March 25: The Insurance Board Nepal (IBN) has decided to increase the paid-up capital of life and non-life insurance companies.…
March 25: The Insurance Board Nepal (IBN) has decided to increase the paid-up capital of life and non-life insurance companies.…
March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect…
March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March…
March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal…
March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal…
March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior…
March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of…
March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch…
March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India.…
March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. …
March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate…
March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe.…
March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March…
March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage…
March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: The Insurance Board Nepal (IBN) has decided to increase the paid-up capital of life and non-life insurance companies. The board has decided to raise the minimum paid-up capital of life insurance companies to Rs 5 billion and non-life insurance companies to Rs 2.5 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the minimum paid-up capital was Rs 2 billion for life insurance companies and Rs 1 billion for non-life insurance companies. A meeting of the board of directors of IBN on Thursday decided to increase the limit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the board Raju Raman Poudel said that the decision was taken to increase the paid-up capital targeting risk-based capital. He said that the decision was taken based on the guidelines on risk-based capital that was issued by the board. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As the business of insurance companies are growing, the risk they incur is also increasing. However, the paid-up capital of the companies is not sufficient to face such risks," he said, "So we have tried to increase the risk-bearing capacity by increasing the paid-up capital." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that it would also help in encouraging companies to merge with each other, maintaining appropriate number of companies, maintaining large capital and creating healthy competition. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has instructed the companies to increase their paid-up capital by mid-April 2023. "The companies will have to submit a plan to increase their paid-up capital to the board within 30 days," Poudel said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provision has also been made for foreign companies to deposit a certain amount of paid-up capital in a separate fund. Currently, foreign insurance companies operating in Nepal do not have paid-up capital. They are operating here as a branch offices. The board insists that they should keep the an amount equal to the paid-up capital in the designated fund. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the board Surya Prasad Silwal said that the companies should go for merger if they do not increase their capital within the stipulated time. "Now the companies have to increase the paid-up capital within one year. If not, they will have to merge,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, he said that companies can also issue rights shares to increase their paid-up capital. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14738', 'image' => '20220325035732_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:56:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14994', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Technology can Overcome Barriers in Traditional Businesses’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN].', 'content' => '<p>March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN] organized by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu on March 23 in collaboration with Clockb Business Innovations.</p> <p>Another important topic that featured during the panel discussion was how technology can help overcome barriers in traditional businesses.</p> <p>Participants from India during the panel discussion were Yatra Angel Network, a VC firm focusing on funding of fintech ventures, and Credenc, a startup using technology and data analytics for better decision making on disbursal of educational loans, according to the Indian Embassy.</p> <p>The day-long conclave saw participation of about twenty-five entrepreneurs, including five from India, working in domains as diverse as e-commerce, life sciences, fintech, education technology, social entrepreneurship, food tech, and financial services.</p> <p>A statement issued by the embassy says well-known startups from Nepal such as Tootle, Hatti Hatti, Pick and Drop, Pad2Go and SweetFix, and VCs such as Dolma Impact Fund and Business Oxygen also participated in the panel discussion. The event also featured speakers from Standard Chartered Bank and King’s College Kathmandu.</p> <p>The day-long conclave was organized as a part of the year-long celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s independence, the statement added.</p> <p>According to the embassy, Connect [IN] is an initiative to brings together innovators, dignitaries and thought leaders from India and Nepal to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the two countries.</p> <p>The organizers believe that the conclave provided a platform for young entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists and experts from India and Nepal to learn from and connect with each other on a range of domains.</p> <p>This is the third edition of the conclave following the success of the first two editions. The third edition of Connect [IN] was jointly inaugurated by Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra.</p> <p>The key partners of the event were GMR, Tata Motors, Tata Meditech and Tootle.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14737', 'image' => '20220325032135_pic 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:20:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Will Nepal Raise the Issue of High Interest Rates Charged by China?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).</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"">Analysts consider this visit of great significance as Wang is arriving in Nepal just after the ratification of the US grant project Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Officials say that Nepal has already finalized the agendas to be discussed during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During this visit, Nepal is expected to sign an agreement to implement the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It has already been five years since Nepal signed the BRI in 2017. However, the two countries are yet to finalize the projects under the BRI.</span> Experts believe that China is under pressure to implement the BRI after Nepal endorsed the MCC. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">One of the pressing issues that Nepal must raise during Wang’s visit is the high interest rate China has imposed on loans. Nepal has long been complaining that the interest on loans invested by China is relatively high. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Chief of the International Support Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ishwari Prasad Aryal says that the interest rate of Chinese loans is higher than the loans provided by other donor agencies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“The interest on loans provided by China to build Pokhara Regional International Airport is 2 percent,” said Aryal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The interests on loans that Nepal receives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, JICA among other donor agencies are less than 1 percent. Experts have suggested the government to raise this issue during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">An official at the finance ministry said that the time period set by China to repay the loans is also less compared to others. The official said that other nations give concessional loans to under-developed and developing nations on a long-term basis but China has been providing loans for 10 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">According to the officials of foreign ministry, China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) charges an additional 1 percent interest under the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Nepal had recently borrowed USD 112 million for the construction of transmission lines from the AIIB. Nepal needs to pay the interest rate at 3 percent after adding the LIBOR charge.</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"">Prior to that, the Government of Nepal had also taken loan from Exim Bank of China for investing in the Upper Trshuli III A project, Pokhara airport and to purchase Chinese aircraft. Government officials claim that those loans were also taken at high interest rates. The ministry officials say that the country is facing financial burden due to the high interest rates.</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"">Former Secretary Puroshattam Ojha says that the government must clarify after this visit how Nepal can benefit from the BRI. He says that Nepal must get Chinese support without adding any more financial burden.</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"">Analyst Hari Roka says that Nepal must receive Chinese support by taking into consideration the national interest and welfare.</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"">Nepal’s former ambassador to India Lokraj Baral opined that China wants to maintain good relations with neighbouring countries.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14735', 'image' => '20220325125029_20220321055304_1647854768.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:49:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Company to Announce the Date of Service Operation Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette. The train purchased by Nepal for almost Rs 1 billion has not been able to operate yet due to lack of laws. But now, with the ordinance issued, Nepal Railway Company Limited will set a date for operating the trains soon. The two sets of trains purchased 19 months ago for the operation of the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway service are running without passengers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After President Bidya Devi Bhandari issued the Railway Ordinance-2078 on Tuesday, the Department of Printing published this ordinance in the Nepal Gazette on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of the company, claimed that the legal gateway has been opened with the ordinance and the train with passengers will start running soon. Jha added that the ordinance is expected to be passed by the parliament within 60 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now, we have started preparation to run the trains,” said Jha adding, “We will announce the date for formal inauguration of the train within 2/3 days. Now that all the preparations have been made and there are no financial and legal problems, there is no obstacle in operating the train”. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There were complications in operating the train earlier due to lack of legal provisions in case of accidents, human losses, in addition to the issue of passenger fares and freight charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had issued an ordinance to run the train twice before. But legal hurdles could not be removed since those ordinances were not endorsed by the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jha informed that the company currently has 58 employees. It has been agreed to bring 26 technicians from India to run the trains. Fourteen of them have already arrived while 12 technicians are on their way to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14733', 'image' => '20220325120935_Railwayy (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:08:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Preparing to Allow Research on Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> It may be noted that Minister Khatiwada has been advocating for legalizing the use of marijuana since a long time. The state-owned national news agency RSS reported on Thursday that a meeting of the Development Problem Solving Committee under the Ministry of Health and Population has decided to advance this agenda. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Shantaram Bidari, press adviser to the Health Minister Khatiwada, the committee has decided to give approval in principle to prepare a legal provision for conducting research on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The decision, certified by Minister Khatiwada on Wednesday, states, "The government has decided to provide approval in principle to prepare legal provisions for the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose. Collection of samples for research to study the medicinal properties and toxicity of marijuana will be allowed once the laws are enacted." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A draft bill in this regard has also been prepared to be presented in parliament for legalizing the use of marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In February 2019, the then member of the ruling Nepal Communist Party Birodh Khatiwada had demanded during a parliamentary meeting that the government lift the ban on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the House meeting more than two years ago, Khatiwada had argued that cannabis is legal in developed countries like the United States of America, Canada, Thailand, among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Why don’t we legalize cannabis in Nepal?” he questioned, adding that marijuana has been a source of income in the developed economies, while people in Nepal face legal actions for producing marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further added that marijuana is destroyed in Nepal but ironically Singha Durbar-based Vaidyakhana – the state-run manufacturer of Aayurvedic and herbal medicines – imports marijuana from the foreign market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marijuana was legal in Nepal more than 40 years ago, but the herb was banned in the country in 1977 after pressure from the United States of America. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14732', 'image' => '20220325103215_20190221010550_adsfff.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 10:31:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14989', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Hit Hard by NEA Decision to Cut Electricity Supply Abruptly', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice. As a result, the industrial area has been reeling under chaos. Rajendra Raut, vice president of Province 1 chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the economic adviser to the Chief Minister of the province said that NEA did not give a chance for the industries to look for alternatives and cut off the electricity supply abruptly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The power supply should have been cut off by at least after informing the industries by issuing a public notice. The sudden power supply disruption created a kind of panic in the industry,” said Raut.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries which were finally gaining momentum post Covid-19 period are back in trouble again. Raut said that the cost of production will also increase when the industries have to run with the help of diesel plants. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suyash Raj Pyakurel, chairman of the Chamber of Industry Morang, criticized the government’s irresponsible act of cutting off the power supply. “It is a shameful that the government could not bid electricity from India for even 1 day,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire said that it was inappropriate for the government to shut down industries for hours due to minor problems despite repeatedly urging the public to increase the consumption of electricity. He said that the NEA had caused damage in millions to the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor by cutting off the supply without giving prior notice.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The supply of electricity to Nepal has been abruptly cut off as the cost of electricity generated from the thermal plant operated in India has gone up since the increase in the price of coal due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Rajesh Regmi, head of the Duhabi Grid, said that 190 MW of electricity was being supplied from Kataiya Power House in Bihar, which fell to zero on Tuesday. He said, “Even though 30 MW of electricity was distributed on Wednesday afternoon, it was cut off again in the evening”.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14731', 'image' => '20220324020034_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:59:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Fails to Import Electricity from India’s Open Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The electricity rate in the open market of India is higher than the rate proposed by the NEA through bidding.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In winter, NEA purchased electricity from the India’s open market through bidding and supplied it to the local market of Nepal. NEA has not been able to get electricity from India for the last two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) as the open market price was higher than the bid amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had proposed to buy electricity at Rs 12 per unit on Wednesday. However, the average price of electricity in the Indian open market reached about Rs 18 per unit ( IRs 11.2). As a result, NEA could not purchase electricity from the Indian open market due to a mismatch of rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that they could not get electricity even for a bid of Rs 19.20 on Thursday. The maximum price per unit of electricity on Thursday was Rs 32 per unit (IRs 20), he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid a day before to buy electricity from India. NEA has been proposing 96 bids every day. "We had offered the same bid for Thursday. However, only eight of them were approved,” said Bhattarai. It is said that the price has gone up due to the scarcity of coal in India, the main source of electricity production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA is currently selling electricity to its customers at an average of Rs 10 per unit. According to Bhattarai, NEA will face problems in supplying electricity by investing up to Rs 32 per unit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising said that electricity would be purchased even if it was expensive for the industrial sector. "Other customers have enough electricity. However, there is a challenge to supply electricity to the industrial sector,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An official of NEA claimed that there is a problem in power purchase due to the leadership trying to maintain profit. "Sometimes there is a loss, and sometimes there is a profit when buying throughout the year," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the water level in the river decline in winter, electricity generation declines, and Nepal needs to import electricity from India. Electricity gets wasted in the rainy season. At that time, Nepal used to export electricity to India. At present, hydropower projects in Nepal generate an average of 800 MW of electricity. However, the demand is 1600 MW.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14729', 'image' => '20220324011954_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:19:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Feel the Heat of Liquidity Crunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Microfinance companies are dependent on banks for loans under the deprived sector lending. But as the banks themselves have been facing liquidity crunch of late, microfinance companies are facing difficulties to obtain loans, says chairman of Nepal Microfinance Bankers’ Association Prakash Raj Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have not been able to receive adequate loans due to the liquidity crisis faced by banks,” said Sharma, who is also the CEO of Laxmi Lagubitta Bittiya Sansthan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This has started impacting our loan investment,” added Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has set the limit of 15 percent interest rate that microfinance companies can charge from customers. The microfinance companies are not in trouble after the banks increased the interest rates. They have to pay as much as 13 to 14 percent interest to the banks for acquiring loan at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have submitted a memorandum to the central bank mentioning that the ceiling on interest rate has caused us problems. We are hopeful that the problems will be addressed after the third quarterly review of the monetary policy,” said Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The interests on loans have increased after the commercial banks increased interests on deposit by 10 percent in the month of Falgun (mid- February to mid-March). Following the decision of the commercial banks to raise interest rates, microfinance companies had also submitted a written request to the central bank in mid-February to increase their interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank is currently discussing the problems faced by microfinance companies due to the increase in interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank is conducting internal study regarding the issue raised by microfinance companies,” said Bhatta, adding, “If they are facing problems due to the increase in interest rates, their concerns will be addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had fixed the limit on interest rates charged by microfinance companies two years ago after receiving multiple complaints that such companies were charging excessive interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the complaints, the central bank had introduced a provision that did not allow microfinance companies from charging more than 18 percent interest to the customers. However, that limit was lowered to 15 percent last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The microfinance companies have cried foul stating that the decision to fix the limit on interest rate is unfair because they it is subject to change according to market demand. They have urged the central bank to bring a provision that allows them to fix the interest rate by adding premium to the base rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">BFIs are obliged to lend 5 percent of the total credit flow to the deprived sector as per the provision of the central bank. Majority of loan under this heading goes to the microfinance companies and cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sixty nine microfinance companies that are currently operational have lend a total of Rs 330.68 billion to more than 3.1 million customers.