Siddhartha Bank Limited has kicked off its branchless ‘Easy’ banking service from Dailekh. The bank launched the service on June 15 by issuing a smart card with which banking transactions can be made. Chief District Officer of Dailekh, Bashudev Adhikari, inaugurated the new service.

 

The need for this service arose as the bank has to manage cash distribution under the World Food Programme’s Cash for Work. The bank said that the machine provided for the branchless banking at Dailekh identifies its customers by their fingerprints and photos, making the service secure and effective. With this service, people can access services like deposit, loan, remittance, money transfer, among others in the village itself. The bank also said that the social security allowance provided by the government can be distributed to people with this service. 

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PLO Doubling Its Production

Purbanchal Lube Oil Pvt Ltd (PLO) is doubling its production from the coming fiscal year. Bhola Dulal, Managing Director of the company, said that PLO is doubling its capacity as per the policy to increase production every year. He added, “We are also increasing production to make Nepal independent in lubricants and grease.”

 

The company produces one million litre of lubricants and 550,000 kilograms of grease. According to Dulal, PLO plans to produce three million kilograms of grease and lubricants from the next year. PLO is also preparing to add infrastructure to increase the production. Established with Rs 11 million investment in 2001, the company’s share capital has increased to Rs 150 million. The company claims that lubricants produced by the company under brand names PLO and Star covers 26 per cent of the market share. The company is producing over 200 types of products by importing raw materials mainly from Dubai, Quatar, Australia, Russia, Korea, India and Iran. 

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SEBON Revamp Needs More Staff

Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has brought some changes to its organisational structure. Dr Surbir Paudyal, Chairman of SEBON, said that amendments were brought in to enhance its capacity. He also informed that amendments were made based on a report prepared by Securities Board of India (SEBI).

 

In the old structure, there were seven departments and 13 sections while the new structure will have six departments and 23 sections. Currently, there are 38 employees while the new structure will have double the number of staff. SEBON’s announcement of a revamp comes at a time when there is widespread criticism of its effectiveness. SEBON has been given the rights to regulate Mutual Funds and Credit Rating Agencies, and while Commodities market is also likely to fall under its jurisdiction. Paudyal said that it would take some time for new the structure to come into effect. 

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Food Production Rises By 11%

Food production has increased this year by 11 per cent compared to the previous year. Dr Hari Dahal, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said that with the growth in production, Nepal will have a food surplus of 110,000 thousand metric tonnes.Dahal said that last year the country witnessed a deficit of 330,000 metric tonnes of food grain. “In the current fiscal year, 8.61 million metric tonnes of food has been produced which is 11 per cent higher than the last year,” he revealed. In the previous year, 43 districts faced food-shortage while this year the number has come down to 38.

 

According to Dahal, favourable climate, increased subsidy in chemical fertilizers, use of improved seeds and technology resulted in the increased production. Out of the total production, 367,000 metric tonnes will be used to produce feeds for livestock. There is a demand for 5.4 million metric tonnes of food grains annually. 

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NTA Proposes To Use RTDF

Nepal Telecom Authority (NTA) has sought permission from the Ministry of Finance to use the funds collected in Rural Telecommunication Development Fund (RTDF). NTA Spokesperson Kailash Neupane said that the authority wants to use the amount collected for the development of telecommunication infrastructures. Rs 3.25 billion has been collected in the fund so far.

 

Neupane revealed, “With the amount, NTA is planning to issue tender to lay optical fibre in all 75 districts. As soon as the ministry approves the proposal, we will issue the tenders.” According to the telecommunication policy, the amount in fund can be used by NTA to finance infrastructure development. Telecommunication operators contribute two per cent of their income to the fund. Purushottam Khanal, Chief of Rural Telecommunication Department of NTA, said, “We are planning to extend information highway all over the country with the accumulated fund.”

 

NTA has planned to complete the development project in two phases for east and western parts of the country. Khanal revealed that NTA has earmarked Rs 2.59 billion for the eastern region while Rs 1.90 billion for the western region. As of now, 35 districts are linked by the optical fibre. NTA started collecting two per cent from the service providers since its establishment in 1994-95. Now, around Rs 1 billion is collected annually in the fund. 

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20 Places Shortlisted for Mid-Hill Cities

The government has shortlisted 20 places along the proposed mid-hill highway to select ten of them as new cities. The selection was made by Ministry of Physical Planning and Construction ont he recommendation of Prof Dr Bhim Subedi, the consultant associated with city identification project.

 

Among the 20 shortlisted places three are from Accham including Rakam, Safebagar and Binayak. Similalry, three places of Rukum – Chaurjahari, Rukumkot and Musikot - are in the short list. Among the other places shortlisted are Fidim, Basantapur, Dumre, Ghurmi, Khurkot, Baireni-Galchhi, Diktel and Patan (Baitadi). Similarly, Burtibang, Dipayal, Dulegauda, Jarayotar (Bhojpur), Kurintar (Chitwan) and Mangaltar (Kavre) are likely to be chosen to be developed as cities.