August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion.…
August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion.…
August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance…
August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year.…
August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration.…
August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates.…
August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November…
August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest…
August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase…
August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial…
August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in…
August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three…
August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday ). …
August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising…
August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation…
August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal…
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', '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","sans-serif"">August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion. The cost of the Upper Marsyangdi Hydropower Project alone is estimated to cost Rs 33.3 billion. </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","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Forestry has published an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report with an estimated cost of Tatopani Hydel at Rs 3.4 billion. </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","sans-serif"">Upper Marsyangdi is a proposed project in Marsyangdi river which flows through Lamjung district of Gandaki Province.</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","sans-serif"">A feasibility study conducted by the Upper Marsyangdi Power Company Pvt. Ltd. in 2065 after obtaining a survey permit from the Department of Electricity Development concluded that the project can be constructed with a capacity of 138 MW. The environmental impact assessment report of the project has been approved.</span></span><strong> </strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, when the company was about to start the project after the completion of the entire process, it was found that the project would affect the proposed dam area of another project – Upper Marshyangdi A Hydropower Project – which lies a little downstream of the project area.</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","sans-serif"">The project was then told to move its construction site about 1.2 kilometers upstream.</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","sans-serif"">Later, a detailed study found that only 102 megawatts of electricity can be generated at the new site.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15492', 'image' => '20220805020539_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 14:04:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15750', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Secretary Marasini Transferred to PM’s Office', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on Thursday transferred Marasini to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, informed a minister aware of the latest development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also assigned the responsibilities of finance secretary to Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini has accused Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of brining unauthorized persons in the ministry on the eve of budget announcement for the current fiscal year in order to change the tax rates. Marasini had taken indefinite leave as the controversy reached its climax a few weeks ago. Sharma resigned from his post on July 6 after the federal parliament formed a special probe committee to under pressure from opposition parties as well as various sectors to investigate the allegation against Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini returned to office the very next day Sharma stepped down. However, after a few weeks of investigation, the special probe committee found Sharma not guilty due to lack of evidences to establish his involvement in bringing unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari then reappointed Sharma on July 31 upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. As he was in odds with the finance secretary, Sharma’s reappointment inevitably meant transfer of Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15491', 'image' => '20220805015123_1659612220.Madhu Marisini .jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:50:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15749', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Profit of Agriculture Development Bank Declines by 24 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. The net profit of the bank amounted to more than Rs 3.52 billion the previous year, which dropped to just over Rs 2.69 billion last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the net profit of the bank was affected as the operating profit declined by 15.23 percent due to the higher impairment charge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The impairment charge, which was more than Rs 12.14 million previous year, increased to more than Rs 29.51 million last year. As a result, the operating profit of the bank, which was Rs 5.3 billion in the previous year, dropped to just over Rs 4.11 billion last year. The bank's distributable profit till the last quarter was over Rs 3.90 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">By distributing 20 percent bonus shares, the paid-up capital of the bank reached Rs 13.18 billion. Last year, the bank collected 2.26 percent more deposits than the previous year while the credit flow increased by 155 percent. The bank collected more than Rs 166 billion in deposits and disbursed loans amounting to more than Rs 175 biillion last year. The non-performing loan which was 1.88 percent previous year, remained at 1.68 percent last year. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15490', 'image' => '20220805012625_krishibikashbank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15748', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 300K Tourists Visit Nepal in Seven Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. This number of foreign tourists entered the country via air route between January to July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 44,462 tourists entered Nepal in the month of July, 2022 against 58,811 foreign tourists who visited Nepal in the month of July, 2019. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest number of tourists visiting Nepal in July this year were from India. The number of Indian tourists during the review period stood at 17,299. Likewise, 1,874 tourists entered Nepal from Bangladesh, 1,539 from China and 4,195 from Asia and other countries in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 9,121 tourists from Europe, 3,735 from the Middle-East and 5,228 from USA in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Nepal Tourism Board, 16,975 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the month of January; 19,766 in February; 41,006 in March; 61,589 in April; 53,608 in May; 46,957 in June and 44,462 in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director of Nepal Tourism Board, Maniraj Lamichhane said although the month of July is off-season for tourists, the arrival of tourists is increasing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It indicates gradual revival of tourism sector of Nepal,” he said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15489', 'image' => '20220805093437_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:33:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15747', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Forms Committee to Study Rental Charge of Industrial Estates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. The move comes after protests from stakeholders following the decision of the Industrial Area Management Limited (IDM) to implement the new fares that were fixed on 17th July 2018 in all 10 industrial estates. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The private sector has been protesting the decision saying that the latest move of the government has put them at the receiving end and also discouraged investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Following request from the stakeholders, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on Wednesday formed the study committee headed by Joint Secretary Chandrakala Poudel. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been mandated to submit a report within one month, informed Dr Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry. Dr Regmi said that the government will decide about the rental charge of the industrial estates after the committee submits its report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier this week, a delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries had met Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu and requested him to reconsider the decision to hike the rental charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI expressed objection stating that IDM has been seeking demand charge for stored equipment, collecting fees even for the water extracted through boring by the industries themselves and raising the rent of the land in an unwanted manner. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI delegation said that the decision to hike the rental charge by 687 percent has badly affected the industries that are yet to recover from the impacts of Covid-19. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI’s Acting President Krishna Prasad Adhikari</span></span> argued that the decision of IDM will result in the collapse of existing industries and the country's dream of import substitution and export promotion through the promotion of manufacturing and industrial sectors will not be fulfilled.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI informed that the IDM has even denied extending contract period of land and also refused to issue recommendation letter for the industries to apply for bank loans in case they did not pay the rental charge as per the new rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15488', 'image' => '20220805092756_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:27:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15746', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Commission Gears up for November 20 Polls ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EC on Thursday made it clear that it was capable to hold the election on the stipulated date in a free and fair manner. EC officials had met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on July 6 and recommended the government to hold the elections to the provincial and federal parliaments on November 20, arguing that the term of the present lawmakers will expire on December 7. The EC had made the recommendation for announcement of election date by maintaining at least 120 days as election period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a press conference after the announcement of the election date on Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the EC would expedite the preparations for the upcoming election. According to him, the election calendar would be published immediately after Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He thanked the government for deciding to hold the provincial and federal elections in a single phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the number of voters will be increased by around 1 million in the upcoming election. Similarly, the process of party registration will begin as per Article 271 of the Constitution of Nepal and Section 48 of Political Parties Act, 2073. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CEC Thapaliya said Rs 8.11 billion was spent to hold the local level elections while Rs 10 billion is estimated to be spent for the upcoming elections. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15487', 'image' => '20220805085711_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 08:56:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15745', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Encouraging BFIs to Increase Interest Rates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.<br /> Issuing a directive to implement the provision included in the monetary policy for the current fiscal year, NRB has allowed BFIs to change the interest rates as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Amending the Unified Directive 2078 on Wednesday, the central bank has given permission to the BFIs to change the interest rate with immediate effect whenever the central bank changes the bank rate and the policy interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had announced to increase the policy interest rate through the monetary policy in order to discourage credit flow. As per the announcement, the central bank had increased the bank rate by 1. 5 percentage points and fixed it at 8.5 percent. Likewise, the policy interest rate has been increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent and the deposit collection rate has been increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent. These rates have been implemented before the amendment of the unified directive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Banks had reached a gentlemen’s agreement to stabilize the interest rates since the last five months. However, they are now preparing to increase the interest rate as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Bankers’ Association President Anil Kumar Upadhyay said that the banks will decide about increasing the interest rates after their meeting. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The Unified Directive has allowed us to increase the interest rates with immediate effect. Now the association will take an official decision after holding a meeting,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the banks were involved in unhealthy competition to increase deposit collection by increasing the interest rates due to the liquidity crisis. However, the central bank intervened nine months ago to stop the banks from indulging in such activity. The central bank issued a verbal instruction to the banks not to increase the interest rates on October 19 last year. The very next day, NRB issued a circular allowing banks to increase or decrease the interest rates by ten percent every month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association had brokered a deal among its member banks to fix the maximum interest rate on personal deposits at 11.3 percent and the maximum interest on institutional deposits at 10.3. However, the instruction issued by the central bank on Wednesday has paved the way for banks to increase the interest rates beyond the those limits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15486', 'image' => '20220804074619_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 19:45:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15743', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Complexities of Land Use Regulation Exposed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the complexities that have surfaced while implementing this regulation is unlikely to disappear soon. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For example, there are plenty of agricultural land on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley. But the people’s representatives have been insisting that there isn’t any agricultural land in their local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has authorized the local units for the first time to classify lands on the basis of the Land Use Regulation. But later on, if the land use classification is to be changed it has to be done through the Local Land Use Council as well as the councils of the provincial and federal levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The centre does not have the authority to reject the recommendation made by the local level regarding the agricultural land. The people’s representatives are wary that classifying the land in agricultural category might cost them votes of the people get dissatisfied with their decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey insists that the local units have been making fake claims that there isn’t any agricultural land in their area just to appease their voters. Chandragiri and Nagarjun municipalities within the Kathamdu valley have recommended the Department of Survey that they have no agricultural land within their premises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey as well as the concerned ministry does not have any answer if all the local units come up with the same conclusion that they do not have any cultivable land.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey has been mandated to update the existing map as per the recommendation made by the local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Prakash Joshi says that the map prepared by the department and the one prepared by the local units are totally different.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15485', 'image' => '20220804020714_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 14:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15744', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘People used to Mistaken Himalayan Java for Furniture Shop’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the interview, he shared that Nepal's coffee is of the highest quality in the world, and it is necessary to increase the government's efforts to promote cultivation of coffee in the country. According to him, farmer’s attraction towards coffee farming can be increased if necessary training, publicity, and subsidies are provided by the government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Due to the lack of necessary training, required skills, and investment, the farmers are not much interested in coffee farming compared to other cash crops. Due to these reasons, they could not produce coffee as per the demand, says Pradhan. According to him, there is a lot of potential for exporting coffee produced in Nepal. His experience says that the government has not been able to do the required homework for exporting coffee.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Because of the lack of knowledge that crush farming (other cultivation along with coffee) is done during coffee cultivation, the farmers' interest in it has not increased. It is difficult to grow coffee as the production starts after 6-7 years of planting, shares Pradhan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to him, the annual consumption of coffee in Nepal is 10,000 metric tons. Nepalese coffee is 100 percent organic. He said that the farmers were unaware that coffee is sold for as much as Rs 1,200 per kg. As Nepal is not able to produce coffee in accordance to the demand, it is being imported from countries like India, Italy, Thailand, and Indonesia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan, who went to Australia for higher education, learned to make coffee there. After completing his studies, he came back with the intention of doing something in Nepal and went to America to learn more about management. He again took coffee-making training, learned the method, and returned home with the coffee-making machine. At that time, only five-star hotels sold coffee in Kathmandu. Only instant coffee was available at cheap prices in tea shops and restaurants.