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14728', 'image' => '20220324113525_Liquidity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 11:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Radhe Shyam Saraf, a leading hotelier of Nepal, no more', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. He was 92. He was one of the leading entrepreneurs to open 5-star hotels in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf introduced the international chain brand Hyatt Regency Hotel located at Boudha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf is also credited for establishing Hotel Yak & Yeti, another 5-star hotel, in Nepal in the 1970s. The hotel came into operation after Hotel Annapurna and Soltee Hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf came to Nepal six decades ago and started business of sewing seat covers. In the course of business expansion, he introduced the Hyatt brand in 2000, which is run on land owned by the Taragaon Development Committee. The Saraf family is the main investor of the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf's body was cremated at Pashupatinath Aryaghat in Kathmandu on Wednesday. His body was brought to Kathmandu via a chartered plane on Tuesday night as per his wish.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf had been staying at the Yak & Yeti's Red House. He was awarded the “Gorkha Dakshinbahu” medal by the then King Birendra Shah in recognition of his contribution to Nepal's hotel industry. Along with Yak & Yeti and Hotel Hyatt, the Saraf family has also invested in the hydropower sector of Nepal. Similarly, the family also runs the Modern Indian School at Chobhar, Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Senior Vice President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Binayak Shah remembers Saraf as a “pioneer” in the hotel sector. He says, he was the one to start “well-equipped star hotels” in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14727', 'image' => '20220325125712_-chairman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EU to Fund Skills Development Project for Returnee Migrant Workers affected by Pandemic ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU funded Euro 1.99 million in total to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organization (ILO) Nepal, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the British Council managed 'Dakchyata: TVET Practical Partnership' project which will run for ten months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The activities under the grant scheme target trainers or the trainees in three of the most important economic sectors in Nepal- agriculture, tourism and construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized in the capital on Wednesday to shed light on the issue, Joint Secretary at TVET Division of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Kamal Pokhrel, said the project to be launched at a time when Nepal is facing the influx of returnee migrant workers in the wake of COVID-19 is timely and appropriate. It would help the returnee migrant workers in economic and market reintegration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project aims at building competence of stakeholders and support returnee migrant workers and their families who have been affected by the pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, head of the Cooperation Department of the European Union Delegation to Nepal, Dr Marco Gemmer, said, "Without education, it is impossible to achieve sustainable development and happiness. Although many sectors have witnessed progress in Nepal, still there are much more to do." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, EU focused on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in light of the returnee migrants who were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"'Enhancing returnee migrant workers' skills for employment' project has been designed to analyse and match returnee migrants' skills and competences, provide relevant training according to market needs, certify their skills, coach counsel, and mentor to effectively reintegrate at least 1500 people, prioritizing women migrants," said UNDP Nepal Resident Representative, Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe. The UNDP would launch the project in Madhes Province and Lumbini Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Dakchyata project team leader Erik Winther-Schmidt said, "The returning migrant workers grant fund is channeled to support a key challenge which emerged with the global pandemic- that is the reintegration of returnee migrant workers who bring with them a range of skills, not all of which may be officially recognized through qualifications and skills." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director at ILO Country Office in Nepal, Richard Howard, shared that with the broader collaboration, the ILO would support for economic reintegration of the returnee Nepali migrant workers by improving their access to basic employment services, providing opportunities for up-skilling, re-skilling, skill certification, and strengthening public-private sector dialogues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member Secretary at Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), Jeeb Narayan Kafle, expressed commitment that CTEVT would extend utmost cooperation for the effective implementation of the project. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14726', 'image' => '20220324082318_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:21:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mountains Vulnerable to Climate Change: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day Regional Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Mountain Solutions organized as part of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (IYM 2022) in Chandragiri on Wednesday, Prime Minister Deuba said that the mountains and the people living there continue to confront with several challenges. </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"">"Poverty, food insecurity, environmental degradation, risk of disasters and limited access to basic services are the challenges that the mountainous regions have been increasingly confronting," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the prime minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM was of the view that the mountains and the people living there have become the victims of disproportionate impact of global warming despite the negligible emissions of mountainous countries like Nepal. PM Deuba added that the world has not done enough to address environmental degradation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the inadequate efforts to check impacts of global warming have triggered the crisis to the proportion beyond control. </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"">"We need to take urgent measures to halt global temperature rise to secure the future of humanity. Nepal has adopted an ambitious roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2045. We call upon the international community for meaningful support in our efforts." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the PM further said many scientific studies of the extreme weather patterns reveal that mountainous regions are getting warmer much faster than the global average. Melting of snow, retreat of glacier, drought, erratic rainfall, flash floods already hint of what lies ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commitment-delivery gap erodes credibility of int'l cooperation</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba urged the world leaders not to leave the mountainous regions behind as the world is in the decade of action to deliver on sustainable development goals. To address the challenges, guarantee of adequate financing –both internal as well as external - is imperative, said Deuba. </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"">"We must not suffer from inadequacy of commitment, action and delivery on development outcomes. The commitment-delivery gap will erode credibility of the international cooperation," PM Deuba said, urging international cooperation to realize the SDGs by all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He reportedly said that agenda for sustainable mountain development has always been a priority for Nepal. </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"">"We raised our voice in Glasgow during the COP 26. But there is a long way to go for mainstreaming mountain agenda in climate negotiations. We need stronger collaboration among mountain countries in UN Climate change negotiations to address our agenda. Nepal will continue to play an active role in global forums to address the concerns of the mountainous countries," Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further said that the mountainous countries require further cooperation and support from the international community in their quest of recovery from COVID-19. Preservation of indigenous cultures, generation of employment opportunities and guarantee of development of sustainable infrastructures are equally imperative, Deuba said. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14725', 'image' => '20220324081401_Nepal-Khumbu-valley-Solukhumbu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:13:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Pickles make way to European Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prashant Khadka</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. Her Nawras and kitchen recipes have started selling abroad. Bista informed that 90 percent of the total production is sold in Nepal whereas 10 percent is exported to European countries as well as America and Japan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited is responsible for the sales of pickles in Nepal. It sends pickles for sale in Bhatbhateni, Big Mart and Salesberry. While on the other hand, exporters purchase and export the pickles abroad. Her industry produces pickles of various varieties like fish, meat, chili, radish, Indian gooseberry, cucumber, mango, dried spinach, lemon, plums, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Packaged pickles are available in jars of 500gm to 1kg in the market. The labeling on the package displays ingredients used in the pickles with no usage of chemicals and the price of pickles depend on the nature of the pickle. The cost of pickles ranges from Rs 150 to Rs 1000 depending on the ingredients used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When Bista started this business, the consumption of imported pickles was high since there was no variety of Nepali pickles in the market. Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited gave training for pickle production to a group of women, targeting the then pickle market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hajuri Bista started this business alone in her own house located at Dhobighat, Lalitpur. At present, this business has employed 22 workers. While the investment of the business has hit Rs 60 million, the business involves annual transaction of Rs 20 million. Bista informed that in the process of extending business, her daughter Hima and son-in-law Rituraj Pandey even brought a restaurant named Achar Ghar into operation, where the pickles produced by Bista are used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bista shared, “I did not start this business due to shortage of money. I started this business with the aim to do something by myself.” She expressed that it is not difficult to attain success if one is able to treat all kinds of professions equally.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She shared her past saying, “I was married at the age of 17 while I was still studying. My husband went to Paris for his PhD after marriage, where I accompanied him. After spending 7 years abroad, my husband started teaching profession at Tribhuvan University and I started to make pickles.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite people talking behind her back about the daughter of sociologist Dor Bahadur Bista making pickles, she paid no attention to their remarks. “Instead, I used to go around the neighborhood carrying pickles in a bag and asking people to taste and buy them,” she expressed happily, adding, “Due to my trust and persistence, I even got the opportunity to travel to countries like India, China, and Bangladesh. I was even awarded by the government as the Best Female Entrepreneur.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many people have established their own businesses after getting inspiration from her. Which is why, she is still full of enthusiasm despite reaching the age of 66 years. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14724', 'image' => '20220323055328_CpkLg74UAAIp3yq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 17:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third International Entrepreneurship Conclave Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra jointly inaugurated the conclave. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister Karki said that the Government of Nepal has adopted a policy to promote entrepreneurship and startups. Stating that the government has also taken investment-friendly approach to keep economy afloat, he said that the government intends to attract investment and is working to remove procedural hassles as well as to simplify public service delivery. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Karki claimed that the integrated public service delivery put in place by the government had helped the entrepreneurs to augment their business activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Asserting that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs were the backbone of the country's economic development, Minister Karki shared that the government had amended the policy to promote business and to enhance capacity of entrepreneurs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Indian envoy Kwatra said that the conclave had provided business base for the young entrepreneurs. Stating that innovation and entrepreneurship figured in the priorities of the Government of India, he expressed his confidence that the conclave would play an important role in enhancing capacity of the young entrepreneurs of Nepal and India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, first secretary of the Indian Embassy to Nepal Abhisekh Upadhyay informed that the conclave was organized to bring together the young entrepreneurs from Nepal and India and exchange their experiences. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the inauguration, F1Soft company’s director Subash Sharma said that that his company was successful in rendering financial services to the public in a simplified manner. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The conclave was organized by Clock b business innovations in association with the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. The first such conclave was held in 2018 and second in 2019. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">More than 300 Nepalis and Indian startups entrepreneurs, investors, experts and high-ranking officials from Nepal and India attended the event. The day-long event had three panel discussions with over 15 participants from both the countries in each session. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organizers expressed confidence that event served as a common platform for young entrepreneurs from both the countries to discuss, develop new concepts and to explore business opportunities. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14722', 'image' => '20220323060756_13489.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 18:07:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Increases Interest Rate on Refinancing by 2 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points. By making the fourth amendment to "Nepal Rastra Bank Refinancing Procedure, 2077 BS", the central bank has allowed banks and financial institutions to increases the interest on refinancing by 2 percentage points. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, BFIs have increased the interest on refinancing for micro, cottage and home-grown industries as well as special loans and general loans by 2 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate on refinancing, which was 5 percent earlier, has now been raised to 7 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the interest rates on refinancing by banks and financial institutions have increased, businessmen reacted by saying, "Don't be surprised." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has taken the initiative for this loan, the businessmen accuse that the middlemen of the banks have benefitted from it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Umesh Prasad Singh, president of the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries said that no matter how high the interest rate of refinancing is, it will not affect the entrepreneurs. "We have to fight hard to avail refinancing. The businessmen we have recommended are not in a position to avail this loan,” he said. Even if the interest rate goes up, the businessmen are not surprised.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has 45,000 members, said Chairman Singh. However, he said that only one or two of them have benefitted from the refinancing scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the President of the Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal Prachandaman Shakya said that the increase in the interest rate on refinancing will have a direct impact on the handicraft business. He said that the recent decision of the NRB would have a direct impact on the export business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Handicraft traders benefited from this loan. However, when interest rates rise, they will be hit hard. This is because the businesses that could not be fully operational due to Covid-19 were also open due to this loan. If the interest rate on such loans goes up, it will impact harder,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NRB had fixed a 3 percent interest rate for special refinancing by banks, while a 5 percent interest rate was fixed for small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At the same time, the interest rate on refinancing charged by NRB with banks has also gone up. The interest rate on special refinancing has been increased by one percentage point, while the interest rate on small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing has been increased by 2 percentage points.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of the first seven months of the current fiscal year, 24,268 borrowers have taken refinancing facility of Rs 106.11 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14721', 'image' => '20220323042114_NRBnew.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:20:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Investors Keen on Investing in Upper Arun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">At a discussion programme organized by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Tuesday, they stressed on taking forward this project at the earliest, stating that the reservoir-based project was needed in Nepal for energy security. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the prospective investors viewed that the government should come up with investment modality, process of costing and guarantee of timely completion of this 1,061-megawatt project. The capacity of the project could be increased upto 1,500 megawatt through technical enhancement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, the country has only one reservoir based hydel project in Kulekhani. All sort of studies and researches have been conducted on Upper Arun hydel project and is ready for implementation phase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Multilateral donor agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are willing to invest in Upper Arun hydel project. The Nepal Electricity Authority has set up the Upper Arun Hydroelectricity Company, a subsidiary company, to move the project forward. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participants in the discussion included representatives from banks and financial institutions and public financial institutions among others. They reiterated their intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project which could yield multifaceted benefits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No market issues: Minister Bhusal </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participating in the discussion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal assured that the local investors need not worry about the market for electricity. "We are holding talks with India politically and through diplomatic channels. The environment is being positive gradually. We will reap huge benefits from this" </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to her, China had also articulated its intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project and to import electricity. She assured of timely completion of the project and no increase in the cost for the project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Minister shared that the construction entrepreneur who will complete the project on time would be rewarded. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No investment problem: Minister Sharma </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma, participating in the discussion, shared that there was no issues regarding investment in hydel projects like Upper Arun. Minister Sharma mentioned that the government was ready to move ahead with reservoir-based hydel projects like Budhigandaki, Upper Arun, Mugu Hydel Project, Karnali Hydel Project among others. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sharma informed that share structure would be prepared ensuring investment of the locals and underscored the public participation in the project. The Finance Minister called for devising a monitoring mechanism at public level, at government level and non-government level for the project. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14720', 'image' => '20220323040212_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:01:23', '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' => '14995', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'IBN Instructs Insurance Companies to Increase Paid-up Capital', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: The Insurance Board Nepal (IBN) has decided to increase the paid-up capital of life and non-life insurance companies. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: The Insurance Board Nepal (IBN) has decided to increase the paid-up capital of life and non-life insurance companies. The board has decided to raise the minimum paid-up capital of life insurance companies to Rs 5 billion and non-life insurance companies to Rs 2.5 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the minimum paid-up capital was Rs 2 billion for life insurance companies and Rs 1 billion for non-life insurance companies. A meeting of the board of directors of IBN on Thursday decided to increase the limit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the board Raju Raman Poudel said that the decision was taken to increase the paid-up capital targeting risk-based capital. He said that the decision was taken based on the guidelines on risk-based capital that was issued by the board. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As the business of insurance companies are growing, the risk they incur is also increasing. However, the paid-up capital of the companies is not sufficient to face such risks," he said, "So we have tried to increase the risk-bearing capacity by increasing the paid-up capital." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that it would also help in encouraging companies to merge with each other, maintaining appropriate number of companies, maintaining large capital and creating healthy competition. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has instructed the companies to increase their paid-up capital by mid-April 2023. "The companies will have to submit a plan to increase their paid-up capital to the board within 30 days," Poudel said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provision has also been made for foreign companies to deposit a certain amount of paid-up capital in a separate fund. Currently, foreign insurance companies operating in Nepal do not have paid-up capital. They are operating here as a branch offices. The board insists that they should keep the an amount equal to the paid-up capital in the designated fund. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the board Surya Prasad Silwal said that the companies should go for merger if they do not increase their capital within the stipulated time. "Now the companies have to increase the paid-up capital within one year. If not, they will have to merge,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, he said that companies can also issue rights shares to increase their paid-up capital. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14738', 'image' => '20220325035732_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:56:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14994', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Technology can Overcome Barriers in Traditional Businesses’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN].', 'content' => '<p>March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN] organized by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu on March 23 in collaboration with Clockb Business Innovations.</p> <p>Another important topic that featured during the panel discussion was how technology can help overcome barriers in traditional businesses.</p> <p>Participants from India during the panel discussion were Yatra Angel Network, a VC firm focusing on funding of fintech ventures, and Credenc, a startup using technology and data analytics for better decision making on disbursal of educational loans, according to the Indian Embassy.</p> <p>The day-long conclave saw participation of about twenty-five entrepreneurs, including five from India, working in domains as diverse as e-commerce, life sciences, fintech, education technology, social entrepreneurship, food tech, and financial services.</p> <p>A statement issued by the embassy says well-known startups from Nepal such as Tootle, Hatti Hatti, Pick and Drop, Pad2Go and SweetFix, and VCs such as Dolma Impact Fund and Business Oxygen also participated in the panel discussion. The event also featured speakers from Standard Chartered Bank and King’s College Kathmandu.</p> <p>The day-long conclave was organized as a part of the year-long celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s independence, the statement added.</p> <p>According to the embassy, Connect [IN] is an initiative to brings together innovators, dignitaries and thought leaders from India and Nepal to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the two countries.</p> <p>The organizers believe that the conclave provided a platform for young entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists and experts from India and Nepal to learn from and connect with each other on a range of domains.</p> <p>This is the third edition of the conclave following the success of the first two editions. The third edition of Connect [IN] was jointly inaugurated by Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra.</p> <p>The key partners of the event were GMR, Tata Motors, Tata Meditech and Tootle.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14737', 'image' => '20220325032135_pic 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:20:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Will Nepal Raise the Issue of High Interest Rates Charged by China?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).</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"">Analysts consider this visit of great significance as Wang is arriving in Nepal just after the ratification of the US grant project Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Officials say that Nepal has already finalized the agendas to be discussed during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During this visit, Nepal is expected to sign an agreement to implement the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It has already been five years since Nepal signed the BRI in 2017. However, the two countries are yet to finalize the projects under the BRI.</span> Experts believe that China is under pressure to implement the BRI after Nepal endorsed the MCC. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">One of the pressing issues that Nepal must raise during Wang’s visit is the high interest rate China has imposed on loans. Nepal has long been complaining that the interest on loans invested by China is relatively high. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Chief of the International Support Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ishwari Prasad Aryal says that the interest rate of Chinese loans is higher than the loans provided by other donor agencies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“The interest on loans provided by China to build Pokhara Regional International Airport is 2 percent,” said Aryal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The interests on loans that Nepal receives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, JICA among other donor agencies are less than 1 percent. Experts have suggested the government to raise this issue during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">An official at the finance ministry said that the time period set by China to repay the loans is also less compared to others. The official said that other nations give concessional loans to under-developed and developing nations on a long-term basis but China has been providing loans for 10 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">According to the officials of foreign ministry, China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) charges an additional 1 percent interest under the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Nepal had recently borrowed USD 112 million for the construction of transmission lines from the AIIB. Nepal needs to pay the interest rate at 3 percent after adding the LIBOR charge.</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"">Prior to that, the Government of Nepal had also taken loan from Exim Bank of China for investing in the Upper Trshuli III A project, Pokhara airport and to purchase Chinese aircraft. Government officials claim that those loans were also taken at high interest rates. The ministry officials say that the country is facing financial burden due to the high interest rates.</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"">Former Secretary Puroshattam Ojha says that the government must clarify after this visit how Nepal can benefit from the BRI. He says that Nepal must get Chinese support without adding any more financial burden.</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"">Analyst Hari Roka says that Nepal must receive Chinese support by taking into consideration the national interest and welfare.</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"">Nepal’s former ambassador to India Lokraj Baral opined that China wants to maintain good relations with neighbouring countries.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14735', 'image' => '20220325125029_20220321055304_1647854768.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:49:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Company to Announce the Date of Service Operation Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette. The train purchased by Nepal for almost Rs 1 billion has not been able to operate yet due to lack of laws. But now, with the ordinance issued, Nepal Railway Company Limited will set a date for operating the trains soon. The two sets of trains purchased 19 months ago for the operation of the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway service are running without passengers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After President Bidya Devi Bhandari issued the Railway Ordinance-2078 on Tuesday, the Department of Printing published this ordinance in the Nepal Gazette on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of the company, claimed that the legal gateway has been opened with the ordinance and the train with passengers will start running soon. Jha added that the ordinance is expected to be passed by the parliament within 60 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now, we have started preparation to run the trains,” said Jha adding, “We will announce the date for formal inauguration of the train within 2/3 days. Now that all the preparations have been made and there are no financial and legal problems, there is no obstacle in operating the train”. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There were complications in operating the train earlier due to lack of legal provisions in case of accidents, human losses, in addition to the issue of passenger fares and freight charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had issued an ordinance to run the train twice before. But legal hurdles could not be removed since those ordinances were not endorsed by the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jha informed that the company currently has 58 employees. It has been agreed to bring 26 technicians from India to run the trains. Fourteen of them have already arrived while 12 technicians are on their way to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14733', 'image' => '20220325120935_Railwayy (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:08:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Preparing to Allow Research on Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> It may be noted that Minister Khatiwada has been advocating for legalizing the use of marijuana since a long time. The state-owned national news agency RSS reported on Thursday that a meeting of the Development Problem Solving Committee under the Ministry of Health and Population has decided to advance this agenda. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Shantaram Bidari, press adviser to the Health Minister Khatiwada, the committee has decided to give approval in principle to prepare a legal provision for conducting research on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The decision, certified by Minister Khatiwada on Wednesday, states, "The government has decided to provide approval in principle to prepare legal provisions for the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose. Collection of samples for research to study the medicinal properties and toxicity of marijuana will be allowed once the laws are enacted." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A draft bill in this regard has also been prepared to be presented in parliament for legalizing the use of marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In February 2019, the then member of the ruling Nepal Communist Party Birodh Khatiwada had demanded during a parliamentary meeting that the government lift the ban on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the House meeting more than two years ago, Khatiwada had argued that cannabis is legal in developed countries like the United States of America, Canada, Thailand, among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Why don’t we legalize cannabis in Nepal?” he questioned, adding that marijuana has been a source of income in the developed economies, while people in Nepal face legal actions for producing marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further added that marijuana is destroyed in Nepal but ironically Singha Durbar-based Vaidyakhana – the state-run manufacturer of Aayurvedic and herbal medicines – imports marijuana from the foreign market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marijuana was legal in Nepal more than 40 years ago, but the herb was banned in the country in 1977 after pressure from the United States of America. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14732', 'image' => '20220325103215_20190221010550_adsfff.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 10:31:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14989', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Hit Hard by NEA Decision to Cut Electricity Supply Abruptly', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice. As a result, the industrial area has been reeling under chaos. Rajendra Raut, vice president of Province 1 chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the economic adviser to the Chief Minister of the province said that NEA did not give a chance for the industries to look for alternatives and cut off the electricity supply abruptly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The power supply should have been cut off by at least after informing the industries by issuing a public notice. The sudden power supply disruption created a kind of panic in the industry,” said Raut.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries which were finally gaining momentum post Covid-19 period are back in trouble again. Raut said that the cost of production will also increase when the industries have to run with the help of diesel plants. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suyash Raj Pyakurel, chairman of the Chamber of Industry Morang, criticized the government’s irresponsible act of cutting off the power supply. “It is a shameful that the government could not bid electricity from India for even 1 day,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire said that it was inappropriate for the government to shut down industries for hours due to minor problems despite repeatedly urging the public to increase the consumption of electricity. He said that the NEA had caused damage in millions to the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor by cutting off the supply without giving prior notice.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The supply of electricity to Nepal has been abruptly cut off as the cost of electricity generated from the thermal plant operated in India has gone up since the increase in the price of coal due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Rajesh Regmi, head of the Duhabi Grid, said that 190 MW of electricity was being supplied from Kataiya Power House in Bihar, which fell to zero on Tuesday. He said, “Even though 30 MW of electricity was distributed on Wednesday afternoon, it was cut off again in the evening”.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14731', 'image' => '20220324020034_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:59:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Fails to Import Electricity from India’s Open Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The electricity rate in the open market of India is higher than the rate proposed by the NEA through bidding.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In winter, NEA purchased electricity from the India’s open market through bidding and supplied it to the local market of Nepal. NEA has not been able to get electricity from India for the last two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) as the open market price was higher than the bid amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had proposed to buy electricity at Rs 12 per unit on Wednesday. However, the average price of electricity in the Indian open market reached about Rs 18 per unit ( IRs 11.2). As a result, NEA could not purchase electricity from the Indian open market due to a mismatch of rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that they could not get electricity even for a bid of Rs 19.20 on Thursday. The maximum price per unit of electricity on Thursday was Rs 32 per unit (IRs 20), he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid a day before to buy electricity from India. NEA has been proposing 96 bids every day. "We had offered the same bid for Thursday. However, only eight of them were approved,” said Bhattarai. It is said that the price has gone up due to the scarcity of coal in India, the main source of electricity production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA is currently selling electricity to its customers at an average of Rs 10 per unit. According to Bhattarai, NEA will face problems in supplying electricity by investing up to Rs 32 per unit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising said that electricity would be purchased even if it was expensive for the industrial sector. "Other customers have enough electricity. However, there is a challenge to supply electricity to the industrial sector,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An official of NEA claimed that there is a problem in power purchase due to the leadership trying to maintain profit. "Sometimes there is a loss, and sometimes there is a profit when buying throughout the year," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the water level in the river decline in winter, electricity generation declines, and Nepal needs to import electricity from India. Electricity gets wasted in the rainy season. At that time, Nepal used to export electricity to India. At present, hydropower projects in Nepal generate an average of 800 MW of electricity. However, the demand is 1600 MW.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14729', 'image' => '20220324011954_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:19:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Feel the Heat of Liquidity Crunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Microfinance companies are dependent on banks for loans under the deprived sector lending. But as the banks themselves have been facing liquidity crunch of late, microfinance companies are facing difficulties to obtain loans, says chairman of Nepal Microfinance Bankers’ Association Prakash Raj Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have not been able to receive adequate loans due to the liquidity crisis faced by banks,” said Sharma, who is also the CEO of Laxmi Lagubitta Bittiya Sansthan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This has started impacting our loan investment,” added Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has set the limit of 15 percent interest rate that microfinance companies can charge from customers. The microfinance companies are not in trouble after the banks increased the interest rates. They have to pay as much as 13 to 14 percent interest to the banks for acquiring loan at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have submitted a memorandum to the central bank mentioning that the ceiling on interest rate has caused us problems. We are hopeful that the problems will be addressed after the third quarterly review of the monetary policy,” said Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The interests on loans have increased after the commercial banks increased interests on deposit by 10 percent in the month of Falgun (mid- February to mid-March). Following the decision of the commercial banks to raise interest rates, microfinance companies had also submitted a written request to the central bank in mid-February to increase their interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank is currently discussing the problems faced by microfinance companies due to the increase in interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank is conducting internal study regarding the issue raised by microfinance companies,” said Bhatta, adding, “If they are facing problems due to the increase in interest rates, their concerns will be addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had fixed the limit on interest rates charged by microfinance companies two years ago after receiving multiple complaints that such companies were charging excessive interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the complaints, the central bank had introduced a provision that did not allow microfinance companies from charging more than 18 percent interest to the customers. However, that limit was lowered to 15 percent last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The microfinance companies have cried foul stating that the decision to fix the limit on interest rate is unfair because they it is subject to change according to market demand. They have urged the central bank to bring a provision that allows them to fix the interest rate by adding premium to the base rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">BFIs are obliged to lend 5 percent of the total credit flow to the deprived sector as per the provision of the central bank. Majority of loan under this heading goes to the microfinance companies and cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sixty nine microfinance companies that are currently operational have lend a total of Rs 330.68 billion to more than 3.1 million customers.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14728', 'image' => '20220324113525_Liquidity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 11:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Radhe Shyam Saraf, a leading hotelier of Nepal, no more', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. He was 92. He was one of the leading entrepreneurs to open 5-star hotels in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf introduced the international chain brand Hyatt Regency Hotel located at Boudha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf is also credited for establishing Hotel Yak & Yeti, another 5-star hotel, in Nepal in the 1970s. The hotel came into operation after Hotel Annapurna and Soltee Hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf came to Nepal six decades ago and started business of sewing seat covers. In the course of business expansion, he introduced the Hyatt brand in 2000, which is run on land owned by the Taragaon Development Committee. The Saraf family is the main investor of the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf's body was cremated at Pashupatinath Aryaghat in Kathmandu on Wednesday. His body was brought to Kathmandu via a chartered plane on Tuesday night as per his wish.