational or not according to the law and whether they are in a position to accept the application in the future.

Mahalakshmi Finance, Vibor Society Development Bank Limited, Asian Life Insurance, Guheshwari Merchant Banking & Finance, NLG Insurance, Janata Bank, Citizens Bank International, Central Finance, Premier Insurance, Sagarmatha Insurance, Lalitpur Finance, Mahalakshmi had submitted a joint application as Himalayan Stock Exchange Limited for the new stock exchange license in 2066. 

The new Himalayan Stock Exchange, which recently applied for the license with the board, has investments from Shankar Group, Deepak Bhatt, former president of FNCCI Pashupati Murarka, Bhawani Rana, outgoing president Shekhar Golcha, Rajendra Khetan, Saurabh Jyoti and others.

The board revised the Securities Market Operation Regulations, 2064 last year for the distribution of new stock exchange licenses. According to the new provision, the organized institutions registered following the prevailing law to operate the securities market must submit an application within six months from the date of registration.

There is a provision that the paid-up capital of the new stock exchange should be at least Rs 3 billion. The company must issue 30 per cent shares of the issued capital to the general public within two years of conducting the business with the approval of the board.