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan says Himalayan Java has played an important role in developing coffee culture in Nepal since the past two decades.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan established Himalayan Java with an investment of around Rs 1.3 million after a market survey in the initial stage. He also shared the experience that some people were initially mistaken with Himalayan Java for a furniture store or a computer training center.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">His company is currently involved in coffee farming as well as importing coffee and providing barista and bakery training. Pradhan informed that his business started from Heritage Plaza in Kathmandu and has reached 40 outlets in the country and abroad. Fifty percent of the outlets in operation are in the form of franchises. He said that the franchise was given upon the request of the businessmen. Business expansion stopped during the period of coromavirus pandemic. Now, Himalayan Java is working with the goal of expanding the franchise in the cities located along the major highways.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He is of the view that the Nepalese need to promote commercial farming of coffee. For this, there should be a coordination for production and supply chain. If all these can be managed, Nepal will have a good prospect of coffee culture in the days ahead.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Himalayan, Java, coffee, culture, promotion', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15484', 'image' => '20220804055531_1659608040.gagan pradhan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 17:53:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15742', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Sales Mission 2022 concludes in Thailand ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Eleven exhibitors from Nepal and over 45 tour operators in Thailand joined the event organised by the Pacific Asia Travels Association (PATA) Nepal chapter on August 1. As per the organiser, the event concluded on a positive note. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA Nepal chapter, B2B session, formal function and networking dinner reception were the parts of the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Welcoming the participants on the occasion, Bibhuti Chand Thakur, chairperson of PATA Nepal Chapter, called on all the tourism stakeholders in the public and private sectors to join hands to overcome the hardships created by the global pandemic, and promote tourism exchange between the two friendly nations, Nepal and Thailand. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA, Thakur expressed his belief that this Sales Mission in Bangkok has been a timely and productive initiative to support the post-pandemic tourism recovery, promoting the newly built Gautam Buddha International Airport and the new avenues and opportunities for sustainable tourism development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, Ganesh Prasad Dhakal, highlighted the attractions of Nepal’s tourism and encouraged the Thai Travel Agents and visitors by assuring full support of Nepal’s embassy for visa issuance, necessary information and other cooperation in regard to their travel to Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ben Montgomery, chairperson of PATA Thailand Chapter, extended her welcome remarks and best wishes for Nepal’s tourism recovery initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, speaking as a keynote speaker about Destination Nepal, shared the in-depth insights about latest updates and the alluring offerings of Nepal as a lifetime experience destination. He also shared his expert thoughts on how Thai Travel Agents can benefit by connecting with Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shivek Sachdev, vice president of Thai Travel Agents Association, appreciated sustainable and environment-friendly initiatives of Nepal and urged his Thai tourism fraternity to extend their support for Nepal's tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hom Prasad Parajuli, Country Manager of Nepal Airlines in Thailand, made a presentation regarding the easy connectivity between Nepal and Thailand, the national flag carrier’s promotional fare, and special facilitation </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was supported by the Embassy of Nepal in Thailand, Nepal Airlines, PATA HQ and PATA Thailand Chapter, Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), SS Group Thailand, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Jawalakhel Group of Industries (JGI).</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"">It was the first post-pandemic tourism promotion event overseas that included a delegation of 20 tourism professionals comprising PATA Nepal Chapter executives and members who also attended the 6th PATA Destination Marketing Forum (PDMF), held in Songkhla, Thailand from August 2nd to 4th, 2022. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15483', 'image' => '20220804012910_20220728124411_PN-Nepal-Sales-Mission-2022-Thailand.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 13:28:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15741', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '10,000 Sacks of Fertilizers stuck at Tatopani Customs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months.', '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","sans-serif"">August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months. While farmers across the country are facing extreme shortage of fertilizer, 9,970 sacks of urea are stranded due to the negligence of the importers and the state-owned Agriculture Inputs Company Limited.</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","sans-serif"">The problem started when the two companies, Silk and Sinovac, who bagged the contract issued by the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, delayed the purchase from China. </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","sans-serif"">According to the contract, the fertilizer should have been handed over to the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited within 120 days. However, those two companies could not bring the fertilizer within the given deadline. </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","sans-serif"">After that, Silk and Sinovac ignored the notice issued by Agriculture Inputs Company Limited requesting them to come into contact within 21 days. </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","sans-serif"">Later, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited filed a case against both the companies in court. While the case was sub judice, the fertilizer arrived at the Tatopani customs. Although the importing companies informed about the arrival of fertilizer, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited refused to receive the consignment. The Agriculture Inputs Company Limited did not even send inspection team for mandatory quality tests to be done when importing fertilizer from the customs. Due to this tussle, the fertilizer that arrived at the customs after a long process is on verge of being damaged.</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","sans-serif"">Narad Gautam, the head of customs informed that Tatopani customs warned the importing company twice to release the fertilizer from the customs as soon as possible saying that the fertilizer may get damaged in the warehouse. </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","sans-serif"">“However, the importer company has not come in contact yet,” he said. The fertilizer arrived at Tatopani Customs on May 13. </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","sans-serif"">According to sources, the companies importing the fertilizer have to pay Rs 5.5 million for keeping the fertilizer in the warehouse of Nepal Transit and Warehousing Company Limited in Tatopani for three months.</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","sans-serif"">Sources claim that the fertilizer failed to enter Nepal as both the importing companies were involved in the process of getting the charge waived. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Tatopani, customs, fertilizer, urea, import', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15482', 'image' => '20220804125749_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15740', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Airlines Aircraft makes Emergency Landing at Nepalgunj Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday ). . ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday). . </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepalgunj-based Station Chief of Shree Airlines, Parshuram Chaudhary, told the state-owned RSS that the aircraft with call sign 9N-ANF 432 that took off for Kathmandu from Nepalgunj made an emergency landing within six minutes of take-off after smoke started to appear inside the aircraft. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A total of 79 passengers were in the aircraft and all of them are safe, added Chaudhary.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He further said that a team of engineers from Kathmandu will arrive in Nepalgunj to find out the reason behind the problem, RSS reported.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A similar incident occurred last week at Pokhara Airport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An aircraft of Yeti Airlines that took off from Pokhara to Kathmandu on Friday morning made a safe landing back in Pokhara six minutes later following a technical problem.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the aircraft returned back to Pokhara after its engine malfunctioned.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal has a poor record of aviation safety despite making some improvement as per the ICAO report.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The last time Nepal witnessed a fatal air crash was on May 29 when a Twin Otter carrying nineteen passengers and three crew members crashed in Manapathi hill of Mustang district killing all people on board.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to media reports, the aircraft with call sign 9N-AET had been in operation since the last 43 years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> - </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'aircraft, Shree, Airlines, Nepalgunj, airport, landing, technical, problem, aviation, safety', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15481', 'image' => '20220804123230_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:30:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15739', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Textile Industry Still Relying on Age-Old Technology', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">Om Prakash Khanal</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","sans-serif"">August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises. However, most of the 200 small-scale textile industries in Nepal are running with age-old equipment. The textile industries of Nepal are importing second-hand machineries that have been used for at least one decade in third countries including India.</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","sans-serif"">The Nepal Textile Industry Association estimates that the annual consumption of clothes in Nepal is worth Rs 6 billion. The share of home-made products is only 5 to 10 percent. The annual clothes consumption data of Nepal mentioned in a statement released by the association on June 2 is not official though. It is not possible to independently verify this data.</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","sans-serif"">Why are industries relying on old equipment despite such a large market potential? Entrepreneur Ramesh Gadia's answers by saying that the market is small and the dominance of foreign clothes scare industrialists to invest in new technology.</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","sans-serif"">Out of the total clothes consumed in Nepal, local production and import through formal means is worth Rs 1 billion. Jitendra Lohia, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association claims that the remaining clothes worth Rs 5 billion are imported through informal channels.</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","sans-serif"">According to Gadia, the domestic manufacturers are afraid to invest in technology because of the cheap clothes imported or smuggled from India and China. </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","sans-serif"">When Binay Shah, the owner of Nobel Textiles in Birgunj, introduced new technology in his industry, other textile industrialists suggested Shah that it would be risky. He said that he was ready to take risk. However, the most of the entrepreneurs do not want to take this risk. </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","sans-serif"">“Production is taking place in the country since the last 30/35 years with the use of old equipment that has been used for over 10 years elsewhere,” said Gadia.</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","sans-serif"">The lack of stability in the government's policy towards the textile industry is also the reason for the industrialists' hesitation. Vice President Lohia complains that the provisions brought by the government as concessions are also unreasonable. The government announced a subsidy of 5 percentage points on loans taken by the textile industry up to Rs 50 million. Not all types of textile industries are able to get this concession.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialist Pitambar Munka complained that up to the year 2074/75, the textile industry was given a 100 percent VAT exemption, which was removed after the concession scheme. </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","sans-serif"">“The government gave 50 percent subsidy on electricity tariff in the year 2076/77, which was also removed from the year 2077/78,” said Munka.</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","sans-serif"">Most of the clothes consumed in Nepal are imported from India. Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 5 percent on clothing in India. This tax is not levied on clothes entering Nepal legally. Although 15 percent customs duty is imposed on textile imports, most of them come under SAFTA concessions of 5 to 7 percent. Meanwhile, 5 percent customs duty is to be paid on yarn imported by the domestic industry.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialists claim that most of the clothes are imported through illegal means without paying revenue. Gadia added, “On top of that, since India has given up to 50 percent subsidy to the textile industry, it is difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from there. Due to the competition, the domestic textile industry of Nepal is stuck with old technology.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15480', 'image' => '20220804112418_DXHGMR-1024x937.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 11:22:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15738', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Petroleum Products will not be Adjusted: NOC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the NOC shared that even though it has made some profit in petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel, the price of petroleum products would not be adjusted as it has to pay loan taken from the Government of Nepal and dues to the IOC.</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"">The state-owned oil monopoly made such remarks despite adopting the auto-pricing mechanism, under which it should have adjusted the prices as per the fluctuation in prices in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new purchase price received from IOC on Monday, NOC makes a profit of Rs 2.75 per litre of petrol, Rs 9.37 loss per litre of diesel and Rs 499.57 loss per cylinder of cooking gas (LPG), said NOC's Joint-Spokesperson Puskar Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the NOC is making profit through the sale of kerosene and aviation fuel. However, the NOC projects that it will incur a loss of Rs 1.27 billion per month from the sale of petroleum products in the current price, RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned NOC had earlier taken a loan of seven billion rupees from the government and three billion rupees from Rastriya Banijya Bank to pay to the IOC, to which it still owes Rs 23 billion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15479', 'image' => '20220804103954_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 10:39:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15733', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 39,000 Tourists Visited Mustang in Last Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Jomsom-based office of the Annapurna Area Conservation Project (ACAP), a total of 38,896 tourists visited the district in FY 2021/22. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the tourists visiting the area were from 48 different countries. Among them, most of the tourists arrived from neighbouring India. The number of Indian tourists was an overwhelming 33,457, informed Ashok Subedi, chief of the Jomsom-based ACAP office.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, 2,743 foreign tourists visited Mustang after crossing the 5,300-meter Thorang-La pass from Manang district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, 1, 566 tourists visited Upper Mustang. Tourists need special permit to visit the Upper Mustang that lies to the north of Kagbeni and extends to the Korala border point. According to ACAP, the visitors need to pay USD 500 to enter this semi-restricted area with beautiful landscape for a seven-day period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from SAARC countries need to pay a fee of Rs 1,000 to visit the ACAP region which spreads over Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagadi districts of Gandaki Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from other countries need to pay a fee of Rs 3,000 each to visit this area. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-03', 'modified' => '2022-08-03', 'keywords' => 'tourists, visit, Mustang, Manang, Thorang La, pass, ACAP, Annapurna, Jomsom, Upper, Korala, Kagbeni, Indian', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15478', 'image' => '20220803094744_mustang.