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf had been staying at the Yak & Yeti's Red House. He was awarded the “Gorkha Dakshinbahu” medal by the then King Birendra Shah in recognition of his contribution to Nepal's hotel industry. Along with Yak & Yeti and Hotel Hyatt, the Saraf family has also invested in the hydropower sector of Nepal. Similarly, the family also runs the Modern Indian School at Chobhar, Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Senior Vice President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Binayak Shah remembers Saraf as a “pioneer” in the hotel sector. He says, he was the one to start “well-equipped star hotels” in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14727', 'image' => '20220325125712_-chairman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EU to Fund Skills Development Project for Returnee Migrant Workers affected by Pandemic ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU funded Euro 1.99 million in total to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organization (ILO) Nepal, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the British Council managed 'Dakchyata: TVET Practical Partnership' project which will run for ten months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The activities under the grant scheme target trainers or the trainees in three of the most important economic sectors in Nepal- agriculture, tourism and construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized in the capital on Wednesday to shed light on the issue, Joint Secretary at TVET Division of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Kamal Pokhrel, said the project to be launched at a time when Nepal is facing the influx of returnee migrant workers in the wake of COVID-19 is timely and appropriate. It would help the returnee migrant workers in economic and market reintegration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project aims at building competence of stakeholders and support returnee migrant workers and their families who have been affected by the pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, head of the Cooperation Department of the European Union Delegation to Nepal, Dr Marco Gemmer, said, "Without education, it is impossible to achieve sustainable development and happiness. Although many sectors have witnessed progress in Nepal, still there are much more to do." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, EU focused on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in light of the returnee migrants who were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"'Enhancing returnee migrant workers' skills for employment' project has been designed to analyse and match returnee migrants' skills and competences, provide relevant training according to market needs, certify their skills, coach counsel, and mentor to effectively reintegrate at least 1500 people, prioritizing women migrants," said UNDP Nepal Resident Representative, Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe. The UNDP would launch the project in Madhes Province and Lumbini Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Dakchyata project team leader Erik Winther-Schmidt said, "The returning migrant workers grant fund is channeled to support a key challenge which emerged with the global pandemic- that is the reintegration of returnee migrant workers who bring with them a range of skills, not all of which may be officially recognized through qualifications and skills." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director at ILO Country Office in Nepal, Richard Howard, shared that with the broader collaboration, the ILO would support for economic reintegration of the returnee Nepali migrant workers by improving their access to basic employment services, providing opportunities for up-skilling, re-skilling, skill certification, and strengthening public-private sector dialogues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member Secretary at Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), Jeeb Narayan Kafle, expressed commitment that CTEVT would extend utmost cooperation for the effective implementation of the project. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14726', 'image' => '20220324082318_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:21:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mountains Vulnerable to Climate Change: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day Regional Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Mountain Solutions organized as part of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (IYM 2022) in Chandragiri on Wednesday, Prime Minister Deuba said that the mountains and the people living there continue to confront with several challenges. </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"">"Poverty, food insecurity, environmental degradation, risk of disasters and limited access to basic services are the challenges that the mountainous regions have been increasingly confronting," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the prime minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM was of the view that the mountains and the people living there have become the victims of disproportionate impact of global warming despite the negligible emissions of mountainous countries like Nepal. PM Deuba added that the world has not done enough to address environmental degradation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the inadequate efforts to check impacts of global warming have triggered the crisis to the proportion beyond control. </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"">"We need to take urgent measures to halt global temperature rise to secure the future of humanity. Nepal has adopted an ambitious roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2045. We call upon the international community for meaningful support in our efforts." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the PM further said many scientific studies of the extreme weather patterns reveal that mountainous regions are getting warmer much faster than the global average. Melting of snow, retreat of glacier, drought, erratic rainfall, flash floods already hint of what lies ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commitment-delivery gap erodes credibility of int'l cooperation</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba urged the world leaders not to leave the mountainous regions behind as the world is in the decade of action to deliver on sustainable development goals. To address the challenges, guarantee of adequate financing –both internal as well as external - is imperative, said Deuba. </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"">"We must not suffer from inadequacy of commitment, action and delivery on development outcomes. The commitment-delivery gap will erode credibility of the international cooperation," PM Deuba said, urging international cooperation to realize the SDGs by all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He reportedly said that agenda for sustainable mountain development has always been a priority for Nepal. </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"">"We raised our voice in Glasgow during the COP 26. But there is a long way to go for mainstreaming mountain agenda in climate negotiations. We need stronger collaboration among mountain countries in UN Climate change negotiations to address our agenda. Nepal will continue to play an active role in global forums to address the concerns of the mountainous countries," Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further said that the mountainous countries require further cooperation and support from the international community in their quest of recovery from COVID-19. Preservation of indigenous cultures, generation of employment opportunities and guarantee of development of sustainable infrastructures are equally imperative, Deuba said. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14725', 'image' => '20220324081401_Nepal-Khumbu-valley-Solukhumbu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:13:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Pickles make way to European Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prashant Khadka</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. Her Nawras and kitchen recipes have started selling abroad. Bista informed that 90 percent of the total production is sold in Nepal whereas 10 percent is exported to European countries as well as America and Japan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited is responsible for the sales of pickles in Nepal. It sends pickles for sale in Bhatbhateni, Big Mart and Salesberry. While on the other hand, exporters purchase and export the pickles abroad. Her industry produces pickles of various varieties like fish, meat, chili, radish, Indian gooseberry, cucumber, mango, dried spinach, lemon, plums, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Packaged pickles are available in jars of 500gm to 1kg in the market. The labeling on the package displays ingredients used in the pickles with no usage of chemicals and the price of pickles depend on the nature of the pickle. The cost of pickles ranges from Rs 150 to Rs 1000 depending on the ingredients used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When Bista started this business, the consumption of imported pickles was high since there was no variety of Nepali pickles in the market. Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited gave training for pickle production to a group of women, targeting the then pickle market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hajuri Bista started this business alone in her own house located at Dhobighat, Lalitpur. At present, this business has employed 22 workers. While the investment of the business has hit Rs 60 million, the business involves annual transaction of Rs 20 million. Bista informed that in the process of extending business, her daughter Hima and son-in-law Rituraj Pandey even brought a restaurant named Achar Ghar into operation, where the pickles produced by Bista are used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bista shared, “I did not start this business due to shortage of money. I started this business with the aim to do something by myself.” She expressed that it is not difficult to attain success if one is able to treat all kinds of professions equally.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She shared her past saying, “I was married at the age of 17 while I was still studying. My husband went to Paris for his PhD after marriage, where I accompanied him. After spending 7 years abroad, my husband started teaching profession at Tribhuvan University and I started to make pickles.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite people talking behind her back about the daughter of sociologist Dor Bahadur Bista making pickles, she paid no attention to their remarks. “Instead, I used to go around the neighborhood carrying pickles in a bag and asking people to taste and buy them,” she expressed happily, adding, “Due to my trust and persistence, I even got the opportunity to travel to countries like India, China, and Bangladesh. I was even awarded by the government as the Best Female Entrepreneur.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many people have established their own businesses after getting inspiration from her. Which is why, she is still full of enthusiasm despite reaching the age of 66 years. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14724', 'image' => '20220323055328_CpkLg74UAAIp3yq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 17:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third International Entrepreneurship Conclave Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra jointly inaugurated the conclave. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister Karki said that the Government of Nepal has adopted a policy to promote entrepreneurship and startups. Stating that the government has also taken investment-friendly approach to keep economy afloat, he said that the government intends to attract investment and is working to remove procedural hassles as well as to simplify public service delivery. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Karki claimed that the integrated public service delivery put in place by the government had helped the entrepreneurs to augment their business activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Asserting that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs were the backbone of the country's economic development, Minister Karki shared that the government had amended the policy to promote business and to enhance capacity of entrepreneurs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Indian envoy Kwatra said that the conclave had provided business base for the young entrepreneurs. Stating that innovation and entrepreneurship figured in the priorities of the Government of India, he expressed his confidence that the conclave would play an important role in enhancing capacity of the young entrepreneurs of Nepal and India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, first secretary of the Indian Embassy to Nepal Abhisekh Upadhyay informed that the conclave was organized to bring together the young entrepreneurs from Nepal and India and exchange their experiences. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the inauguration, F1Soft company’s director Subash Sharma said that that his company was successful in rendering financial services to the public in a simplified manner. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The conclave was organized by Clock b business innovations in association with the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. The first such conclave was held in 2018 and second in 2019. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">More than 300 Nepalis and Indian startups entrepreneurs, investors, experts and high-ranking officials from Nepal and India attended the event. The day-long event had three panel discussions with over 15 participants from both the countries in each session. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organizers expressed confidence that event served as a common platform for young entrepreneurs from both the countries to discuss, develop new concepts and to explore business opportunities. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14722', 'image' => '20220323060756_13489.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 18:07:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Increases Interest Rate on Refinancing by 2 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points. By making the fourth amendment to "Nepal Rastra Bank Refinancing Procedure, 2077 BS", the central bank has allowed banks and financial institutions to increases the interest on refinancing by 2 percentage points. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, BFIs have increased the interest on refinancing for micro, cottage and home-grown industries as well as special loans and general loans by 2 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate on refinancing, which was 5 percent earlier, has now been raised to 7 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the interest rates on refinancing by banks and financial institutions have increased, businessmen reacted by saying, "Don't be surprised." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has taken the initiative for this loan, the businessmen accuse that the middlemen of the banks have benefitted from it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Umesh Prasad Singh, president of the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries said that no matter how high the interest rate of refinancing is, it will not affect the entrepreneurs. "We have to fight hard to avail refinancing. The businessmen we have recommended are not in a position to avail this loan,” he said. Even if the interest rate goes up, the businessmen are not surprised.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has 45,000 members, said Chairman Singh. However, he said that only one or two of them have benefitted from the refinancing scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the President of the Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal Prachandaman Shakya said that the increase in the interest rate on refinancing will have a direct impact on the handicraft business. He said that the recent decision of the NRB would have a direct impact on the export business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Handicraft traders benefited from this loan. However, when interest rates rise, they will be hit hard. This is because the businesses that could not be fully operational due to Covid-19 were also open due to this loan. If the interest rate on such loans goes up, it will impact harder,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NRB had fixed a 3 percent interest rate for special refinancing by banks, while a 5 percent interest rate was fixed for small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At the same time, the interest rate on refinancing charged by NRB with banks has also gone up. The interest rate on special refinancing has been increased by one percentage point, while the interest rate on small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing has been increased by 2 percentage points.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of the first seven months of the current fiscal year, 24,268 borrowers have taken refinancing facility of Rs 106.11 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14721', 'image' => '20220323042114_NRBnew.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:20:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Investors Keen on Investing in Upper Arun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">At a discussion programme organized by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Tuesday, they stressed on taking forward this project at the earliest, stating that the reservoir-based project was needed in Nepal for energy security. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the prospective investors viewed that the government should come up with investment modality, process of costing and guarantee of timely completion of this 1,061-megawatt project. The capacity of the project could be increased upto 1,500 megawatt through technical enhancement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, the country has only one reservoir based hydel project in Kulekhani. All sort of studies and researches have been conducted on Upper Arun hydel project and is ready for implementation phase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Multilateral donor agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are willing to invest in Upper Arun hydel project. The Nepal Electricity Authority has set up the Upper Arun Hydroelectricity Company, a subsidiary company, to move the project forward. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participants in the discussion included representatives from banks and financial institutions and public financial institutions among others. They reiterated their intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project which could yield multifaceted benefits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No market issues: Minister Bhusal </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participating in the discussion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal assured that the local investors need not worry about the market for electricity. "We are holding talks with India politically and through diplomatic channels. The environment is being positive gradually. We will reap huge benefits from this" </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to her, China had also articulated its intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project and to import electricity. She assured of timely completion of the project and no increase in the cost for the project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Minister shared that the construction entrepreneur who will complete the project on time would be rewarded. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No investment problem: Minister Sharma </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma, participating in the discussion, shared that there was no issues regarding investment in hydel projects like Upper Arun. Minister Sharma mentioned that the government was ready to move ahead with reservoir-based hydel projects like Budhigandaki, Upper Arun, Mugu Hydel Project, Karnali Hydel Project among others. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sharma informed that share structure would be prepared ensuring investment of the locals and underscored the public participation in the project. The Finance Minister called for devising a monitoring mechanism at public level, at government level and non-government level for the project. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14720', 'image' => '20220323040212_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:01:23', '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
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: The Insurance Board Nepal (IBN) has decided to increase the paid-up capital of life and non-life insurance companies. The board has decided to raise the minimum paid-up capital of life insurance companies to Rs 5 billion and non-life insurance companies to Rs 2.5 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the minimum paid-up capital was Rs 2 billion for life insurance companies and Rs 1 billion for non-life insurance companies. A meeting of the board of directors of IBN on Thursday decided to increase the limit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the board Raju Raman Poudel said that the decision was taken to increase the paid-up capital targeting risk-based capital. He said that the decision was taken based on the guidelines on risk-based capital that was issued by the board. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As the business of insurance companies are growing, the risk they incur is also increasing. However, the paid-up capital of the companies is not sufficient to face such risks," he said, "So we have tried to increase the risk-bearing capacity by increasing the paid-up capital." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that it would also help in encouraging companies to merge with each other, maintaining appropriate number of companies, maintaining large capital and creating healthy competition. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has instructed the companies to increase their paid-up capital by mid-April 2023. "The companies will have to submit a plan to increase their paid-up capital to the board within 30 days," Poudel said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provision has also been made for foreign companies to deposit a certain amount of paid-up capital in a separate fund. Currently, foreign insurance companies operating in Nepal do not have paid-up capital. They are operating here as a branch offices. The board insists that they should keep the an amount equal to the paid-up capital in the designated fund. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the board Surya Prasad Silwal said that the companies should go for merger if they do not increase their capital within the stipulated time. "Now the companies have to increase the paid-up capital within one year. If not, they will have to merge,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, he said that companies can also issue rights shares to increase their paid-up capital. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14738', 'image' => '20220325035732_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:56:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14994', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Technology can Overcome Barriers in Traditional Businesses’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN].', 'content' => '<p>March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN] organized by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu on March 23 in collaboration with Clockb Business Innovations.</p> <p>Another important topic that featured during the panel discussion was how technology can help overcome barriers in traditional businesses.</p> <p>Participants from India during the panel discussion were Yatra Angel Network, a VC firm focusing on funding of fintech ventures, and Credenc, a startup using technology and data analytics for better decision making on disbursal of educational loans, according to the Indian Embassy.</p> <p>The day-long conclave saw participation of about twenty-five entrepreneurs, including five from India, working in domains as diverse as e-commerce, life sciences, fintech, education technology, social entrepreneurship, food tech, and financial services.</p> <p>A statement issued by the embassy says well-known startups from Nepal such as Tootle, Hatti Hatti, Pick and Drop, Pad2Go and SweetFix, and VCs such as Dolma Impact Fund and Business Oxygen also participated in the panel discussion. The event also featured speakers from Standard Chartered Bank and King’s College Kathmandu.</p> <p>The day-long conclave was organized as a part of the year-long celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s independence, the statement added.</p> <p>According to the embassy, Connect [IN] is an initiative to brings together innovators, dignitaries and thought leaders from India and Nepal to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the two countries.</p> <p>The organizers believe that the conclave provided a platform for young entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists and experts from India and Nepal to learn from and connect with each other on a range of domains.</p> <p>This is the third edition of the conclave following the success of the first two editions. The third edition of Connect [IN] was jointly inaugurated by Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra.</p> <p>The key partners of the event were GMR, Tata Motors, Tata Meditech and Tootle.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14737', 'image' => '20220325032135_pic 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:20:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Will Nepal Raise the Issue of High Interest Rates Charged by China?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).</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"">Analysts consider this visit of great significance as Wang is arriving in Nepal just after the ratification of the US grant project Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Officials say that Nepal has already finalized the agendas to be discussed during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During this visit, Nepal is expected to sign an agreement to implement the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It has already been five years since Nepal signed the BRI in 2017. However, the two countries are yet to finalize the projects under the BRI.</span> Experts believe that China is under pressure to implement the BRI after Nepal endorsed the MCC. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">One of the pressing issues that Nepal must raise during Wang’s visit is the high interest rate China has imposed on loans. Nepal has long been complaining that the interest on loans invested by China is relatively high. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Chief of the International Support Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ishwari Prasad Aryal says that the interest rate of Chinese loans is higher than the loans provided by other donor agencies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“The interest on loans provided by China to build Pokhara Regional International Airport is 2 percent,” said Aryal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The interests on loans that Nepal receives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, JICA among other donor agencies are less than 1 percent. Experts have suggested the government to raise this issue during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">An official at the finance ministry said that the time period set by China to repay the loans is also less compared to others. The official said that other nations give concessional loans to under-developed and developing nations on a long-term basis but China has been providing loans for 10 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">According to the officials of foreign ministry, China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) charges an additional 1 percent interest under the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Nepal had recently borrowed USD 112 million for the construction of transmission lines from the AIIB. Nepal needs to pay the interest rate at 3 percent after adding the LIBOR charge.</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"">Prior to that, the Government of Nepal had also taken loan from Exim Bank of China for investing in the Upper Trshuli III A project, Pokhara airport and to purchase Chinese aircraft. Government officials claim that those loans were also taken at high interest rates. The ministry officials say that the country is facing financial burden due to the high interest rates.</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"">Former Secretary Puroshattam Ojha says that the government must clarify after this visit how Nepal can benefit from the BRI. He says that Nepal must get Chinese support without adding any more financial burden.</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"">Analyst Hari Roka says that Nepal must receive Chinese support by taking into consideration the national interest and welfare.</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"">Nepal’s former ambassador to India Lokraj Baral opined that China wants to maintain good relations with neighbouring countries.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14735', 'image' => '20220325125029_20220321055304_1647854768.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:49:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Company to Announce the Date of Service Operation Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette. The train purchased by Nepal for almost Rs 1 billion has not been able to operate yet due to lack of laws. But now, with the ordinance issued, Nepal Railway Company Limited will set a date for operating the trains soon. The two sets of trains purchased 19 months ago for the operation of the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway service are running without passengers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After President Bidya Devi Bhandari issued the Railway Ordinance-2078 on Tuesday, the Department of Printing published this ordinance in the Nepal Gazette on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of the company, claimed that the legal gateway has been opened with the ordinance and the train with passengers will start running soon. Jha added that the ordinance is expected to be passed by the parliament within 60 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now, we have started preparation to run the trains,” said Jha adding, “We will announce the date for formal inauguration of the train within 2/3 days. Now that all the preparations have been made and there are no financial and legal problems, there is no obstacle in operating the train”. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There were complications in operating the train earlier due to lack of legal provisions in case of accidents, human losses, in addition to the issue of passenger fares and freight charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had issued an ordinance to run the train twice before. But legal hurdles could not be removed since those ordinances were not endorsed by the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jha informed that the company currently has 58 employees. It has been agreed to bring 26 technicians from India to run the trains. Fourteen of them have already arrived while 12 technicians are on their way to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14733', 'image' => '20220325120935_Railwayy (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:08:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Preparing to Allow Research on Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> It may be noted that Minister Khatiwada has been advocating for legalizing the use of marijuana since a long time. The state-owned national news agency RSS reported on Thursday that a meeting of the Development Problem Solving Committee under the Ministry of Health and Population has decided to advance this agenda. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Shantaram Bidari, press adviser to the Health Minister Khatiwada, the committee has decided to give approval in principle to prepare a legal provision for conducting research on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The decision, certified by Minister Khatiwada on Wednesday, states, "The government has decided to provide approval in principle to prepare legal provisions for the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose. Collection of samples for research to study the medicinal properties and toxicity of marijuana will be allowed once the laws are enacted." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A draft bill in this regard has also been prepared to be presented in parliament for legalizing the use of marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In February 2019, the then member of the ruling Nepal Communist Party Birodh Khatiwada had demanded during a parliamentary meeting that the government lift the ban on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the House meeting more than two years ago, Khatiwada had argued that cannabis is legal in developed countries like the United States of America, Canada, Thailand, among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Why don’t we legalize cannabis in Nepal?” he questioned, adding that marijuana has been a source of income in the developed economies, while people in Nepal face legal actions for producing marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further added that marijuana is destroyed in Nepal but ironically Singha Durbar-based Vaidyakhana – the state-run manufacturer of Aayurvedic and herbal medicines – imports marijuana from the foreign market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marijuana was legal in Nepal more than 40 years ago, but the herb was banned in the country in 1977 after pressure from the United States of America. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14732', 'image' => '20220325103215_20190221010550_adsfff.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 10:31:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14989', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Hit Hard by NEA Decision to Cut Electricity Supply Abruptly', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice. As a result, the industrial area has been reeling under chaos. Rajendra Raut, vice president of Province 1 chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the economic adviser to the Chief Minister of the province said that NEA did not give a chance for the industries to look for alternatives and cut off the electricity supply abruptly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The power supply should have been cut off by at least after informing the industries by issuing a public notice. The sudden power supply disruption created a kind of panic in the industry,” said Raut.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries which were finally gaining momentum post Covid-19 period are back in trouble again. Raut said that the cost of production will also increase when the industries have to run with the help of diesel plants. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suyash Raj Pyakurel, chairman of the Chamber of Industry Morang, criticized the government’s irresponsible act of cutting off the power supply. “It is a shameful that the government could not bid electricity from India for even 1 day,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire said that it was inappropriate for the government to shut down industries for hours due to minor problems despite repeatedly urging the public to increase the consumption of electricity. He said that the NEA had caused damage in millions to the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor by cutting off the supply without giving prior notice.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The supply of electricity to Nepal has been abruptly cut off as the cost of electricity generated from the thermal plant operated in India has gone up since the increase in the price of coal due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Rajesh Regmi, head of the Duhabi Grid, said that 190 MW of electricity was being supplied from Kataiya Power House in Bihar, which fell to zero on Tuesday. He said, “Even though 30 MW of electricity was distributed on Wednesday afternoon, it was cut off again in the evening”.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14731', 'image' => '20220324020034_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:59:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Fails to Import Electricity from India’s Open Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The electricity rate in the open market of India is higher than the rate proposed by the NEA through bidding.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In winter, NEA purchased electricity from the India’s open market through bidding and supplied it to the local market of Nepal. NEA has not been able to get electricity from India for the last two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) as the open market price was higher than the bid amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had proposed to buy electricity at Rs 12 per unit on Wednesday. However, the average price of electricity in the Indian open market reached about Rs 18 per unit ( IRs 11.2). As a result, NEA could not purchase electricity from the Indian open market due to a mismatch of rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that they could not get electricity even for a bid of Rs 19.20 on Thursday. The maximum price per unit of electricity on Thursday was Rs 32 per unit (IRs 20), he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid a day before to buy electricity from India. NEA has been proposing 96 bids every day. "We had offered the same bid for Thursday. However, only eight of them were approved,” said Bhattarai. It is said that the price has gone up due to the scarcity of coal in India, the main source of electricity production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA is currently selling electricity to its customers at an average of Rs 10 per unit. According to Bhattarai, NEA will face problems in supplying electricity by investing up to Rs 32 per unit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising said that electricity would be purchased even if it was expensive for the industrial sector. "Other customers have enough electricity. However, there is a challenge to supply electricity to the industrial sector,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An official of NEA claimed that there is a problem in power purchase due to the leadership trying to maintain profit. "Sometimes there is a loss, and sometimes there is a profit when buying throughout the year," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the water level in the river decline in winter, electricity generation declines, and Nepal needs to import electricity from India. Electricity gets wasted in the rainy season. At that time, Nepal used to export electricity to India. At present, hydropower projects in Nepal generate an average of 800 MW of electricity. However, the demand is 1600 MW.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14729', 'image' => '20220324011954_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:19:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Feel the Heat of Liquidity Crunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Microfinance companies are dependent on banks for loans under the deprived sector lending. But as the banks themselves have been facing liquidity crunch of late, microfinance companies are facing difficulties to obtain loans, says chairman of Nepal Microfinance Bankers’ Association Prakash Raj Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have not been able to receive adequate loans due to the liquidity crisis faced by banks,” said Sharma, who is also the CEO of Laxmi Lagubitta Bittiya Sansthan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This has started impacting our loan investment,” added Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has set the limit of 15 percent interest rate that microfinance companies can charge from customers. The microfinance companies are not in trouble after the banks increased the interest rates. They have to pay as much as 13 to 14 percent interest to the banks for acquiring loan at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have submitted a memorandum to the central bank mentioning that the ceiling on interest rate has caused us problems. We are hopeful that the problems will be addressed after the third quarterly review of the monetary policy,” said Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The interests on loans have increased after the commercial banks increased interests on deposit by 10 percent in the month of Falgun (mid- February to mid-March). Following the decision of the commercial banks to raise interest rates, microfinance companies had also submitted a written request to the central bank in mid-February to increase their interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank is currently discussing the problems faced by microfinance companies due to the increase in interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank is conducting internal study regarding the issue raised by microfinance companies,” said Bhatta, adding, “If they are facing problems due to the increase in interest rates, their concerns will be addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had fixed the limit on interest rates charged by microfinance companies two years ago after receiving multiple complaints that such companies were charging excessive interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the complaints, the central bank had introduced a provision that did not allow microfinance companies from charging more than 18 percent interest to the customers. However, that limit was lowered to 15 percent last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The microfinance companies have cried foul stating that the decision to fix the limit on interest rate is unfair because they it is subject to change according to market demand. They have urged the central bank to bring a provision that allows them to fix the interest rate by adding premium to the base rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">BFIs are obliged to lend 5 percent of the total credit flow to the deprived sector as per the provision of the central bank. Majority of loan under this heading goes to the microfinance companies and cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sixty nine microfinance companies that are currently operational have lend a total of Rs 330.68 billion to more than 3.1 million customers.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14728', 'image' => '20220324113525_Liquidity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 11:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Radhe Shyam Saraf, a leading hotelier of Nepal, no more', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. He was 92. He was one of the leading entrepreneurs to open 5-star hotels in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf introduced the international chain brand Hyatt Regency Hotel located at Boudha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf is also credited for establishing Hotel Yak & Yeti, another 5-star hotel, in Nepal in the 1970s. The hotel came into operation after Hotel Annapurna and Soltee Hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf came to Nepal six decades ago and started business of sewing seat covers. In the course of business expansion, he introduced the Hyatt brand in 2000, which is run on land owned by the Taragaon Development Committee. The Saraf family is the main investor of the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf's body was cremated at Pashupatinath Aryaghat in Kathmandu on Wednesday. His body was brought to Kathmandu via a chartered plane on Tuesday night as per his wish.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf had been staying at the Yak & Yeti's Red House. He was awarded the “Gorkha Dakshinbahu” medal by the then King Birendra Shah in recognition of his contribution to Nepal's hotel industry. Along with Yak & Yeti and Hotel Hyatt, the Saraf family has also invested in the hydropower sector of Nepal. Similarly, the family also runs the Modern Indian School at Chobhar, Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Senior Vice President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Binayak Shah remembers Saraf as a “pioneer” in the hotel sector. He says, he was the one to start “well-equipped star hotels” in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14727', 'image' => '20220325125712_-chairman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EU to Fund Skills Development Project for Returnee Migrant Workers affected by Pandemic ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU funded Euro 1.99 million in total to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organization (ILO) Nepal, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the British Council managed 'Dakchyata: TVET Practical Partnership' project which will run for ten months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The activities under the grant scheme target trainers or the trainees in three of the most important economic sectors in Nepal- agriculture, tourism and construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized in the capital on Wednesday to shed light on the issue, Joint Secretary at TVET Division of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Kamal Pokhrel, said the project to be launched at a time when Nepal is facing the influx of returnee migrant workers in the wake of COVID-19 is timely and appropriate. It would help the returnee migrant workers in economic and market reintegration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project aims at building competence of stakeholders and support returnee migrant workers and their families who have been affected by the pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, head of the Cooperation Department of the European Union Delegation to Nepal, Dr Marco Gemmer, said, "Without education, it is impossible to achieve sustainable development and happiness. Although many sectors have witnessed progress in Nepal, still there are much more to do." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, EU focused on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in light of the returnee migrants who were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"'Enhancing returnee migrant workers' skills for employment' project has been designed to analyse and match returnee migrants' skills and competences, provide relevant training according to market needs, certify their skills, coach counsel, and mentor to effectively reintegrate at least 1500 people, prioritizing women migrants," said UNDP Nepal Resident Representative, Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe. The UNDP would launch the project in Madhes Province and Lumbini Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Dakchyata project team leader Erik Winther-Schmidt said, "The returning migrant workers grant fund is channeled to support a key challenge which emerged with the global pandemic- that is the reintegration of returnee migrant workers who bring with them a range of skills, not all of which may be officially recognized through qualifications and skills." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director at ILO Country Office in Nepal, Richard Howard, shared that with the broader collaboration, the ILO would support for economic reintegration of the returnee Nepali migrant workers by improving their access to basic employment services, providing opportunities for up-skilling, re-skilling, skill certification, and strengthening public-private sector dialogues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member Secretary at Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), Jeeb Narayan Kafle, expressed commitment that CTEVT would extend utmost cooperation for the effective implementation of the project. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14726', 'image' => '20220324082318_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:21:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mountains Vulnerable to Climate Change: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day Regional Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Mountain Solutions organized as part of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (IYM 2022) in Chandragiri on Wednesday, Prime Minister Deuba said that the mountains and the people living there continue to confront with several challenges. </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"">"Poverty, food insecurity, environmental degradation, risk of disasters and limited access to basic services are the challenges that the mountainous regions have been increasingly confronting," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the prime minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM was of the view that the mountains and the people living there have become the victims of disproportionate impact of global warming despite the negligible emissions of mountainous countries like Nepal. PM Deuba added that the world has not done enough to address environmental degradation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the inadequate efforts to check impacts of global warming have triggered the crisis to the proportion beyond control. </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"">"We need to take urgent measures to halt global temperature rise to secure the future of humanity. Nepal has adopted an ambitious roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2045. We call upon the international community for meaningful support in our efforts." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the PM further said many scientific studies of the extreme weather patterns reveal that mountainous regions are getting warmer much faster than the global average. Melting of snow, retreat of glacier, drought, erratic rainfall, flash floods already hint of what lies ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commitment-delivery gap erodes credibility of int'l cooperation</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba urged the world leaders not to leave the mountainous regions behind as the world is in the decade of action to deliver on sustainable development goals. To address the challenges, guarantee of adequate financing –both internal as well as external - is imperative, said Deuba. </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"">"We must not suffer from inadequacy of commitment, action and delivery on development outcomes. The commitment-delivery gap will erode credibility of the international cooperation," PM Deuba said, urging international cooperation to realize the SDGs by all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He reportedly said that agenda for sustainable mountain development has always been a priority for Nepal. </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"">"We raised our voice in Glasgow during the COP 26. But there is a long way to go for mainstreaming mountain agenda in climate negotiations. We need stronger collaboration among mountain countries in UN Climate change negotiations to address our agenda. Nepal will continue to play an active role in global forums to address the concerns of the mountainous countries," Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further said that the mountainous countries require further cooperation and support from the international community in their quest of recovery from COVID-19. Preservation of indigenous cultures, generation of employment opportunities and guarantee of development of sustainable infrastructures are equally imperative, Deuba said. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14725', 'image' => '20220324081401_Nepal-Khumbu-valley-Solukhumbu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:13:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Pickles make way to European Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prashant Khadka</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. Her Nawras and kitchen recipes have started selling abroad. Bista informed that 90 percent of the total production is sold in Nepal whereas 10 percent is exported to European countries as well as America and Japan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited is responsible for the sales of pickles in Nepal. It sends pickles for sale in Bhatbhateni, Big Mart and Salesberry. While on the other hand, exporters purchase and export the pickles abroad. Her industry produces pickles of various varieties like fish, meat, chili, radish, Indian gooseberry, cucumber, mango, dried spinach, lemon, plums, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Packaged pickles are available in jars of 500gm to 1kg in the market. The labeling on the package displays ingredients used in the pickles with no usage of chemicals and the price of pickles depend on the nature of the pickle. The cost of pickles ranges from Rs 150 to Rs 1000 depending on the ingredients used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When Bista started this business, the consumption of imported pickles was high since there was no variety of Nepali pickles in the market. Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited gave training for pickle production to a group of women, targeting the then pickle market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hajuri Bista started this business alone in her own house located at Dhobighat, Lalitpur. At present, this business has employed 22 workers. While the investment of the business has hit Rs 60 million, the business involves annual transaction of Rs 20 million. Bista informed that in the process of extending business, her daughter Hima and son-in-law Rituraj Pandey even brought a restaurant named Achar Ghar into operation, where the pickles produced by Bista are used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bista shared, “I did not start this business due to shortage of money. I started this business with the aim to do something by myself.” She expressed that it is not difficult to attain success if one is able to treat all kinds of professions equally.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She shared her past saying, “I was married at the age of 17 while I was still studying. My husband went to Paris for his PhD after marriage, where I accompanied him. After spending 7 years abroad, my husband started teaching profession at Tribhuvan University and I started to make pickles.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite people talking behind her back about the daughter of sociologist Dor Bahadur Bista making pickles, she paid no attention to their remarks. “Instead, I used to go around the neighborhood carrying pickles in a bag and asking people to taste and buy them,” she expressed happily, adding, “Due to my trust and persistence, I even got the opportunity to travel to countries like India, China, and Bangladesh. I was even awarded by the government as the Best Female Entrepreneur.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many people have established their own businesses after getting inspiration from her. Which is why, she is still full of enthusiasm despite reaching the age of 66 years. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14724', 'image' => '20220323055328_CpkLg74UAAIp3yq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 17:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third International Entrepreneurship Conclave Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra jointly inaugurated the conclave. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister Karki said that the Government of Nepal has adopted a policy to promote entrepreneurship and startups. Stating that the government has also taken investment-friendly approach to keep economy afloat, he said that the government intends to attract investment and is working to remove procedural hassles as well as to simplify public service delivery. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Karki claimed that the integrated public service delivery put in place by the government had helped the entrepreneurs to augment their business activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Asserting that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs were the backbone of the country's economic development, Minister Karki shared that the government had amended the policy to promote business and to enhance capacity of entrepreneurs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Indian envoy Kwatra said that the conclave had provided business base for the young entrepreneurs. Stating that innovation and entrepreneurship figured in the priorities of the Government of India, he expressed his confidence that the conclave would play an important role in enhancing capacity of the young entrepreneurs of Nepal and India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, first secretary of the Indian Embassy to Nepal Abhisekh Upadhyay informed that the conclave was organized to bring together the young entrepreneurs from Nepal and India and exchange their experiences. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the inauguration, F1Soft company’s director Subash Sharma said that that his company was successful in rendering financial services to the public in a simplified manner. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The conclave was organized by Clock b business innovations in association with the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. The first such conclave was held in 2018 and second in 2019. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">More than 300 Nepalis and Indian startups entrepreneurs, investors, experts and high-ranking officials from Nepal and India attended the event. The day-long event had three panel discussions with over 15 participants from both the countries in each session. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organizers expressed confidence that event served as a common platform for young entrepreneurs from both the countries to discuss, develop new concepts and to explore business opportunities. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14722', 'image' => '20220323060756_13489.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 18:07:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Increases Interest Rate on Refinancing by 2 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points. By making the fourth amendment to "Nepal Rastra Bank Refinancing Procedure, 2077 BS", the central bank has allowed banks and financial institutions to increases the interest on refinancing by 2 percentage points. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, BFIs have increased the interest on refinancing for micro, cottage and home-grown industries as well as special loans and general loans by 2 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate on refinancing, which was 5 percent earlier, has now been raised to 7 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the interest rates on refinancing by banks and financial institutions have increased, businessmen reacted by saying, "Don't be surprised." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has taken the initiative for this loan, the businessmen accuse that the middlemen of the banks have benefitted from it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Umesh Prasad Singh, president of the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries said that no matter how high the interest rate of refinancing is, it will not affect the entrepreneurs. "We have to fight hard to avail refinancing. The businessmen we have recommended are not in a position to avail this loan,” he said. Even if the interest rate goes up, the businessmen are not surprised.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has 45,000 members, said Chairman Singh. However, he said that only one or two of them have benefitted from the refinancing scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the President of the Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal Prachandaman Shakya said that the increase in the interest rate on refinancing will have a direct impact on the handicraft business. He said that the recent decision of the NRB would have a direct impact on the export business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Handicraft traders benefited from this loan. However, when interest rates rise, they will be hit hard. This is because the businesses that could not be fully operational due to Covid-19 were also open due to this loan. If the interest rate on such loans goes up, it will impact harder,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NRB had fixed a 3 percent interest rate for special refinancing by banks, while a 5 percent interest rate was fixed for small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At the same time, the interest rate on refinancing charged by NRB with banks has also gone up. The interest rate on special refinancing has been increased by one percentage point, while the interest rate on small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing has been increased by 2 percentage points.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of the first seven months of the current fiscal year, 24,268 borrowers have taken refinancing facility of Rs 106.11 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14721', 'image' => '20220323042114_NRBnew.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:20:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Investors Keen on Investing in Upper Arun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">At a discussion programme organized by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Tuesday, they stressed on taking forward this project at the earliest, stating that the reservoir-based project was needed in Nepal for energy security. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the prospective investors viewed that the government should come up with investment modality, process of costing and guarantee of timely completion of this 1,061-megawatt project. The capacity of the project could be increased upto 1,500 megawatt through technical enhancement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, the country has only one reservoir based hydel project in Kulekhani. All sort of studies and researches have been conducted on Upper Arun hydel project and is ready for implementation phase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Multilateral donor agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are willing to invest in Upper Arun hydel project. The Nepal Electricity Authority has set up the Upper Arun Hydroelectricity Company, a subsidiary company, to move the project forward. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participants in the discussion included representatives from banks and financial institutions and public financial institutions among others. They reiterated their intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project which could yield multifaceted benefits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No market issues: Minister Bhusal </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participating in the discussion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal assured that the local investors need not worry about the market for electricity. "We are holding talks with India politically and through diplomatic channels. The environment is being positive gradually. We will reap huge benefits from this" </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to her, China had also articulated its intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project and to import electricity. She assured of timely completion of the project and no increase in the cost for the project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Minister shared that the construction entrepreneur who will complete the project on time would be rewarded. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No investment problem: Minister Sharma </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma, participating in the discussion, shared that there was no issues regarding investment in hydel projects like Upper Arun. Minister Sharma mentioned that the government was ready to move ahead with reservoir-based hydel projects like Budhigandaki, Upper Arun, Mugu Hydel Project, Karnali Hydel Project among others. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sharma informed that share structure would be prepared ensuring investment of the locals and underscored the public participation in the project. The Finance Minister called for devising a monitoring mechanism at public level, at government level and non-government level for the project. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14720', 'image' => '20220323040212_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:01:23', '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:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: The Insurance Board Nepal (IBN) has decided to increase the paid-up capital of life and non-life insurance companies. The board has decided to raise the minimum paid-up capital of life insurance companies to Rs 5 billion and non-life insurance companies to Rs 2.5 billion. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the minimum paid-up capital was Rs 2 billion for life insurance companies and Rs 1 billion for non-life insurance companies. A meeting of the board of directors of IBN on Thursday decided to increase the limit. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Director of the board Raju Raman Poudel said that the decision was taken to increase the paid-up capital targeting risk-based capital. He said that the decision was taken based on the guidelines on risk-based capital that was issued by the board. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"As the business of insurance companies are growing, the risk they incur is also increasing. However, the paid-up capital of the companies is not sufficient to face such risks," he said, "So we have tried to increase the risk-bearing capacity by increasing the paid-up capital." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that it would also help in encouraging companies to merge with each other, maintaining appropriate number of companies, maintaining large capital and creating healthy competition. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The board has instructed the companies to increase their paid-up capital by mid-April 2023. "The companies will have to submit a plan to increase their paid-up capital to the board within 30 days," Poudel said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Provision has also been made for foreign companies to deposit a certain amount of paid-up capital in a separate fund. Currently, foreign insurance companies operating in Nepal do not have paid-up capital. They are operating here as a branch offices. The board insists that they should keep the an amount equal to the paid-up capital in the designated fund. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the board Surya Prasad Silwal said that the companies should go for merger if they do not increase their capital within the stipulated time. "Now the companies have to increase the paid-up capital within one year. If not, they will have to merge,” he said. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Furthermore, he said that companies can also issue rights shares to increase their paid-up capital. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14738', 'image' => '20220325035732_Insurance board.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:56:57', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14994', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '‘Technology can Overcome Barriers in Traditional Businesses’', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN].', 'content' => '<p>March 25: Stakeholders discussed the challenges faced by startups during their early stages and funding of startups from venture capital (VC’s) perspective during the 3rd edition of International Entrepreneurship Conclave – Connect [IN] organized by the Indian embassy in Kathmandu on March 23 in collaboration with Clockb Business Innovations.