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-03 09:45:11', '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' => '15751', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rs 36.7 Billion Required for Tatopani and Upper Marsyangdi Projects', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion. ', '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","sans-serif"">August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion. The cost of the Upper Marsyangdi Hydropower Project alone is estimated to cost Rs 33.3 billion. </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","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Forestry has published an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report with an estimated cost of Tatopani Hydel at Rs 3.4 billion. </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","sans-serif"">Upper Marsyangdi is a proposed project in Marsyangdi river which flows through Lamjung district of Gandaki Province.</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","sans-serif"">A feasibility study conducted by the Upper Marsyangdi Power Company Pvt. Ltd. in 2065 after obtaining a survey permit from the Department of Electricity Development concluded that the project can be constructed with a capacity of 138 MW. The environmental impact assessment report of the project has been approved.</span></span><strong> </strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, when the company was about to start the project after the completion of the entire process, it was found that the project would affect the proposed dam area of another project – Upper Marshyangdi A Hydropower Project – which lies a little downstream of the project area.</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","sans-serif"">The project was then told to move its construction site about 1.2 kilometers upstream.</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","sans-serif"">Later, a detailed study found that only 102 megawatts of electricity can be generated at the new site.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15492', 'image' => '20220805020539_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 14:04:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15750', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Secretary Marasini Transferred to PM’s Office', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on Thursday transferred Marasini to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, informed a minister aware of the latest development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also assigned the responsibilities of finance secretary to Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini has accused Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of brining unauthorized persons in the ministry on the eve of budget announcement for the current fiscal year in order to change the tax rates. Marasini had taken indefinite leave as the controversy reached its climax a few weeks ago. Sharma resigned from his post on July 6 after the federal parliament formed a special probe committee to under pressure from opposition parties as well as various sectors to investigate the allegation against Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini returned to office the very next day Sharma stepped down. However, after a few weeks of investigation, the special probe committee found Sharma not guilty due to lack of evidences to establish his involvement in bringing unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari then reappointed Sharma on July 31 upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. As he was in odds with the finance secretary, Sharma’s reappointment inevitably meant transfer of Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15491', 'image' => '20220805015123_1659612220.Madhu Marisini .jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:50:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15749', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Profit of Agriculture Development Bank Declines by 24 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. The net profit of the bank amounted to more than Rs 3.52 billion the previous year, which dropped to just over Rs 2.69 billion last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the net profit of the bank was affected as the operating profit declined by 15.23 percent due to the higher impairment charge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The impairment charge, which was more than Rs 12.14 million previous year, increased to more than Rs 29.51 million last year. As a result, the operating profit of the bank, which was Rs 5.3 billion in the previous year, dropped to just over Rs 4.11 billion last year. The bank's distributable profit till the last quarter was over Rs 3.90 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">By distributing 20 percent bonus shares, the paid-up capital of the bank reached Rs 13.18 billion. Last year, the bank collected 2.26 percent more deposits than the previous year while the credit flow increased by 155 percent. The bank collected more than Rs 166 billion in deposits and disbursed loans amounting to more than Rs 175 biillion last year. The non-performing loan which was 1.88 percent previous year, remained at 1.68 percent last year. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15490', 'image' => '20220805012625_krishibikashbank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15748', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 300K Tourists Visit Nepal in Seven Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. This number of foreign tourists entered the country via air route between January to July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 44,462 tourists entered Nepal in the month of July, 2022 against 58,811 foreign tourists who visited Nepal in the month of July, 2019. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest number of tourists visiting Nepal in July this year were from India. The number of Indian tourists during the review period stood at 17,299. Likewise, 1,874 tourists entered Nepal from Bangladesh, 1,539 from China and 4,195 from Asia and other countries in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 9,121 tourists from Europe, 3,735 from the Middle-East and 5,228 from USA in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Nepal Tourism Board, 16,975 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the month of January; 19,766 in February; 41,006 in March; 61,589 in April; 53,608 in May; 46,957 in June and 44,462 in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director of Nepal Tourism Board, Maniraj Lamichhane said although the month of July is off-season for tourists, the arrival of tourists is increasing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It indicates gradual revival of tourism sector of Nepal,” he said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15489', 'image' => '20220805093437_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:33:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15747', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Forms Committee to Study Rental Charge of Industrial Estates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. The move comes after protests from stakeholders following the decision of the Industrial Area Management Limited (IDM) to implement the new fares that were fixed on 17th July 2018 in all 10 industrial estates. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The private sector has been protesting the decision saying that the latest move of the government has put them at the receiving end and also discouraged investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Following request from the stakeholders, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on Wednesday formed the study committee headed by Joint Secretary Chandrakala Poudel. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been mandated to submit a report within one month, informed Dr Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry. Dr Regmi said that the government will decide about the rental charge of the industrial estates after the committee submits its report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier this week, a delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries had met Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu and requested him to reconsider the decision to hike the rental charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI expressed objection stating that IDM has been seeking demand charge for stored equipment, collecting fees even for the water extracted through boring by the industries themselves and raising the rent of the land in an unwanted manner. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI delegation said that the decision to hike the rental charge by 687 percent has badly affected the industries that are yet to recover from the impacts of Covid-19. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI’s Acting President Krishna Prasad Adhikari</span></span> argued that the decision of IDM will result in the collapse of existing industries and the country's dream of import substitution and export promotion through the promotion of manufacturing and industrial sectors will not be fulfilled.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI informed that the IDM has even denied extending contract period of land and also refused to issue recommendation letter for the industries to apply for bank loans in case they did not pay the rental charge as per the new rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15488', 'image' => '20220805092756_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:27:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15746', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Commission Gears up for November 20 Polls ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EC on Thursday made it clear that it was capable to hold the election on the stipulated date in a free and fair manner. EC officials had met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on July 6 and recommended the government to hold the elections to the provincial and federal parliaments on November 20, arguing that the term of the present lawmakers will expire on December 7. The EC had made the recommendation for announcement of election date by maintaining at least 120 days as election period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a press conference after the announcement of the election date on Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the EC would expedite the preparations for the upcoming election. According to him, the election calendar would be published immediately after Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He thanked the government for deciding to hold the provincial and federal elections in a single phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the number of voters will be increased by around 1 million in the upcoming election. Similarly, the process of party registration will begin as per Article 271 of the Constitution of Nepal and Section 48 of Political Parties Act, 2073. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CEC Thapaliya said Rs 8.11 billion was spent to hold the local level elections while Rs 10 billion is estimated to be spent for the upcoming elections. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15487', 'image' => '20220805085711_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 08:56:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15745', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Encouraging BFIs to Increase Interest Rates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.<br /> Issuing a directive to implement the provision included in the monetary policy for the current fiscal year, NRB has allowed BFIs to change the interest rates as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Amending the Unified Directive 2078 on Wednesday, the central bank has given permission to the BFIs to change the interest rate with immediate effect whenever the central bank changes the bank rate and the policy interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had announced to increase the policy interest rate through the monetary policy in order to discourage credit flow. As per the announcement, the central bank had increased the bank rate by 1. 5 percentage points and fixed it at 8.5 percent. Likewise, the policy interest rate has been increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent and the deposit collection rate has been increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent. These rates have been implemented before the amendment of the unified directive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Banks had reached a gentlemen’s agreement to stabilize the interest rates since the last five months. However, they are now preparing to increase the interest rate as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Bankers’ Association President Anil Kumar Upadhyay said that the banks will decide about increasing the interest rates after their meeting. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The Unified Directive has allowed us to increase the interest rates with immediate effect. Now the association will take an official decision after holding a meeting,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the banks were involved in unhealthy competition to increase deposit collection by increasing the interest rates due to the liquidity crisis. However, the central bank intervened nine months ago to stop the banks from indulging in such activity. The central bank issued a verbal instruction to the banks not to increase the interest rates on October 19 last year. The very next day, NRB issued a circular allowing banks to increase or decrease the interest rates by ten percent every month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association had brokered a deal among its member banks to fix the maximum interest rate on personal deposits at 11.3 percent and the maximum interest on institutional deposits at 10.3. However, the instruction issued by the central bank on Wednesday has paved the way for banks to increase the interest rates beyond the those limits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15486', 'image' => '20220804074619_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 19:45:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15743', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Complexities of Land Use Regulation Exposed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the complexities that have surfaced while implementing this regulation is unlikely to disappear soon. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For example, there are plenty of agricultural land on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley. But the people’s representatives have been insisting that there isn’t any agricultural land in their local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has authorized the local units for the first time to classify lands on the basis of the Land Use Regulation. But later on, if the land use classification is to be changed it has to be done through the Local Land Use Council as well as the councils of the provincial and federal levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The centre does not have the authority to reject the recommendation made by the local level regarding the agricultural land. The people’s representatives are wary that classifying the land in agricultural category might cost them votes of the people get dissatisfied with their decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey insists that the local units have been making fake claims that there isn’t any agricultural land in their area just to appease their voters. Chandragiri and Nagarjun municipalities within the Kathamdu valley have recommended the Department of Survey that they have no agricultural land within their premises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey as well as the concerned ministry does not have any answer if all the local units come up with the same conclusion that they do not have any cultivable land.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey has been mandated to update the existing map as per the recommendation made by the local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Prakash Joshi says that the map prepared by the department and the one prepared by the local units are totally different.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15485', 'image' => '20220804020714_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 14:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15744', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘People used to Mistaken Himalayan Java for Furniture Shop’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the interview, he shared that Nepal's coffee is of the highest quality in the world, and it is necessary to increase the government's efforts to promote cultivation of coffee in the country. According to him, farmer’s attraction towards coffee farming can be increased if necessary training, publicity, and subsidies are provided by the government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Due to the lack of necessary training, required skills, and investment, the farmers are not much interested in coffee farming compared to other cash crops. Due to these reasons, they could not produce coffee as per the demand, says Pradhan. According to him, there is a lot of potential for exporting coffee produced in Nepal. His experience says that the government has not been able to do the required homework for exporting coffee.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Because of the lack of knowledge that crush farming (other cultivation along with coffee) is done during coffee cultivation, the farmers' interest in it has not increased. It is difficult to grow coffee as the production starts after 6-7 years of planting, shares Pradhan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to him, the annual consumption of coffee in Nepal is 10,000 metric tons. Nepalese coffee is 100 percent organic. He said that the farmers were unaware that coffee is sold for as much as Rs 1,200 per kg. As Nepal is not able to produce coffee in accordance to the demand, it is being imported from countries like India, Italy, Thailand, and Indonesia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan, who went to Australia for higher education, learned to make coffee there. After completing his studies, he came back with the intention of doing something in Nepal and went to America to learn more about management. He again took coffee-making training, learned the method, and returned home with the coffee-making machine. At that time, only five-star hotels sold coffee in Kathmandu. Only instant coffee was available at cheap prices in tea shops and restaurants.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan says Himalayan Java has played an important role in developing coffee culture in Nepal since the past two decades.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan established Himalayan Java with an investment of around Rs 1.3 million after a market survey in the initial stage. He also shared the experience that some people were initially mistaken with Himalayan Java for a furniture store or a computer training center.