</p> <p>Another important topic that featured during the panel discussion was how technology can help overcome barriers in traditional businesses.</p> <p>Participants from India during the panel discussion were Yatra Angel Network, a VC firm focusing on funding of fintech ventures, and Credenc, a startup using technology and data analytics for better decision making on disbursal of educational loans, according to the Indian Embassy.</p> <p>The day-long conclave saw participation of about twenty-five entrepreneurs, including five from India, working in domains as diverse as e-commerce, life sciences, fintech, education technology, social entrepreneurship, food tech, and financial services.</p> <p>A statement issued by the embassy says well-known startups from Nepal such as Tootle, Hatti Hatti, Pick and Drop, Pad2Go and SweetFix, and VCs such as Dolma Impact Fund and Business Oxygen also participated in the panel discussion. The event also featured speakers from Standard Chartered Bank and King’s College Kathmandu.</p> <p>The day-long conclave was organized as a part of the year-long celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s independence, the statement added.</p> <p>According to the embassy, Connect [IN] is an initiative to brings together innovators, dignitaries and thought leaders from India and Nepal to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the two countries.</p> <p>The organizers believe that the conclave provided a platform for young entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists and experts from India and Nepal to learn from and connect with each other on a range of domains.</p> <p>This is the third edition of the conclave following the success of the first two editions. The third edition of Connect [IN] was jointly inaugurated by Minister for Communication and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra.</p> <p>The key partners of the event were GMR, Tata Motors, Tata Meditech and Tootle.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14737', 'image' => '20220325032135_pic 1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 15:20:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14992', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Will Nepal Raise the Issue of High Interest Rates Charged by China?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 25: Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi will arrive in Nepal for a three-day state visit on Friday evening (March 25).</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"">Analysts consider this visit of great significance as Wang is arriving in Nepal just after the ratification of the US grant project Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Officials say that Nepal has already finalized the agendas to be discussed during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During this visit, Nepal is expected to sign an agreement to implement the Belt and Road Initiative. </span><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">It has already been five years since Nepal signed the BRI in 2017. However, the two countries are yet to finalize the projects under the BRI.</span> Experts believe that China is under pressure to implement the BRI after Nepal endorsed the MCC. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">One of the pressing issues that Nepal must raise during Wang’s visit is the high interest rate China has imposed on loans. Nepal has long been complaining that the interest on loans invested by China is relatively high. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Chief of the International Support Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ishwari Prasad Aryal says that the interest rate of Chinese loans is higher than the loans provided by other donor agencies.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">“The interest on loans provided by China to build Pokhara Regional International Airport is 2 percent,” said Aryal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The interests on loans that Nepal receives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, JICA among other donor agencies are less than 1 percent. Experts have suggested the government to raise this issue during Wang’s visit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">An official at the finance ministry said that the time period set by China to repay the loans is also less compared to others. The official said that other nations give concessional loans to under-developed and developing nations on a long-term basis but China has been providing loans for 10 years.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">According to the officials of foreign ministry, China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) charges an additional 1 percent interest under the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Nepal had recently borrowed USD 112 million for the construction of transmission lines from the AIIB. Nepal needs to pay the interest rate at 3 percent after adding the LIBOR charge.</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"">Prior to that, the Government of Nepal had also taken loan from Exim Bank of China for investing in the Upper Trshuli III A project, Pokhara airport and to purchase Chinese aircraft. Government officials claim that those loans were also taken at high interest rates. The ministry officials say that the country is facing financial burden due to the high interest rates.</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"">Former Secretary Puroshattam Ojha says that the government must clarify after this visit how Nepal can benefit from the BRI. He says that Nepal must get Chinese support without adding any more financial burden.</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"">Analyst Hari Roka says that Nepal must receive Chinese support by taking into consideration the national interest and welfare.</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"">Nepal’s former ambassador to India Lokraj Baral opined that China wants to maintain good relations with neighbouring countries.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14735', 'image' => '20220325125029_20220321055304_1647854768.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:49:41', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14991', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Company to Announce the Date of Service Operation Soon', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 25: A legal gateway has been opened for the operation of railway service after the Railway Ordinance -2078 was published in the Nepal Gazette. The train purchased by Nepal for almost Rs 1 billion has not been able to operate yet due to lack of laws. But now, with the ordinance issued, Nepal Railway Company Limited will set a date for operating the trains soon. The two sets of trains purchased 19 months ago for the operation of the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway service are running without passengers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">After President Bidya Devi Bhandari issued the Railway Ordinance-2078 on Tuesday, the Department of Printing published this ordinance in the Nepal Gazette on Wednesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Niranjan Jha, general manager of the company, claimed that the legal gateway has been opened with the ordinance and the train with passengers will start running soon. Jha added that the ordinance is expected to be passed by the parliament within 60 days.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Now, we have started preparation to run the trains,” said Jha adding, “We will announce the date for formal inauguration of the train within 2/3 days. Now that all the preparations have been made and there are no financial and legal problems, there is no obstacle in operating the train”. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There were complications in operating the train earlier due to lack of legal provisions in case of accidents, human losses, in addition to the issue of passenger fares and freight charges.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had issued an ordinance to run the train twice before. But legal hurdles could not be removed since those ordinances were not endorsed by the parliament.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Jha informed that the company currently has 58 employees. It has been agreed to bring 26 technicians from India to run the trains. Fourteen of them have already arrived while 12 technicians are on their way to Nepal.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14733', 'image' => '20220325120935_Railwayy (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 12:08:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14990', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Preparing to Allow Research on Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 25: The Ministry of Health and Population is preparing to approve research on marijuana for medicinal purpose. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> It may be noted that Minister Khatiwada has been advocating for legalizing the use of marijuana since a long time. The state-owned national news agency RSS reported on Thursday that a meeting of the Development Problem Solving Committee under the Ministry of Health and Population has decided to advance this agenda. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Shantaram Bidari, press adviser to the Health Minister Khatiwada, the committee has decided to give approval in principle to prepare a legal provision for conducting research on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The decision, certified by Minister Khatiwada on Wednesday, states, "The government has decided to provide approval in principle to prepare legal provisions for the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose. Collection of samples for research to study the medicinal properties and toxicity of marijuana will be allowed once the laws are enacted." </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A draft bill in this regard has also been prepared to be presented in parliament for legalizing the use of marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In February 2019, the then member of the ruling Nepal Communist Party Birodh Khatiwada had demanded during a parliamentary meeting that the government lift the ban on marijuana. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Speaking at the House meeting more than two years ago, Khatiwada had argued that cannabis is legal in developed countries like the United States of America, Canada, Thailand, among others.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Why don’t we legalize cannabis in Nepal?” he questioned, adding that marijuana has been a source of income in the developed economies, while people in Nepal face legal actions for producing marijuana.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">He further added that marijuana is destroyed in Nepal but ironically Singha Durbar-based Vaidyakhana – the state-run manufacturer of Aayurvedic and herbal medicines – imports marijuana from the foreign market.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Marijuana was legal in Nepal more than 40 years ago, but the herb was banned in the country in 1977 after pressure from the United States of America. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-25', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14732', 'image' => '20220325103215_20190221010550_adsfff.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-25 10:31:27', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14989', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industries Hit Hard by NEA Decision to Cut Electricity Supply Abruptly', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: NEA has cut off electricity supply to the industries consuming more than 1 MW of electricity without prior notice. As a result, the industrial area has been reeling under chaos. Rajendra Raut, vice president of Province 1 chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the economic adviser to the Chief Minister of the province said that NEA did not give a chance for the industries to look for alternatives and cut off the electricity supply abruptly.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “The power supply should have been cut off by at least after informing the industries by issuing a public notice. The sudden power supply disruption created a kind of panic in the industry,” said Raut.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries which were finally gaining momentum post Covid-19 period are back in trouble again. Raut said that the cost of production will also increase when the industries have to run with the help of diesel plants. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Suyash Raj Pyakurel, chairman of the Chamber of Industry Morang, criticized the government’s irresponsible act of cutting off the power supply. “It is a shameful that the government could not bid electricity from India for even 1 day,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Chairman of the Province 1 chapter of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, Bhim Ghimire said that it was inappropriate for the government to shut down industries for hours due to minor problems despite repeatedly urging the public to increase the consumption of electricity. He said that the NEA had caused damage in millions to the Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor by cutting off the supply without giving prior notice.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The supply of electricity to Nepal has been abruptly cut off as the cost of electricity generated from the thermal plant operated in India has gone up since the increase in the price of coal due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Rajesh Regmi, head of the Duhabi Grid, said that 190 MW of electricity was being supplied from Kataiya Power House in Bihar, which fell to zero on Tuesday. He said, “Even though 30 MW of electricity was distributed on Wednesday afternoon, it was cut off again in the evening”.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14731', 'image' => '20220324020034_Chamber of industries morang new.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:59:55', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14986', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Fails to Import Electricity from India’s Open Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been facing problems in importing electricity from India after the price of electricity skyrocketed in the open market of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The electricity rate in the open market of India is higher than the rate proposed by the NEA through bidding.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In winter, NEA purchased electricity from the India’s open market through bidding and supplied it to the local market of Nepal. NEA has not been able to get electricity from India for the last two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) as the open market price was higher than the bid amount.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA had proposed to buy electricity at Rs 12 per unit on Wednesday. However, the average price of electricity in the Indian open market reached about Rs 18 per unit ( IRs 11.2). As a result, NEA could not purchase electricity from the Indian open market due to a mismatch of rates.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA spokesperson Suresh Bhattarai said that they could not get electricity even for a bid of Rs 19.20 on Thursday. The maximum price per unit of electricity on Thursday was Rs 32 per unit (IRs 20), he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA should offer a bid a day before to buy electricity from India. NEA has been proposing 96 bids every day. "We had offered the same bid for Thursday. However, only eight of them were approved,” said Bhattarai. It is said that the price has gone up due to the scarcity of coal in India, the main source of electricity production.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA is currently selling electricity to its customers at an average of Rs 10 per unit. According to Bhattarai, NEA will face problems in supplying electricity by investing up to Rs 32 per unit.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising said that electricity would be purchased even if it was expensive for the industrial sector. "Other customers have enough electricity. However, there is a challenge to supply electricity to the industrial sector,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An official of NEA claimed that there is a problem in power purchase due to the leadership trying to maintain profit. "Sometimes there is a loss, and sometimes there is a profit when buying throughout the year," he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When the water level in the river decline in winter, electricity generation declines, and Nepal needs to import electricity from India. Electricity gets wasted in the rainy season. At that time, Nepal used to export electricity to India. At present, hydropower projects in Nepal generate an average of 800 MW of electricity. However, the demand is 1600 MW.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14729', 'image' => '20220324011954_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:19:11', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14985', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Microfinance Companies Feel the Heat of Liquidity Crunch', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 24: After the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) increased interest rates due to liquidity crisis, it is now the turn of microfinance companies to fact liquidity crunch now. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Microfinance companies are dependent on banks for loans under the deprived sector lending. But as the banks themselves have been facing liquidity crunch of late, microfinance companies are facing difficulties to obtain loans, says chairman of Nepal Microfinance Bankers’ Association Prakash Raj Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have not been able to receive adequate loans due to the liquidity crisis faced by banks,” said Sharma, who is also the CEO of Laxmi Lagubitta Bittiya Sansthan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“This has started impacting our loan investment,” added Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has set the limit of 15 percent interest rate that microfinance companies can charge from customers. The microfinance companies are not in trouble after the banks increased the interest rates. They have to pay as much as 13 to 14 percent interest to the banks for acquiring loan at present. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We have submitted a memorandum to the central bank mentioning that the ceiling on interest rate has caused us problems. We are hopeful that the problems will be addressed after the third quarterly review of the monetary policy,” said Sharma.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The interests on loans have increased after the commercial banks increased interests on deposit by 10 percent in the month of Falgun (mid- February to mid-March). Following the decision of the commercial banks to raise interest rates, microfinance companies had also submitted a written request to the central bank in mid-February to increase their interest rates. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatta said that the central bank is currently discussing the problems faced by microfinance companies due to the increase in interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“The central bank is conducting internal study regarding the issue raised by microfinance companies,” said Bhatta, adding, “If they are facing problems due to the increase in interest rates, their concerns will be addressed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The central bank had fixed the limit on interest rates charged by microfinance companies two years ago after receiving multiple complaints that such companies were charging excessive interest rates.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Following the complaints, the central bank had introduced a provision that did not allow microfinance companies from charging more than 18 percent interest to the customers. However, that limit was lowered to 15 percent last year.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The microfinance companies have cried foul stating that the decision to fix the limit on interest rate is unfair because they it is subject to change according to market demand. They have urged the central bank to bring a provision that allows them to fix the interest rate by adding premium to the base rate. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">BFIs are obliged to lend 5 percent of the total credit flow to the deprived sector as per the provision of the central bank. Majority of loan under this heading goes to the microfinance companies and cooperatives.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sixty nine microfinance companies that are currently operational have lend a total of Rs 330.68 billion to more than 3.1 million customers.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""> </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14728', 'image' => '20220324113525_Liquidity.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 11:34:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14987', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Radhe Shyam Saraf, a leading hotelier of Nepal, no more', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 24: Radhe Shyam Saraf, one of the leading hoteliers of Nepal, pass away on Tuesday in course of treatment in India. He was 92. He was one of the leading entrepreneurs to open 5-star hotels in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf introduced the international chain brand Hyatt Regency Hotel located at Boudha.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf is also credited for establishing Hotel Yak & Yeti, another 5-star hotel, in Nepal in the 1970s. The hotel came into operation after Hotel Annapurna and Soltee Hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf came to Nepal six decades ago and started business of sewing seat covers. In the course of business expansion, he introduced the Hyatt brand in 2000, which is run on land owned by the Taragaon Development Committee. The Saraf family is the main investor of the hotel.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf's body was cremated at Pashupatinath Aryaghat in Kathmandu on Wednesday. His body was brought to Kathmandu via a chartered plane on Tuesday night as per his wish.