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">His company is currently involved in coffee farming as well as importing coffee and providing barista and bakery training. Pradhan informed that his business started from Heritage Plaza in Kathmandu and has reached 40 outlets in the country and abroad. Fifty percent of the outlets in operation are in the form of franchises. He said that the franchise was given upon the request of the businessmen. Business expansion stopped during the period of coromavirus pandemic. Now, Himalayan Java is working with the goal of expanding the franchise in the cities located along the major highways.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He is of the view that the Nepalese need to promote commercial farming of coffee. For this, there should be a coordination for production and supply chain. If all these can be managed, Nepal will have a good prospect of coffee culture in the days ahead.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Himalayan, Java, coffee, culture, promotion', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15484', 'image' => '20220804055531_1659608040.gagan pradhan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 17:53:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15742', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Sales Mission 2022 concludes in Thailand ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Eleven exhibitors from Nepal and over 45 tour operators in Thailand joined the event organised by the Pacific Asia Travels Association (PATA) Nepal chapter on August 1. As per the organiser, the event concluded on a positive note. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA Nepal chapter, B2B session, formal function and networking dinner reception were the parts of the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Welcoming the participants on the occasion, Bibhuti Chand Thakur, chairperson of PATA Nepal Chapter, called on all the tourism stakeholders in the public and private sectors to join hands to overcome the hardships created by the global pandemic, and promote tourism exchange between the two friendly nations, Nepal and Thailand. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA, Thakur expressed his belief that this Sales Mission in Bangkok has been a timely and productive initiative to support the post-pandemic tourism recovery, promoting the newly built Gautam Buddha International Airport and the new avenues and opportunities for sustainable tourism development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, Ganesh Prasad Dhakal, highlighted the attractions of Nepal’s tourism and encouraged the Thai Travel Agents and visitors by assuring full support of Nepal’s embassy for visa issuance, necessary information and other cooperation in regard to their travel to Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ben Montgomery, chairperson of PATA Thailand Chapter, extended her welcome remarks and best wishes for Nepal’s tourism recovery initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, speaking as a keynote speaker about Destination Nepal, shared the in-depth insights about latest updates and the alluring offerings of Nepal as a lifetime experience destination. He also shared his expert thoughts on how Thai Travel Agents can benefit by connecting with Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shivek Sachdev, vice president of Thai Travel Agents Association, appreciated sustainable and environment-friendly initiatives of Nepal and urged his Thai tourism fraternity to extend their support for Nepal's tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hom Prasad Parajuli, Country Manager of Nepal Airlines in Thailand, made a presentation regarding the easy connectivity between Nepal and Thailand, the national flag carrier’s promotional fare, and special facilitation </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was supported by the Embassy of Nepal in Thailand, Nepal Airlines, PATA HQ and PATA Thailand Chapter, Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), SS Group Thailand, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Jawalakhel Group of Industries (JGI).</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"">It was the first post-pandemic tourism promotion event overseas that included a delegation of 20 tourism professionals comprising PATA Nepal Chapter executives and members who also attended the 6th PATA Destination Marketing Forum (PDMF), held in Songkhla, Thailand from August 2nd to 4th, 2022. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15483', 'image' => '20220804012910_20220728124411_PN-Nepal-Sales-Mission-2022-Thailand.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 13:28:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15741', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '10,000 Sacks of Fertilizers stuck at Tatopani Customs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months.', '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","sans-serif"">August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months. While farmers across the country are facing extreme shortage of fertilizer, 9,970 sacks of urea are stranded due to the negligence of the importers and the state-owned Agriculture Inputs Company Limited.</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","sans-serif"">The problem started when the two companies, Silk and Sinovac, who bagged the contract issued by the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, delayed the purchase from China. </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","sans-serif"">According to the contract, the fertilizer should have been handed over to the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited within 120 days. However, those two companies could not bring the fertilizer within the given deadline. </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","sans-serif"">After that, Silk and Sinovac ignored the notice issued by Agriculture Inputs Company Limited requesting them to come into contact within 21 days. </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","sans-serif"">Later, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited filed a case against both the companies in court. While the case was sub judice, the fertilizer arrived at the Tatopani customs. Although the importing companies informed about the arrival of fertilizer, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited refused to receive the consignment. The Agriculture Inputs Company Limited did not even send inspection team for mandatory quality tests to be done when importing fertilizer from the customs. Due to this tussle, the fertilizer that arrived at the customs after a long process is on verge of being damaged.</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","sans-serif"">Narad Gautam, the head of customs informed that Tatopani customs warned the importing company twice to release the fertilizer from the customs as soon as possible saying that the fertilizer may get damaged in the warehouse. </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","sans-serif"">“However, the importer company has not come in contact yet,” he said. The fertilizer arrived at Tatopani Customs on May 13. </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","sans-serif"">According to sources, the companies importing the fertilizer have to pay Rs 5.5 million for keeping the fertilizer in the warehouse of Nepal Transit and Warehousing Company Limited in Tatopani for three months.</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","sans-serif"">Sources claim that the fertilizer failed to enter Nepal as both the importing companies were involved in the process of getting the charge waived. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Tatopani, customs, fertilizer, urea, import', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15482', 'image' => '20220804125749_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15740', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Airlines Aircraft makes Emergency Landing at Nepalgunj Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday ). . ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday). . </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepalgunj-based Station Chief of Shree Airlines, Parshuram Chaudhary, told the state-owned RSS that the aircraft with call sign 9N-ANF 432 that took off for Kathmandu from Nepalgunj made an emergency landing within six minutes of take-off after smoke started to appear inside the aircraft. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A total of 79 passengers were in the aircraft and all of them are safe, added Chaudhary.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He further said that a team of engineers from Kathmandu will arrive in Nepalgunj to find out the reason behind the problem, RSS reported.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A similar incident occurred last week at Pokhara Airport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An aircraft of Yeti Airlines that took off from Pokhara to Kathmandu on Friday morning made a safe landing back in Pokhara six minutes later following a technical problem.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the aircraft returned back to Pokhara after its engine malfunctioned.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal has a poor record of aviation safety despite making some improvement as per the ICAO report.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The last time Nepal witnessed a fatal air crash was on May 29 when a Twin Otter carrying nineteen passengers and three crew members crashed in Manapathi hill of Mustang district killing all people on board.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to media reports, the aircraft with call sign 9N-AET had been in operation since the last 43 years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> - </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'aircraft, Shree, Airlines, Nepalgunj, airport, landing, technical, problem, aviation, safety', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15481', 'image' => '20220804123230_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:30:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15739', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Textile Industry Still Relying on Age-Old Technology', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">Om Prakash Khanal</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","sans-serif"">August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises. However, most of the 200 small-scale textile industries in Nepal are running with age-old equipment. The textile industries of Nepal are importing second-hand machineries that have been used for at least one decade in third countries including India.</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","sans-serif"">The Nepal Textile Industry Association estimates that the annual consumption of clothes in Nepal is worth Rs 6 billion. The share of home-made products is only 5 to 10 percent. The annual clothes consumption data of Nepal mentioned in a statement released by the association on June 2 is not official though. It is not possible to independently verify this data.</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","sans-serif"">Why are industries relying on old equipment despite such a large market potential? Entrepreneur Ramesh Gadia's answers by saying that the market is small and the dominance of foreign clothes scare industrialists to invest in new technology.</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","sans-serif"">Out of the total clothes consumed in Nepal, local production and import through formal means is worth Rs 1 billion. Jitendra Lohia, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association claims that the remaining clothes worth Rs 5 billion are imported through informal channels.</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","sans-serif"">According to Gadia, the domestic manufacturers are afraid to invest in technology because of the cheap clothes imported or smuggled from India and China. </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","sans-serif"">When Binay Shah, the owner of Nobel Textiles in Birgunj, introduced new technology in his industry, other textile industrialists suggested Shah that it would be risky. He said that he was ready to take risk. However, the most of the entrepreneurs do not want to take this risk. </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","sans-serif"">“Production is taking place in the country since the last 30/35 years with the use of old equipment that has been used for over 10 years elsewhere,” said Gadia.</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","sans-serif"">The lack of stability in the government's policy towards the textile industry is also the reason for the industrialists' hesitation. Vice President Lohia complains that the provisions brought by the government as concessions are also unreasonable. The government announced a subsidy of 5 percentage points on loans taken by the textile industry up to Rs 50 million. Not all types of textile industries are able to get this concession.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialist Pitambar Munka complained that up to the year 2074/75, the textile industry was given a 100 percent VAT exemption, which was removed after the concession scheme. </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","sans-serif"">“The government gave 50 percent subsidy on electricity tariff in the year 2076/77, which was also removed from the year 2077/78,” said Munka.</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","sans-serif"">Most of the clothes consumed in Nepal are imported from India. Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 5 percent on clothing in India. This tax is not levied on clothes entering Nepal legally. Although 15 percent customs duty is imposed on textile imports, most of them come under SAFTA concessions of 5 to 7 percent. Meanwhile, 5 percent customs duty is to be paid on yarn imported by the domestic industry.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialists claim that most of the clothes are imported through illegal means without paying revenue. Gadia added, “On top of that, since India has given up to 50 percent subsidy to the textile industry, it is difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from there. Due to the competition, the domestic textile industry of Nepal is stuck with old technology.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15480', 'image' => '20220804112418_DXHGMR-1024x937.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 11:22:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15738', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Petroleum Products will not be Adjusted: NOC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the NOC shared that even though it has made some profit in petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel, the price of petroleum products would not be adjusted as it has to pay loan taken from the Government of Nepal and dues to the IOC.</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"">The state-owned oil monopoly made such remarks despite adopting the auto-pricing mechanism, under which it should have adjusted the prices as per the fluctuation in prices in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new purchase price received from IOC on Monday, NOC makes a profit of Rs 2.75 per litre of petrol, Rs 9.37 loss per litre of diesel and Rs 499.57 loss per cylinder of cooking gas (LPG), said NOC's Joint-Spokesperson Puskar Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the NOC is making profit through the sale of kerosene and aviation fuel. However, the NOC projects that it will incur a loss of Rs 1.27 billion per month from the sale of petroleum products in the current price, RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned NOC had earlier taken a loan of seven billion rupees from the government and three billion rupees from Rastriya Banijya Bank to pay to the IOC, to which it still owes Rs 23 billion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15479', 'image' => '20220804103954_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 10:39:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15733', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 39,000 Tourists Visited Mustang in Last Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Jomsom-based office of the Annapurna Area Conservation Project (ACAP), a total of 38,896 tourists visited the district in FY 2021/22. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the tourists visiting the area were from 48 different countries. Among them, most of the tourists arrived from neighbouring India. The number of Indian tourists was an overwhelming 33,457, informed Ashok Subedi, chief of the Jomsom-based ACAP office.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, 2,743 foreign tourists visited Mustang after crossing the 5,300-meter Thorang-La pass from Manang district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, 1, 566 tourists visited Upper Mustang. Tourists need special permit to visit the Upper Mustang that lies to the north of Kagbeni and extends to the Korala border point. According to ACAP, the visitors need to pay USD 500 to enter this semi-restricted area with beautiful landscape for a seven-day period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from SAARC countries need to pay a fee of Rs 1,000 to visit the ACAP region which spreads over Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagadi districts of Gandaki Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from other countries need to pay a fee of Rs 3,000 each to visit this area. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-03', 'modified' => '2022-08-03', 'keywords' => 'tourists, visit, Mustang, Manang, Thorang La, pass, ACAP, Annapurna, Jomsom, Upper, Korala, Kagbeni, Indian', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15478', 'image' => '20220803094744_mustang.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-03 09:45:11', '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' => '15751', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Rs 36.7 Billion Required for Tatopani and Upper Marsyangdi Projects', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion. ', '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","sans-serif"">August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion. The cost of the Upper Marsyangdi Hydropower Project alone is estimated to cost Rs 33.3 billion. </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","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Forestry has published an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report with an estimated cost of Tatopani Hydel at Rs 3.4 billion. </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","sans-serif"">Upper Marsyangdi is a proposed project in Marsyangdi river which flows through Lamjung district of Gandaki Province.</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","sans-serif"">A feasibility study conducted by the Upper Marsyangdi Power Company Pvt. Ltd. in 2065 after obtaining a survey permit from the Department of Electricity Development concluded that the project can be constructed with a capacity of 138 MW. The environmental impact assessment report of the project has been approved.