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saraf had been staying at the Yak & Yeti's Red House. He was awarded the “Gorkha Dakshinbahu” medal by the then King Birendra Shah in recognition of his contribution to Nepal's hotel industry. Along with Yak & Yeti and Hotel Hyatt, the Saraf family has also invested in the hydropower sector of Nepal. Similarly, the family also runs the Modern Indian School at Chobhar, Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Senior Vice President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Binayak Shah remembers Saraf as a “pioneer” in the hotel sector. He says, he was the one to start “well-equipped star hotels” in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-25', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14727', 'image' => '20220325125712_-chairman.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 13:39:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14984', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'EU to Fund Skills Development Project for Returnee Migrant Workers affected by Pandemic ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: The European Union (EU) has financially assisted three international organizations working in Nepal to launch a partnership project, aimed at supporting the skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling of returnee migrant workers affected by COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The EU funded Euro 1.99 million in total to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organization (ILO) Nepal, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the British Council managed 'Dakchyata: TVET Practical Partnership' project which will run for ten months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The activities under the grant scheme target trainers or the trainees in three of the most important economic sectors in Nepal- agriculture, tourism and construction. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">At a programme organized in the capital on Wednesday to shed light on the issue, Joint Secretary at TVET Division of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Kamal Pokhrel, said the project to be launched at a time when Nepal is facing the influx of returnee migrant workers in the wake of COVID-19 is timely and appropriate. It would help the returnee migrant workers in economic and market reintegration. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The project aims at building competence of stakeholders and support returnee migrant workers and their families who have been affected by the pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, head of the Cooperation Department of the European Union Delegation to Nepal, Dr Marco Gemmer, said, "Without education, it is impossible to achieve sustainable development and happiness. Although many sectors have witnessed progress in Nepal, still there are much more to do." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, EU focused on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in light of the returnee migrants who were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">"'Enhancing returnee migrant workers' skills for employment' project has been designed to analyse and match returnee migrants' skills and competences, provide relevant training according to market needs, certify their skills, coach counsel, and mentor to effectively reintegrate at least 1500 people, prioritizing women migrants," said UNDP Nepal Resident Representative, Ayshanie Medagangoda-Labe. The UNDP would launch the project in Madhes Province and Lumbini Province. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, Dakchyata project team leader Erik Winther-Schmidt said, "The returning migrant workers grant fund is channeled to support a key challenge which emerged with the global pandemic- that is the reintegration of returnee migrant workers who bring with them a range of skills, not all of which may be officially recognized through qualifications and skills." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Director at ILO Country Office in Nepal, Richard Howard, shared that with the broader collaboration, the ILO would support for economic reintegration of the returnee Nepali migrant workers by improving their access to basic employment services, providing opportunities for up-skilling, re-skilling, skill certification, and strengthening public-private sector dialogues. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Member Secretary at Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT), Jeeb Narayan Kafle, expressed commitment that CTEVT would extend utmost cooperation for the effective implementation of the project. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14726', 'image' => '20220324082318_logo.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:21:01', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14983', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Mountains Vulnerable to Climate Change: PM Deuba ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">March 24: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that mountains have become vulnerable to climate change. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Addressing the inaugural session of a two-day Regional Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Mountain Solutions organized as part of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development (IYM 2022) in Chandragiri on Wednesday, Prime Minister Deuba said that the mountains and the people living there continue to confront with several challenges. </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"">"Poverty, food insecurity, environmental degradation, risk of disasters and limited access to basic services are the challenges that the mountainous regions have been increasingly confronting," the state-owned national news agency RSS quoted the prime minister as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The PM was of the view that the mountains and the people living there have become the victims of disproportionate impact of global warming despite the negligible emissions of mountainous countries like Nepal. PM Deuba added that the world has not done enough to address environmental degradation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to him, the inadequate efforts to check impacts of global warming have triggered the crisis to the proportion beyond control. </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"">"We need to take urgent measures to halt global temperature rise to secure the future of humanity. Nepal has adopted an ambitious roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2045. We call upon the international community for meaningful support in our efforts." </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, the PM further said many scientific studies of the extreme weather patterns reveal that mountainous regions are getting warmer much faster than the global average. Melting of snow, retreat of glacier, drought, erratic rainfall, flash floods already hint of what lies ahead.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Commitment-delivery gap erodes credibility of int'l cooperation</span></strong> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba urged the world leaders not to leave the mountainous regions behind as the world is in the decade of action to deliver on sustainable development goals. To address the challenges, guarantee of adequate financing –both internal as well as external - is imperative, said Deuba. </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"">"We must not suffer from inadequacy of commitment, action and delivery on development outcomes. The commitment-delivery gap will erode credibility of the international cooperation," PM Deuba said, urging international cooperation to realize the SDGs by all. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">He reportedly said that agenda for sustainable mountain development has always been a priority for Nepal. </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"">"We raised our voice in Glasgow during the COP 26. But there is a long way to go for mainstreaming mountain agenda in climate negotiations. We need stronger collaboration among mountain countries in UN Climate change negotiations to address our agenda. Nepal will continue to play an active role in global forums to address the concerns of the mountainous countries," Deuba said. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">PM Deuba further said that the mountainous countries require further cooperation and support from the international community in their quest of recovery from COVID-19. Preservation of indigenous cultures, generation of employment opportunities and guarantee of development of sustainable infrastructures are equally imperative, Deuba said. </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-24', 'modified' => '2022-03-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14725', 'image' => '20220324081401_Nepal-Khumbu-valley-Solukhumbu.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-24 08:13:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14980', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Pickles make way to European Market', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prashant Khadka</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: The pickle production that Hajuri Bista started from her household kitchen 28 years ago has now found its market in Europe. Her Nawras and kitchen recipes have started selling abroad. Bista informed that 90 percent of the total production is sold in Nepal whereas 10 percent is exported to European countries as well as America and Japan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited is responsible for the sales of pickles in Nepal. It sends pickles for sale in Bhatbhateni, Big Mart and Salesberry. While on the other hand, exporters purchase and export the pickles abroad. Her industry produces pickles of various varieties like fish, meat, chili, radish, Indian gooseberry, cucumber, mango, dried spinach, lemon, plums, etc.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Packaged pickles are available in jars of 500gm to 1kg in the market. The labeling on the package displays ingredients used in the pickles with no usage of chemicals and the price of pickles depend on the nature of the pickle. The cost of pickles ranges from Rs 150 to Rs 1000 depending on the ingredients used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">When Bista started this business, the consumption of imported pickles was high since there was no variety of Nepali pickles in the market. Win Multipurpose Cooperative Limited gave training for pickle production to a group of women, targeting the then pickle market of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hajuri Bista started this business alone in her own house located at Dhobighat, Lalitpur. At present, this business has employed 22 workers. While the investment of the business has hit Rs 60 million, the business involves annual transaction of Rs 20 million. Bista informed that in the process of extending business, her daughter Hima and son-in-law Rituraj Pandey even brought a restaurant named Achar Ghar into operation, where the pickles produced by Bista are used.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Bista shared, “I did not start this business due to shortage of money. I started this business with the aim to do something by myself.” She expressed that it is not difficult to attain success if one is able to treat all kinds of professions equally.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She shared her past saying, “I was married at the age of 17 while I was still studying. My husband went to Paris for his PhD after marriage, where I accompanied him. After spending 7 years abroad, my husband started teaching profession at Tribhuvan University and I started to make pickles.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Despite people talking behind her back about the daughter of sociologist Dor Bahadur Bista making pickles, she paid no attention to their remarks. “Instead, I used to go around the neighborhood carrying pickles in a bag and asking people to taste and buy them,” she expressed happily, adding, “Due to my trust and persistence, I even got the opportunity to travel to countries like India, China, and Bangladesh. I was even awarded by the government as the Best Female Entrepreneur.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many people have established their own businesses after getting inspiration from her. Which is why, she is still full of enthusiasm despite reaching the age of 66 years. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14724', 'image' => '20220323055328_CpkLg74UAAIp3yq.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 17:52:38', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14981', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Third International Entrepreneurship Conclave Held in Kathmandu ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: The third International Entrepreneurship Conclave aimed at promoting youth entrepreneurship and sharing experiences of startups in Nepal and India was held in Kathmandu on March 23. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra jointly inaugurated the conclave. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On the occasion, Minister Karki said that the Government of Nepal has adopted a policy to promote entrepreneurship and startups. Stating that the government has also taken investment-friendly approach to keep economy afloat, he said that the government intends to attract investment and is working to remove procedural hassles as well as to simplify public service delivery. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, Karki claimed that the integrated public service delivery put in place by the government had helped the entrepreneurs to augment their business activities. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Asserting that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs were the backbone of the country's economic development, Minister Karki shared that the government had amended the policy to promote business and to enhance capacity of entrepreneurs. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Similarly, Indian envoy Kwatra said that the conclave had provided business base for the young entrepreneurs. Stating that innovation and entrepreneurship figured in the priorities of the Government of India, he expressed his confidence that the conclave would play an important role in enhancing capacity of the young entrepreneurs of Nepal and India. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, first secretary of the Indian Embassy to Nepal Abhisekh Upadhyay informed that the conclave was organized to bring together the young entrepreneurs from Nepal and India and exchange their experiences. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the inauguration, F1Soft company’s director Subash Sharma said that that his company was successful in rendering financial services to the public in a simplified manner. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The conclave was organized by Clock b business innovations in association with the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. The first such conclave was held in 2018 and second in 2019. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">More than 300 Nepalis and Indian startups entrepreneurs, investors, experts and high-ranking officials from Nepal and India attended the event. The day-long event had three panel discussions with over 15 participants from both the countries in each session. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The organizers expressed confidence that event served as a common platform for young entrepreneurs from both the countries to discuss, develop new concepts and to explore business opportunities. -- RSS </span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14722', 'image' => '20220323060756_13489.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 18:07:12', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14979', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NRB Increases Interest Rate on Refinancing by 2 Percentage Points', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">March 23: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has increased the interest rate on refinancing by 2 percentage points. By making the fourth amendment to "Nepal Rastra Bank Refinancing Procedure, 2077 BS", the central bank has allowed banks and financial institutions to increases the interest on refinancing by 2 percentage points. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, BFIs have increased the interest on refinancing for micro, cottage and home-grown industries as well as special loans and general loans by 2 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The interest rate on refinancing, which was 5 percent earlier, has now been raised to 7 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As the interest rates on refinancing by banks and financial institutions have increased, businessmen reacted by saying, "Don't be surprised." </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has taken the initiative for this loan, the businessmen accuse that the middlemen of the banks have benefitted from it.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Umesh Prasad Singh, president of the Federation of Cottage and Small Industries said that no matter how high the interest rate of refinancing is, it will not affect the entrepreneurs. "We have to fight hard to avail refinancing. The businessmen we have recommended are not in a position to avail this loan,” he said. Even if the interest rate goes up, the businessmen are not surprised.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Federation of Cottage and Small Industries has 45,000 members, said Chairman Singh. However, he said that only one or two of them have benefitted from the refinancing scheme.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, the President of the Federation of Handicraft Association of Nepal Prachandaman Shakya said that the increase in the interest rate on refinancing will have a direct impact on the handicraft business. He said that the recent decision of the NRB would have a direct impact on the export business.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“Handicraft traders benefited from this loan. However, when interest rates rise, they will be hit hard. This is because the businesses that could not be fully operational due to Covid-19 were also open due to this loan. If the interest rate on such loans goes up, it will impact harder,” he said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Earlier, the NRB had fixed a 3 percent interest rate for special refinancing by banks, while a 5 percent interest rate was fixed for small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At the same time, the interest rate on refinancing charged by NRB with banks has also gone up. The interest rate on special refinancing has been increased by one percentage point, while the interest rate on small and cottage enterprises and general refinancing has been increased by 2 percentage points.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">As of the first seven months of the current fiscal year, 24,268 borrowers have taken refinancing facility of Rs 106.11 billion.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14721', 'image' => '20220323042114_NRBnew.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:20:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14978', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Domestic Investors Keen on Investing in Upper Arun ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">March 23: Domestic investors have expressed their willingness to invest in Upper Arun Hydropower Project if the government and promoter company were clear about not increasing the time factor and cost of this mega project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">At a discussion programme organized by Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) on Tuesday, they stressed on taking forward this project at the earliest, stating that the reservoir-based project was needed in Nepal for energy security. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Furthermore, the prospective investors viewed that the government should come up with investment modality, process of costing and guarantee of timely completion of this 1,061-megawatt project. The capacity of the project could be increased upto 1,500 megawatt through technical enhancement. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Currently, the country has only one reservoir based hydel project in Kulekhani. All sort of studies and researches have been conducted on Upper Arun hydel project and is ready for implementation phase. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Multilateral donor agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are willing to invest in Upper Arun hydel project. The Nepal Electricity Authority has set up the Upper Arun Hydroelectricity Company, a subsidiary company, to move the project forward. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participants in the discussion included representatives from banks and financial institutions and public financial institutions among others. They reiterated their intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project which could yield multifaceted benefits. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No market issues: Minister Bhusal </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Participating in the discussion, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal assured that the local investors need not worry about the market for electricity. "We are holding talks with India politically and through diplomatic channels. The environment is being positive gradually. We will reap huge benefits from this" </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to her, China had also articulated its intent to invest in the Upper Arun hydel project and to import electricity. She assured of timely completion of the project and no increase in the cost for the project. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Minister shared that the construction entrepreneur who will complete the project on time would be rewarded. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong>No investment problem: Minister Sharma </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Likewise, Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma, participating in the discussion, shared that there was no issues regarding investment in hydel projects like Upper Arun. Minister Sharma mentioned that the government was ready to move ahead with reservoir-based hydel projects like Budhigandaki, Upper Arun, Mugu Hydel Project, Karnali Hydel Project among others. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Sharma informed that share structure would be prepared ensuring investment of the locals and underscored the public participation in the project. The Finance Minister called for devising a monitoring mechanism at public level, at government level and non-government level for the project. -- RSS</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-03-23', 'modified' => '2022-03-23', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '14720', 'image' => '20220323040212_hydro.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-03-23 16:01:23', '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