</span></span><strong> </strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, when the company was about to start the project after the completion of the entire process, it was found that the project would affect the proposed dam area of another project – Upper Marshyangdi A Hydropower Project – which lies a little downstream of the project area.</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","sans-serif"">The project was then told to move its construction site about 1.2 kilometers upstream.</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","sans-serif"">Later, a detailed study found that only 102 megawatts of electricity can be generated at the new site.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15492', 'image' => '20220805020539_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 14:04:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15750', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Secretary Marasini Transferred to PM’s Office', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on Thursday transferred Marasini to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, informed a minister aware of the latest development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also assigned the responsibilities of finance secretary to Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini has accused Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of brining unauthorized persons in the ministry on the eve of budget announcement for the current fiscal year in order to change the tax rates. Marasini had taken indefinite leave as the controversy reached its climax a few weeks ago. Sharma resigned from his post on July 6 after the federal parliament formed a special probe committee to under pressure from opposition parties as well as various sectors to investigate the allegation against Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini returned to office the very next day Sharma stepped down. However, after a few weeks of investigation, the special probe committee found Sharma not guilty due to lack of evidences to establish his involvement in bringing unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari then reappointed Sharma on July 31 upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. As he was in odds with the finance secretary, Sharma’s reappointment inevitably meant transfer of Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15491', 'image' => '20220805015123_1659612220.Madhu Marisini .jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:50:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15749', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Profit of Agriculture Development Bank Declines by 24 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. The net profit of the bank amounted to more than Rs 3.52 billion the previous year, which dropped to just over Rs 2.69 billion last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the net profit of the bank was affected as the operating profit declined by 15.23 percent due to the higher impairment charge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The impairment charge, which was more than Rs 12.14 million previous year, increased to more than Rs 29.51 million last year. As a result, the operating profit of the bank, which was Rs 5.3 billion in the previous year, dropped to just over Rs 4.11 billion last year. The bank's distributable profit till the last quarter was over Rs 3.90 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">By distributing 20 percent bonus shares, the paid-up capital of the bank reached Rs 13.18 billion. Last year, the bank collected 2.26 percent more deposits than the previous year while the credit flow increased by 155 percent. The bank collected more than Rs 166 billion in deposits and disbursed loans amounting to more than Rs 175 biillion last year. The non-performing loan which was 1.88 percent previous year, remained at 1.68 percent last year. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15490', 'image' => '20220805012625_krishibikashbank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15748', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 300K Tourists Visit Nepal in Seven Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. This number of foreign tourists entered the country via air route between January to July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 44,462 tourists entered Nepal in the month of July, 2022 against 58,811 foreign tourists who visited Nepal in the month of July, 2019. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest number of tourists visiting Nepal in July this year were from India. The number of Indian tourists during the review period stood at 17,299. Likewise, 1,874 tourists entered Nepal from Bangladesh, 1,539 from China and 4,195 from Asia and other countries in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 9,121 tourists from Europe, 3,735 from the Middle-East and 5,228 from USA in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Nepal Tourism Board, 16,975 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the month of January; 19,766 in February; 41,006 in March; 61,589 in April; 53,608 in May; 46,957 in June and 44,462 in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director of Nepal Tourism Board, Maniraj Lamichhane said although the month of July is off-season for tourists, the arrival of tourists is increasing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It indicates gradual revival of tourism sector of Nepal,” he said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15489', 'image' => '20220805093437_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:33:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15747', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Forms Committee to Study Rental Charge of Industrial Estates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. The move comes after protests from stakeholders following the decision of the Industrial Area Management Limited (IDM) to implement the new fares that were fixed on 17th July 2018 in all 10 industrial estates. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The private sector has been protesting the decision saying that the latest move of the government has put them at the receiving end and also discouraged investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Following request from the stakeholders, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on Wednesday formed the study committee headed by Joint Secretary Chandrakala Poudel. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been mandated to submit a report within one month, informed Dr Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry. Dr Regmi said that the government will decide about the rental charge of the industrial estates after the committee submits its report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier this week, a delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries had met Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu and requested him to reconsider the decision to hike the rental charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI expressed objection stating that IDM has been seeking demand charge for stored equipment, collecting fees even for the water extracted through boring by the industries themselves and raising the rent of the land in an unwanted manner. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI delegation said that the decision to hike the rental charge by 687 percent has badly affected the industries that are yet to recover from the impacts of Covid-19. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI’s Acting President Krishna Prasad Adhikari</span></span> argued that the decision of IDM will result in the collapse of existing industries and the country's dream of import substitution and export promotion through the promotion of manufacturing and industrial sectors will not be fulfilled.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI informed that the IDM has even denied extending contract period of land and also refused to issue recommendation letter for the industries to apply for bank loans in case they did not pay the rental charge as per the new rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15488', 'image' => '20220805092756_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:27:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15746', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Commission Gears up for November 20 Polls ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EC on Thursday made it clear that it was capable to hold the election on the stipulated date in a free and fair manner. EC officials had met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on July 6 and recommended the government to hold the elections to the provincial and federal parliaments on November 20, arguing that the term of the present lawmakers will expire on December 7. The EC had made the recommendation for announcement of election date by maintaining at least 120 days as election period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a press conference after the announcement of the election date on Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the EC would expedite the preparations for the upcoming election. According to him, the election calendar would be published immediately after Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He thanked the government for deciding to hold the provincial and federal elections in a single phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the number of voters will be increased by around 1 million in the upcoming election. Similarly, the process of party registration will begin as per Article 271 of the Constitution of Nepal and Section 48 of Political Parties Act, 2073. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CEC Thapaliya said Rs 8.11 billion was spent to hold the local level elections while Rs 10 billion is estimated to be spent for the upcoming elections. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15487', 'image' => '20220805085711_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 08:56:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15745', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Encouraging BFIs to Increase Interest Rates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.<br /> Issuing a directive to implement the provision included in the monetary policy for the current fiscal year, NRB has allowed BFIs to change the interest rates as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Amending the Unified Directive 2078 on Wednesday, the central bank has given permission to the BFIs to change the interest rate with immediate effect whenever the central bank changes the bank rate and the policy interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had announced to increase the policy interest rate through the monetary policy in order to discourage credit flow. As per the announcement, the central bank had increased the bank rate by 1. 5 percentage points and fixed it at 8.5 percent. Likewise, the policy interest rate has been increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent and the deposit collection rate has been increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent. These rates have been implemented before the amendment of the unified directive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Banks had reached a gentlemen’s agreement to stabilize the interest rates since the last five months. However, they are now preparing to increase the interest rate as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Bankers’ Association President Anil Kumar Upadhyay said that the banks will decide about increasing the interest rates after their meeting. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The Unified Directive has allowed us to increase the interest rates with immediate effect. Now the association will take an official decision after holding a meeting,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the banks were involved in unhealthy competition to increase deposit collection by increasing the interest rates due to the liquidity crisis. However, the central bank intervened nine months ago to stop the banks from indulging in such activity. The central bank issued a verbal instruction to the banks not to increase the interest rates on October 19 last year. The very next day, NRB issued a circular allowing banks to increase or decrease the interest rates by ten percent every month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association had brokered a deal among its member banks to fix the maximum interest rate on personal deposits at 11.3 percent and the maximum interest on institutional deposits at 10.3. However, the instruction issued by the central bank on Wednesday has paved the way for banks to increase the interest rates beyond the those limits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15486', 'image' => '20220804074619_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 19:45:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15743', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Complexities of Land Use Regulation Exposed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the complexities that have surfaced while implementing this regulation is unlikely to disappear soon. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For example, there are plenty of agricultural land on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley. But the people’s representatives have been insisting that there isn’t any agricultural land in their local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has authorized the local units for the first time to classify lands on the basis of the Land Use Regulation. But later on, if the land use classification is to be changed it has to be done through the Local Land Use Council as well as the councils of the provincial and federal levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The centre does not have the authority to reject the recommendation made by the local level regarding the agricultural land. The people’s representatives are wary that classifying the land in agricultural category might cost them votes of the people get dissatisfied with their decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey insists that the local units have been making fake claims that there isn’t any agricultural land in their area just to appease their voters. Chandragiri and Nagarjun municipalities within the Kathamdu valley have recommended the Department of Survey that they have no agricultural land within their premises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey as well as the concerned ministry does not have any answer if all the local units come up with the same conclusion that they do not have any cultivable land.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey has been mandated to update the existing map as per the recommendation made by the local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Prakash Joshi says that the map prepared by the department and the one prepared by the local units are totally different.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15485', 'image' => '20220804020714_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 14:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15744', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘People used to Mistaken Himalayan Java for Furniture Shop’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the interview, he shared that Nepal's coffee is of the highest quality in the world, and it is necessary to increase the government's efforts to promote cultivation of coffee in the country. According to him, farmer’s attraction towards coffee farming can be increased if necessary training, publicity, and subsidies are provided by the government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Due to the lack of necessary training, required skills, and investment, the farmers are not much interested in coffee farming compared to other cash crops. Due to these reasons, they could not produce coffee as per the demand, says Pradhan. According to him, there is a lot of potential for exporting coffee produced in Nepal. His experience says that the government has not been able to do the required homework for exporting coffee.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Because of the lack of knowledge that crush farming (other cultivation along with coffee) is done during coffee cultivation, the farmers' interest in it has not increased. It is difficult to grow coffee as the production starts after 6-7 years of planting, shares Pradhan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to him, the annual consumption of coffee in Nepal is 10,000 metric tons. Nepalese coffee is 100 percent organic. He said that the farmers were unaware that coffee is sold for as much as Rs 1,200 per kg. As Nepal is not able to produce coffee in accordance to the demand, it is being imported from countries like India, Italy, Thailand, and Indonesia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan, who went to Australia for higher education, learned to make coffee there. After completing his studies, he came back with the intention of doing something in Nepal and went to America to learn more about management. He again took coffee-making training, learned the method, and returned home with the coffee-making machine. At that time, only five-star hotels sold coffee in Kathmandu. Only instant coffee was available at cheap prices in tea shops and restaurants.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan says Himalayan Java has played an important role in developing coffee culture in Nepal since the past two decades.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan established Himalayan Java with an investment of around Rs 1.3 million after a market survey in the initial stage. He also shared the experience that some people were initially mistaken with Himalayan Java for a furniture store or a computer training center.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">His company is currently involved in coffee farming as well as importing coffee and providing barista and bakery training. Pradhan informed that his business started from Heritage Plaza in Kathmandu and has reached 40 outlets in the country and abroad. Fifty percent of the outlets in operation are in the form of franchises. He said that the franchise was given upon the request of the businessmen. Business expansion stopped during the period of coromavirus pandemic. Now, Himalayan Java is working with the goal of expanding the franchise in the cities located along the major highways.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He is of the view that the Nepalese need to promote commercial farming of coffee. For this, there should be a coordination for production and supply chain. If all these can be managed, Nepal will have a good prospect of coffee culture in the days ahead.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Himalayan, Java, coffee, culture, promotion', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15484', 'image' => '20220804055531_1659608040.gagan pradhan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 17:53:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15742', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Sales Mission 2022 concludes in Thailand ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Eleven exhibitors from Nepal and over 45 tour operators in Thailand joined the event organised by the Pacific Asia Travels Association (PATA) Nepal chapter on August 1. As per the organiser, the event concluded on a positive note. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA Nepal chapter, B2B session, formal function and networking dinner reception were the parts of the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Welcoming the participants on the occasion, Bibhuti Chand Thakur, chairperson of PATA Nepal Chapter, called on all the tourism stakeholders in the public and private sectors to join hands to overcome the hardships created by the global pandemic, and promote tourism exchange between the two friendly nations, Nepal and Thailand. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA, Thakur expressed his belief that this Sales Mission in Bangkok has been a timely and productive initiative to support the post-pandemic tourism recovery, promoting the newly built Gautam Buddha International Airport and the new avenues and opportunities for sustainable tourism development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, Ganesh Prasad Dhakal, highlighted the attractions of Nepal’s tourism and encouraged the Thai Travel Agents and visitors by assuring full support of Nepal’s embassy for visa issuance, necessary information and other cooperation in regard to their travel to Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ben Montgomery, chairperson of PATA Thailand Chapter, extended her welcome remarks and best wishes for Nepal’s tourism recovery initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, speaking as a keynote speaker about Destination Nepal, shared the in-depth insights about latest updates and the alluring offerings of Nepal as a lifetime experience destination. He also shared his expert thoughts on how Thai Travel Agents can benefit by connecting with Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shivek Sachdev, vice president of Thai Travel Agents Association, appreciated sustainable and environment-friendly initiatives of Nepal and urged his Thai tourism fraternity to extend their support for Nepal's tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hom Prasad Parajuli, Country Manager of Nepal Airlines in Thailand, made a presentation regarding the easy connectivity between Nepal and Thailand, the national flag carrier’s promotional fare, and special facilitation </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was supported by the Embassy of Nepal in Thailand, Nepal Airlines, PATA HQ and PATA Thailand Chapter, Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), SS Group Thailand, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Jawalakhel Group of Industries (JGI).</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"">It was the first post-pandemic tourism promotion event overseas that included a delegation of 20 tourism professionals comprising PATA Nepal Chapter executives and members who also attended the 6th PATA Destination Marketing Forum (PDMF), held in Songkhla, Thailand from August 2nd to 4th, 2022. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15483', 'image' => '20220804012910_20220728124411_PN-Nepal-Sales-Mission-2022-Thailand.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 13:28:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15741', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '10,000 Sacks of Fertilizers stuck at Tatopani Customs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months.', '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","sans-serif"">August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months. While farmers across the country are facing extreme shortage of fertilizer, 9,970 sacks of urea are stranded due to the negligence of the importers and the state-owned Agriculture Inputs Company Limited.</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","sans-serif"">The problem started when the two companies, Silk and Sinovac, who bagged the contract issued by the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, delayed the purchase from China. </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","sans-serif"">According to the contract, the fertilizer should have been handed over to the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited within 120 days. However, those two companies could not bring the fertilizer within the given deadline. </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","sans-serif"">After that, Silk and Sinovac ignored the notice issued by Agriculture Inputs Company Limited requesting them to come into contact within 21 days. </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","sans-serif"">Later, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited filed a case against both the companies in court. While the case was sub judice, the fertilizer arrived at the Tatopani customs. Although the importing companies informed about the arrival of fertilizer, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited refused to receive the consignment. The Agriculture Inputs Company Limited did not even send inspection team for mandatory quality tests to be done when importing fertilizer from the customs. Due to this tussle, the fertilizer that arrived at the customs after a long process is on verge of being damaged.</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","sans-serif"">Narad Gautam, the head of customs informed that Tatopani customs warned the importing company twice to release the fertilizer from the customs as soon as possible saying that the fertilizer may get damaged in the warehouse. </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","sans-serif"">“However, the importer company has not come in contact yet,” he said. The fertilizer arrived at Tatopani Customs on May 13. </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","sans-serif"">According to sources, the companies importing the fertilizer have to pay Rs 5.5 million for keeping the fertilizer in the warehouse of Nepal Transit and Warehousing Company Limited in Tatopani for three months.</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","sans-serif"">Sources claim that the fertilizer failed to enter Nepal as both the importing companies were involved in the process of getting the charge waived. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Tatopani, customs, fertilizer, urea, import', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15482', 'image' => '20220804125749_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15740', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Airlines Aircraft makes Emergency Landing at Nepalgunj Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday ). . ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday). . </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepalgunj-based Station Chief of Shree Airlines, Parshuram Chaudhary, told the state-owned RSS that the aircraft with call sign 9N-ANF 432 that took off for Kathmandu from Nepalgunj made an emergency landing within six minutes of take-off after smoke started to appear inside the aircraft. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A total of 79 passengers were in the aircraft and all of them are safe, added Chaudhary.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He further said that a team of engineers from Kathmandu will arrive in Nepalgunj to find out the reason behind the problem, RSS reported.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A similar incident occurred last week at Pokhara Airport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An aircraft of Yeti Airlines that took off from Pokhara to Kathmandu on Friday morning made a safe landing back in Pokhara six minutes later following a technical problem.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the aircraft returned back to Pokhara after its engine malfunctioned.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal has a poor record of aviation safety despite making some improvement as per the ICAO report.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The last time Nepal witnessed a fatal air crash was on May 29 when a Twin Otter carrying nineteen passengers and three crew members crashed in Manapathi hill of Mustang district killing all people on board.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to media reports, the aircraft with call sign 9N-AET had been in operation since the last 43 years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> - </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'aircraft, Shree, Airlines, Nepalgunj, airport, landing, technical, problem, aviation, safety', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15481', 'image' => '20220804123230_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:30:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15739', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Textile Industry Still Relying on Age-Old Technology', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">Om Prakash Khanal</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","sans-serif"">August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises. However, most of the 200 small-scale textile industries in Nepal are running with age-old equipment. The textile industries of Nepal are importing second-hand machineries that have been used for at least one decade in third countries including India.</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","sans-serif"">The Nepal Textile Industry Association estimates that the annual consumption of clothes in Nepal is worth Rs 6 billion. The share of home-made products is only 5 to 10 percent. The annual clothes consumption data of Nepal mentioned in a statement released by the association on June 2 is not official though. It is not possible to independently verify this data.</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","sans-serif"">Why are industries relying on old equipment despite such a large market potential? Entrepreneur Ramesh Gadia's answers by saying that the market is small and the dominance of foreign clothes scare industrialists to invest in new technology.</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","sans-serif"">Out of the total clothes consumed in Nepal, local production and import through formal means is worth Rs 1 billion. Jitendra Lohia, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association claims that the remaining clothes worth Rs 5 billion are imported through informal channels.</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","sans-serif"">According to Gadia, the domestic manufacturers are afraid to invest in technology because of the cheap clothes imported or smuggled from India and China. </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","sans-serif"">When Binay Shah, the owner of Nobel Textiles in Birgunj, introduced new technology in his industry, other textile industrialists suggested Shah that it would be risky. He said that he was ready to take risk. However, the most of the entrepreneurs do not want to take this risk. </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","sans-serif"">“Production is taking place in the country since the last 30/35 years with the use of old equipment that has been used for over 10 years elsewhere,” said Gadia.</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","sans-serif"">The lack of stability in the government's policy towards the textile industry is also the reason for the industrialists' hesitation. Vice President Lohia complains that the provisions brought by the government as concessions are also unreasonable. The government announced a subsidy of 5 percentage points on loans taken by the textile industry up to Rs 50 million. Not all types of textile industries are able to get this concession.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialist Pitambar Munka complained that up to the year 2074/75, the textile industry was given a 100 percent VAT exemption, which was removed after the concession scheme. </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","sans-serif"">“The government gave 50 percent subsidy on electricity tariff in the year 2076/77, which was also removed from the year 2077/78,” said Munka.</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","sans-serif"">Most of the clothes consumed in Nepal are imported from India. Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 5 percent on clothing in India. This tax is not levied on clothes entering Nepal legally. Although 15 percent customs duty is imposed on textile imports, most of them come under SAFTA concessions of 5 to 7 percent. Meanwhile, 5 percent customs duty is to be paid on yarn imported by the domestic industry.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialists claim that most of the clothes are imported through illegal means without paying revenue. Gadia added, “On top of that, since India has given up to 50 percent subsidy to the textile industry, it is difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from there. Due to the competition, the domestic textile industry of Nepal is stuck with old technology.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15480', 'image' => '20220804112418_DXHGMR-1024x937.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 11:22:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15738', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Petroleum Products will not be Adjusted: NOC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the NOC shared that even though it has made some profit in petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel, the price of petroleum products would not be adjusted as it has to pay loan taken from the Government of Nepal and dues to the IOC.</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"">The state-owned oil monopoly made such remarks despite adopting the auto-pricing mechanism, under which it should have adjusted the prices as per the fluctuation in prices in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new purchase price received from IOC on Monday, NOC makes a profit of Rs 2.75 per litre of petrol, Rs 9.37 loss per litre of diesel and Rs 499.57 loss per cylinder of cooking gas (LPG), said NOC's Joint-Spokesperson Puskar Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the NOC is making profit through the sale of kerosene and aviation fuel. However, the NOC projects that it will incur a loss of Rs 1.27 billion per month from the sale of petroleum products in the current price, RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned NOC had earlier taken a loan of seven billion rupees from the government and three billion rupees from Rastriya Banijya Bank to pay to the IOC, to which it still owes Rs 23 billion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15479', 'image' => '20220804103954_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 10:39:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15733', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 39,000 Tourists Visited Mustang in Last Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Jomsom-based office of the Annapurna Area Conservation Project (ACAP), a total of 38,896 tourists visited the district in FY 2021/22. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the tourists visiting the area were from 48 different countries. Among them, most of the tourists arrived from neighbouring India. The number of Indian tourists was an overwhelming 33,457, informed Ashok Subedi, chief of the Jomsom-based ACAP office.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, 2,743 foreign tourists visited Mustang after crossing the 5,300-meter Thorang-La pass from Manang district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, 1, 566 tourists visited Upper Mustang. Tourists need special permit to visit the Upper Mustang that lies to the north of Kagbeni and extends to the Korala border point. According to ACAP, the visitors need to pay USD 500 to enter this semi-restricted area with beautiful landscape for a seven-day period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from SAARC countries need to pay a fee of Rs 1,000 to visit the ACAP region which spreads over Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagadi districts of Gandaki Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from other countries need to pay a fee of Rs 3,000 each to visit this area. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-03', 'modified' => '2022-08-03', 'keywords' => 'tourists, visit, Mustang, Manang, Thorang La, pass, ACAP, Annapurna, Jomsom, Upper, Korala, Kagbeni, Indian', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15478', 'image' => '20220803094744_mustang.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-03 09:45:11', '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""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 5: The construction of the Upper Marsyangdi and Tatopani hydropower projects are estimated to cost over Rs 36.76 billion. The cost of the Upper Marsyangdi Hydropower Project alone is estimated to cost Rs 33.3 billion. </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","sans-serif"">The Ministry of Forestry has published an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report with an estimated cost of Tatopani Hydel at Rs 3.4 billion. </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","sans-serif"">Upper Marsyangdi is a proposed project in Marsyangdi river which flows through Lamjung district of Gandaki Province.</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","sans-serif"">A feasibility study conducted by the Upper Marsyangdi Power Company Pvt. Ltd. in 2065 after obtaining a survey permit from the Department of Electricity Development concluded that the project can be constructed with a capacity of 138 MW. The environmental impact assessment report of the project has been approved.</span></span><strong> </strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">However, when the company was about to start the project after the completion of the entire process, it was found that the project would affect the proposed dam area of another project – Upper Marshyangdi A Hydropower Project – which lies a little downstream of the project area.</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","sans-serif"">The project was then told to move its construction site about 1.2 kilometers upstream.</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","sans-serif"">Later, a detailed study found that only 102 megawatts of electricity can be generated at the new site.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15492', 'image' => '20220805020539_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 14:04:50', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15750', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Secretary Marasini Transferred to PM’s Office', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini has been transferred from the Ministry of Finance after the reappointment of Janardan Sharma as the finance minister.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A cabinet meeting on Thursday transferred Marasini to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, informed a minister aware of the latest development.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The cabinet meeting also assigned the responsibilities of finance secretary to Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini has accused Finance Minister Janardan Sharma of brining unauthorized persons in the ministry on the eve of budget announcement for the current fiscal year in order to change the tax rates. Marasini had taken indefinite leave as the controversy reached its climax a few weeks ago. Sharma resigned from his post on July 6 after the federal parliament formed a special probe committee to under pressure from opposition parties as well as various sectors to investigate the allegation against Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marasini returned to office the very next day Sharma stepped down. However, after a few weeks of investigation, the special probe committee found Sharma not guilty due to lack of evidences to establish his involvement in bringing unauthorized persons to the ministry to influence the tax rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">President Bidya Devi Bhandari then reappointed Sharma on July 31 upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. As he was in odds with the finance secretary, Sharma’s reappointment inevitably meant transfer of Marasini.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15491', 'image' => '20220805015123_1659612220.Madhu Marisini .jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:50:32', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15749', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Profit of Agriculture Development Bank Declines by 24 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 5: The net profit of Agriculture Development Bank decreased by about 24 percent in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year as compared to the same period of the previous year. The net profit of the bank amounted to more than Rs 3.52 billion the previous year, which dropped to just over Rs 2.69 billion last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the net profit of the bank was affected as the operating profit declined by 15.23 percent due to the higher impairment charge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The impairment charge, which was more than Rs 12.14 million previous year, increased to more than Rs 29.51 million last year. As a result, the operating profit of the bank, which was Rs 5.3 billion in the previous year, dropped to just over Rs 4.11 billion last year. The bank's distributable profit till the last quarter was over Rs 3.90 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">By distributing 20 percent bonus shares, the paid-up capital of the bank reached Rs 13.18 billion. Last year, the bank collected 2.26 percent more deposits than the previous year while the credit flow increased by 155 percent. The bank collected more than Rs 166 billion in deposits and disbursed loans amounting to more than Rs 175 biillion last year. The non-performing loan which was 1.88 percent previous year, remained at 1.68 percent last year. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15490', 'image' => '20220805012625_krishibikashbank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 13:25:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15748', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 300K Tourists Visit Nepal in Seven Months ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: Nepal welcomed 285,363 foreign tourists in the first seven months of 2022, informed Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) citing the Department of Immigration. This number of foreign tourists entered the country via air route between January to July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of 44,462 tourists entered Nepal in the month of July, 2022 against 58,811 foreign tourists who visited Nepal in the month of July, 2019. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The highest number of tourists visiting Nepal in July this year were from India. The number of Indian tourists during the review period stood at 17,299. Likewise, 1,874 tourists entered Nepal from Bangladesh, 1,539 from China and 4,195 from Asia and other countries in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal welcomed 9,121 tourists from Europe, 3,735 from the Middle-East and 5,228 from USA in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the Nepal Tourism Board, 16,975 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the month of January; 19,766 in February; 41,006 in March; 61,589 in April; 53,608 in May; 46,957 in June and 44,462 in July. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director of Nepal Tourism Board, Maniraj Lamichhane said although the month of July is off-season for tourists, the arrival of tourists is increasing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“It indicates gradual revival of tourism sector of Nepal,” he said. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15489', 'image' => '20220805093437_Tourist.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:33:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15747', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Govt Forms Committee to Study Rental Charge of Industrial Estates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">August 5: The government has formed a committee to study the rental charge of industrial estates. The move comes after protests from stakeholders following the decision of the Industrial Area Management Limited (IDM) to implement the new fares that were fixed on 17th July 2018 in all 10 industrial estates. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The private sector has been protesting the decision saying that the latest move of the government has put them at the receiving end and also discouraged investment. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Following request from the stakeholders, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies on Wednesday formed the study committee headed by Joint Secretary Chandrakala Poudel. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The committee has been mandated to submit a report within one month, informed Dr Narayan Prasad Regmi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry. Dr Regmi said that the government will decide about the rental charge of the industrial estates after the committee submits its report.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Earlier this week, a delegation of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries had met Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu and requested him to reconsider the decision to hike the rental charge.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI expressed objection stating that IDM has been seeking demand charge for stored equipment, collecting fees even for the water extracted through boring by the industries themselves and raising the rent of the land in an unwanted manner. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The CNI delegation said that the decision to hike the rental charge by 687 percent has badly affected the industries that are yet to recover from the impacts of Covid-19. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI’s Acting President Krishna Prasad Adhikari</span></span> argued that the decision of IDM will result in the collapse of existing industries and the country's dream of import substitution and export promotion through the promotion of manufacturing and industrial sectors will not be fulfilled.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">CNI informed that the IDM has even denied extending contract period of land and also refused to issue recommendation letter for the industries to apply for bank loans in case they did not pay the rental charge as per the new rate.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15488', 'image' => '20220805092756_Industries.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 09:27:21', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15746', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Election Commission Gears up for November 20 Polls ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 5: The Election Commission (EC) has stepped up preparations for the upcoming elections following the government's decision to hold the federal and provincial elections in a single phase on November 20.</span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EC on Thursday made it clear that it was capable to hold the election on the stipulated date in a free and fair manner. EC officials had met Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on July 6 and recommended the government to hold the elections to the provincial and federal parliaments on November 20, arguing that the term of the present lawmakers will expire on December 7. The EC had made the recommendation for announcement of election date by maintaining at least 120 days as election period. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Organizing a press conference after the announcement of the election date on Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said the EC would expedite the preparations for the upcoming election. According to him, the election calendar would be published immediately after Dashain. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He thanked the government for deciding to hold the provincial and federal elections in a single phase. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the EC, the number of voters will be increased by around 1 million in the upcoming election. Similarly, the process of party registration will begin as per Article 271 of the Constitution of Nepal and Section 48 of Political Parties Act, 2073. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">CEC Thapaliya said Rs 8.11 billion was spent to hold the local level elections while Rs 10 billion is estimated to be spent for the upcoming elections. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-05', 'modified' => '2022-08-05', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15487', 'image' => '20220805085711_Election_Commission.2e16d0ba.fill-650x500.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-05 08:56:30', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15745', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Encouraging BFIs to Increase Interest Rates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: A few years ago, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) had adopted a policy to bring down the interest rates of banks to single digit. But now, the central bank is encouraging banks and financial institutions to increase the interest rates.<br /> Issuing a directive to implement the provision included in the monetary policy for the current fiscal year, NRB has allowed BFIs to change the interest rates as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Amending the Unified Directive 2078 on Wednesday, the central bank has given permission to the BFIs to change the interest rate with immediate effect whenever the central bank changes the bank rate and the policy interest rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had announced to increase the policy interest rate through the monetary policy in order to discourage credit flow. As per the announcement, the central bank had increased the bank rate by 1. 5 percentage points and fixed it at 8.5 percent. Likewise, the policy interest rate has been increased from 5.5 percent to 7 percent and the deposit collection rate has been increased from 4 percent to 5.5 percent. These rates have been implemented before the amendment of the unified directive.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Banks had reached a gentlemen’s agreement to stabilize the interest rates since the last five months. However, they are now preparing to increase the interest rate as per the instruction of the central bank.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Bankers’ Association President Anil Kumar Upadhyay said that the banks will decide about increasing the interest rates after their meeting. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The Unified Directive has allowed us to increase the interest rates with immediate effect. Now the association will take an official decision after holding a meeting,” he said.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Last year, the banks were involved in unhealthy competition to increase deposit collection by increasing the interest rates due to the liquidity crisis. However, the central bank intervened nine months ago to stop the banks from indulging in such activity. The central bank issued a verbal instruction to the banks not to increase the interest rates on October 19 last year. The very next day, NRB issued a circular allowing banks to increase or decrease the interest rates by ten percent every month. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The association had brokered a deal among its member banks to fix the maximum interest rate on personal deposits at 11.3 percent and the maximum interest on institutional deposits at 10.3. However, the instruction issued by the central bank on Wednesday has paved the way for banks to increase the interest rates beyond the those limits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15486', 'image' => '20220804074619_Banks - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 19:45:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15743', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Complexities of Land Use Regulation Exposed', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 4: The Land Use Regulation issued by the government is currently in the phase of implementation. The main objective of introducing this regulation is to protect the agricultural land and increase productivity. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, the complexities that have surfaced while implementing this regulation is unlikely to disappear soon. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">For example, there are plenty of agricultural land on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley. But the people’s representatives have been insisting that there isn’t any agricultural land in their local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has authorized the local units for the first time to classify lands on the basis of the Land Use Regulation. But later on, if the land use classification is to be changed it has to be done through the Local Land Use Council as well as the councils of the provincial and federal levels.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The centre does not have the authority to reject the recommendation made by the local level regarding the agricultural land. The people’s representatives are wary that classifying the land in agricultural category might cost them votes of the people get dissatisfied with their decision.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey insists that the local units have been making fake claims that there isn’t any agricultural land in their area just to appease their voters. Chandragiri and Nagarjun municipalities within the Kathamdu valley have recommended the Department of Survey that they have no agricultural land within their premises.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey as well as the concerned ministry does not have any answer if all the local units come up with the same conclusion that they do not have any cultivable land.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Survey has been mandated to update the existing map as per the recommendation made by the local units. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Prakash Joshi says that the map prepared by the department and the one prepared by the local units are totally different.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15485', 'image' => '20220804020714_ArunYadav_Rajbiraj_RSS_17_a.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 14:06:34', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15744', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘People used to Mistaken Himalayan Java for Furniture Shop’ ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: Gagan Pradhan, the founder of Nepal's famous Himalayan Java Coffee, shared his bittersweet experience with New Business Age about his two-decade long entrepreneurial journey.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">During the interview, he shared that Nepal's coffee is of the highest quality in the world, and it is necessary to increase the government's efforts to promote cultivation of coffee in the country. According to him, farmer’s attraction towards coffee farming can be increased if necessary training, publicity, and subsidies are provided by the government.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Due to the lack of necessary training, required skills, and investment, the farmers are not much interested in coffee farming compared to other cash crops. Due to these reasons, they could not produce coffee as per the demand, says Pradhan. According to him, there is a lot of potential for exporting coffee produced in Nepal. His experience says that the government has not been able to do the required homework for exporting coffee.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Because of the lack of knowledge that crush farming (other cultivation along with coffee) is done during coffee cultivation, the farmers' interest in it has not increased. It is difficult to grow coffee as the production starts after 6-7 years of planting, shares Pradhan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to him, the annual consumption of coffee in Nepal is 10,000 metric tons. Nepalese coffee is 100 percent organic. He said that the farmers were unaware that coffee is sold for as much as Rs 1,200 per kg. As Nepal is not able to produce coffee in accordance to the demand, it is being imported from countries like India, Italy, Thailand, and Indonesia.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan, who went to Australia for higher education, learned to make coffee there. After completing his studies, he came back with the intention of doing something in Nepal and went to America to learn more about management. He again took coffee-making training, learned the method, and returned home with the coffee-making machine. At that time, only five-star hotels sold coffee in Kathmandu. Only instant coffee was available at cheap prices in tea shops and restaurants.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan says Himalayan Java has played an important role in developing coffee culture in Nepal since the past two decades.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Pradhan established Himalayan Java with an investment of around Rs 1.3 million after a market survey in the initial stage. He also shared the experience that some people were initially mistaken with Himalayan Java for a furniture store or a computer training center.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">His company is currently involved in coffee farming as well as importing coffee and providing barista and bakery training. Pradhan informed that his business started from Heritage Plaza in Kathmandu and has reached 40 outlets in the country and abroad. Fifty percent of the outlets in operation are in the form of franchises. He said that the franchise was given upon the request of the businessmen. Business expansion stopped during the period of coromavirus pandemic. Now, Himalayan Java is working with the goal of expanding the franchise in the cities located along the major highways.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He is of the view that the Nepalese need to promote commercial farming of coffee. For this, there should be a coordination for production and supply chain. If all these can be managed, Nepal will have a good prospect of coffee culture in the days ahead.</span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Himalayan, Java, coffee, culture, promotion', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15484', 'image' => '20220804055531_1659608040.gagan pradhan.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 17:53:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15742', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Sales Mission 2022 concludes in Thailand ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: "Nepal Sales Mission 2022" was recently organised in Thailand with the aim of promoting tourist destinations in Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Eleven exhibitors from Nepal and over 45 tour operators in Thailand joined the event organised by the Pacific Asia Travels Association (PATA) Nepal chapter on August 1. As per the organiser, the event concluded on a positive note. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA Nepal chapter, B2B session, formal function and networking dinner reception were the parts of the event. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Welcoming the participants on the occasion, Bibhuti Chand Thakur, chairperson of PATA Nepal Chapter, called on all the tourism stakeholders in the public and private sectors to join hands to overcome the hardships created by the global pandemic, and promote tourism exchange between the two friendly nations, Nepal and Thailand. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the PATA, Thakur expressed his belief that this Sales Mission in Bangkok has been a timely and productive initiative to support the post-pandemic tourism recovery, promoting the newly built Gautam Buddha International Airport and the new avenues and opportunities for sustainable tourism development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand, Ganesh Prasad Dhakal, highlighted the attractions of Nepal’s tourism and encouraged the Thai Travel Agents and visitors by assuring full support of Nepal’s embassy for visa issuance, necessary information and other cooperation in regard to their travel to Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Ben Montgomery, chairperson of PATA Thailand Chapter, extended her welcome remarks and best wishes for Nepal’s tourism recovery initiatives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi, speaking as a keynote speaker about Destination Nepal, shared the in-depth insights about latest updates and the alluring offerings of Nepal as a lifetime experience destination. He also shared his expert thoughts on how Thai Travel Agents can benefit by connecting with Nepal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Shivek Sachdev, vice president of Thai Travel Agents Association, appreciated sustainable and environment-friendly initiatives of Nepal and urged his Thai tourism fraternity to extend their support for Nepal's tourism promotion. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Hom Prasad Parajuli, Country Manager of Nepal Airlines in Thailand, made a presentation regarding the easy connectivity between Nepal and Thailand, the national flag carrier’s promotional fare, and special facilitation </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was supported by the Embassy of Nepal in Thailand, Nepal Airlines, PATA HQ and PATA Thailand Chapter, Thai Travel Agents Association (TTAA), SS Group Thailand, Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), Jawalakhel Group of Industries (JGI).</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"">It was the first post-pandemic tourism promotion event overseas that included a delegation of 20 tourism professionals comprising PATA Nepal Chapter executives and members who also attended the 6th PATA Destination Marketing Forum (PDMF), held in Songkhla, Thailand from August 2nd to 4th, 2022. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15483', 'image' => '20220804012910_20220728124411_PN-Nepal-Sales-Mission-2022-Thailand.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 13:28:29', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15741', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '10,000 Sacks of Fertilizers stuck at Tatopani Customs', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months.', '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","sans-serif"">August 4: About 10,000 sacks of urea, a chemical fertilizer extensively used in the agriculture sector of Nepal, are stranded in Tatopani customs since the last three months. While farmers across the country are facing extreme shortage of fertilizer, 9,970 sacks of urea are stranded due to the negligence of the importers and the state-owned Agriculture Inputs Company Limited.</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","sans-serif"">The problem started when the two companies, Silk and Sinovac, who bagged the contract issued by the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited, delayed the purchase from China. </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","sans-serif"">According to the contract, the fertilizer should have been handed over to the Agriculture Inputs Company Limited within 120 days. However, those two companies could not bring the fertilizer within the given deadline. </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","sans-serif"">After that, Silk and Sinovac ignored the notice issued by Agriculture Inputs Company Limited requesting them to come into contact within 21 days. </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","sans-serif"">Later, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited filed a case against both the companies in court. While the case was sub judice, the fertilizer arrived at the Tatopani customs. Although the importing companies informed about the arrival of fertilizer, Agriculture Inputs Company Limited refused to receive the consignment. The Agriculture Inputs Company Limited did not even send inspection team for mandatory quality tests to be done when importing fertilizer from the customs. Due to this tussle, the fertilizer that arrived at the customs after a long process is on verge of being damaged.</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","sans-serif"">Narad Gautam, the head of customs informed that Tatopani customs warned the importing company twice to release the fertilizer from the customs as soon as possible saying that the fertilizer may get damaged in the warehouse. </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","sans-serif"">“However, the importer company has not come in contact yet,” he said. The fertilizer arrived at Tatopani Customs on May 13. </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","sans-serif"">According to sources, the companies importing the fertilizer have to pay Rs 5.5 million for keeping the fertilizer in the warehouse of Nepal Transit and Warehousing Company Limited in Tatopani for three months.</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","sans-serif"">Sources claim that the fertilizer failed to enter Nepal as both the importing companies were involved in the process of getting the charge waived. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'Tatopani, customs, fertilizer, urea, import', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15482', 'image' => '20220804125749_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:57:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15740', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Airlines Aircraft makes Emergency Landing at Nepalgunj Airport', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday ). . ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">August 4: An aircraft of Shree Airlines made an emergency landing at Nepalgunj Airport today morning (Thursday). . </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepalgunj-based Station Chief of Shree Airlines, Parshuram Chaudhary, told the state-owned RSS that the aircraft with call sign 9N-ANF 432 that took off for Kathmandu from Nepalgunj made an emergency landing within six minutes of take-off after smoke started to appear inside the aircraft. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A total of 79 passengers were in the aircraft and all of them are safe, added Chaudhary.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">He further said that a team of engineers from Kathmandu will arrive in Nepalgunj to find out the reason behind the problem, RSS reported.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">A similar incident occurred last week at Pokhara Airport.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An aircraft of Yeti Airlines that took off from Pokhara to Kathmandu on Friday morning made a safe landing back in Pokhara six minutes later following a technical problem.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, the aircraft returned back to Pokhara after its engine malfunctioned.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Nepal has a poor record of aviation safety despite making some improvement as per the ICAO report.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">The last time Nepal witnessed a fatal air crash was on May 29 when a Twin Otter carrying nineteen passengers and three crew members crashed in Manapathi hill of Mustang district killing all people on board.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px">According to media reports, the aircraft with call sign 9N-AET had been in operation since the last 43 years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"> - </span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => 'aircraft, Shree, Airlines, Nepalgunj, airport, landing, technical, problem, aviation, safety', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15481', 'image' => '20220804123230_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 12:30:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15739', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal's Textile Industry Still Relying on Age-Old Technology', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px">Om Prakash Khanal</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","sans-serif"">August 4: The textile industry is considered to be one of the most promising enterprises. However, most of the 200 small-scale textile industries in Nepal are running with age-old equipment. The textile industries of Nepal are importing second-hand machineries that have been used for at least one decade in third countries including India.</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","sans-serif"">The Nepal Textile Industry Association estimates that the annual consumption of clothes in Nepal is worth Rs 6 billion. The share of home-made products is only 5 to 10 percent. The annual clothes consumption data of Nepal mentioned in a statement released by the association on June 2 is not official though. It is not possible to independently verify this data.</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","sans-serif"">Why are industries relying on old equipment despite such a large market potential? Entrepreneur Ramesh Gadia's answers by saying that the market is small and the dominance of foreign clothes scare industrialists to invest in new technology.</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","sans-serif"">Out of the total clothes consumed in Nepal, local production and import through formal means is worth Rs 1 billion. Jitendra Lohia, vice-president of the Nepal Textile Industry Association claims that the remaining clothes worth Rs 5 billion are imported through informal channels.</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","sans-serif"">According to Gadia, the domestic manufacturers are afraid to invest in technology because of the cheap clothes imported or smuggled from India and China. </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","sans-serif"">When Binay Shah, the owner of Nobel Textiles in Birgunj, introduced new technology in his industry, other textile industrialists suggested Shah that it would be risky. He said that he was ready to take risk. However, the most of the entrepreneurs do not want to take this risk. </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","sans-serif"">“Production is taking place in the country since the last 30/35 years with the use of old equipment that has been used for over 10 years elsewhere,” said Gadia.</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","sans-serif"">The lack of stability in the government's policy towards the textile industry is also the reason for the industrialists' hesitation. Vice President Lohia complains that the provisions brought by the government as concessions are also unreasonable. The government announced a subsidy of 5 percentage points on loans taken by the textile industry up to Rs 50 million. Not all types of textile industries are able to get this concession.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialist Pitambar Munka complained that up to the year 2074/75, the textile industry was given a 100 percent VAT exemption, which was removed after the concession scheme. </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","sans-serif"">“The government gave 50 percent subsidy on electricity tariff in the year 2076/77, which was also removed from the year 2077/78,” said Munka.</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","sans-serif"">Most of the clothes consumed in Nepal are imported from India. Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 5 percent on clothing in India. This tax is not levied on clothes entering Nepal legally. Although 15 percent customs duty is imposed on textile imports, most of them come under SAFTA concessions of 5 to 7 percent. Meanwhile, 5 percent customs duty is to be paid on yarn imported by the domestic industry.</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","sans-serif"">Industrialists claim that most of the clothes are imported through illegal means without paying revenue. Gadia added, “On top of that, since India has given up to 50 percent subsidy to the textile industry, it is difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from there. Due to the competition, the domestic textile industry of Nepal is stuck with old technology.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15480', 'image' => '20220804112418_DXHGMR-1024x937.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 11:22:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15738', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Price of Petroleum Products will not be Adjusted: NOC ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the NOC shared that even though it has made some profit in petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel, the price of petroleum products would not be adjusted as it has to pay loan taken from the Government of Nepal and dues to the IOC.</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"">The state-owned oil monopoly made such remarks despite adopting the auto-pricing mechanism, under which it should have adjusted the prices as per the fluctuation in prices in the international market. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the new purchase price received from IOC on Monday, NOC makes a profit of Rs 2.75 per litre of petrol, Rs 9.37 loss per litre of diesel and Rs 499.57 loss per cylinder of cooking gas (LPG), said NOC's Joint-Spokesperson Puskar Karki. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the NOC is making profit through the sale of kerosene and aviation fuel. However, the NOC projects that it will incur a loss of Rs 1.27 billion per month from the sale of petroleum products in the current price, RSS added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The state-owned NOC had earlier taken a loan of seven billion rupees from the government and three billion rupees from Rastriya Banijya Bank to pay to the IOC, to which it still owes Rs 23 billion. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-04', 'modified' => '2022-08-04', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15479', 'image' => '20220804103954_petroo - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-04 10:39:09', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15733', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Around 39,000 Tourists Visited Mustang in Last Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">August 3: Around 39,000 tourists visited Mustang district in the last fiscal year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the Jomsom-based office of the Annapurna Area Conservation Project (ACAP), a total of 38,896 tourists visited the district in FY 2021/22. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the tourists visiting the area were from 48 different countries. Among them, most of the tourists arrived from neighbouring India. The number of Indian tourists was an overwhelming 33,457, informed Ashok Subedi, chief of the Jomsom-based ACAP office.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, 2,743 foreign tourists visited Mustang after crossing the 5,300-meter Thorang-La pass from Manang district.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, 1, 566 tourists visited Upper Mustang. Tourists need special permit to visit the Upper Mustang that lies to the north of Kagbeni and extends to the Korala border point. According to ACAP, the visitors need to pay USD 500 to enter this semi-restricted area with beautiful landscape for a seven-day period. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from SAARC countries need to pay a fee of Rs 1,000 to visit the ACAP region which spreads over Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagadi districts of Gandaki Province.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:16px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Tourists from other countries need to pay a fee of Rs 3,000 each to visit this area. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-08-03', 'modified' => '2022-08-03', 'keywords' => 'tourists, visit, Mustang, Manang, Thorang La, pass, ACAP, Annapurna, Jomsom, Upper, Korala, Kagbeni, Indian', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15478', 'image' => '20220803094744_mustang.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-08-03 09:45:11', '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
