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Sunil KC, Vice President of Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NICCI), has been appointed as the advisor to Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal (IPPAN). The 21st annual general meeting of IPPAN held on June 15, 2023 elected a new executive committee under the leadership of Ganesh Karki and the first executive committee meeting held on June 16, 2023 appointed KC as the adviser to IPPAN, reads a statement issued by the NICCI. KC is the Founder of Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA), a think tank based in Kathmandu which has been doing advocacy in the field of diplomacy for the past one decade. KC has been contributing his expertise in the area of economic diplomacy of Nepal as well as in the area of Nepal-India trade, transit and energy cooperation, Nepal-India trade as well as Nepal-India-Bangladesh trilateral trade engagement and power trade since year 2015 and has also been putting his views through the articles frequently published in the national and international publications and online media as well. The appointment of KC as the advisor to IPPAN would contribute to bringing FDI from India in the field of hydropower and energy development. Since KC has been engaged and facilitating power trade between Nepal and India as well as trilateral power trade between Nepal-India-Bangladesh, his expertise would surely be helpful to bring FDI from India and will contribute execution of power trade between Nepal and India as well as Nepal-India-Bangladesh trilateral power trade in the days ahead, the statement reads. NICCI also congratulated the newly elected executive committee of IPPAN under the leadership of Ganesh Karki and the entire team for the successful tenure ahead.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has written to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) demanding that the latter provide house rent taxes collected to the metropolis. It is within the jurisdiction of the metropolis to collect house rent taxes. But the Department is collecting institutional house rent taxes. The Department should return the taxes collected to the metropolis, according to a letter written by the metropolis Mayor Balen Shah to the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission. "The metropolis is only collecting private house rent taxes," he said. Stating that the metropolis has to bear a loss of Rs 1.43 billion in the course of collecting institutional house rent taxes by the Department, the Kathmandu Mayor also requested the Commission to compensate for the loss. "I make a humble request to the respected Commission to take required initiatives for the Department to return the house rent taxes collected so far to the metropolis and ensure the jurisdiction of the local level to collect house rent taxes. This interference by the Department is not acceptable to the metropolis," reads the letter.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 26. 56 points to close at 2,064.83 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 4. 25 points to close at 388. 14 points. A total of 10,792,742-unit shares of 268 companies were traded for Rs 4. 11 billion. Meanwhile, City Hotel Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Unique Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 99 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 02 trillion.

President Ram Chandra Paudel has had a pacemaker fitted in his chest. The pacemaker will track the heartbeat of the President for 72 hours. The pacemaker was fitted at the recommendation of doctors involved in his treatment, according to a statement issued by the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular & Transplant Centre under the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, where President Paudel is currently receiving treatment. The President was admitted to the hospital on June 17. He is said to be in normal condition.  

Two persons, who were critically injured when a jeep carrying Prithvi Bahadur Singh, Internal Affairs and Law Minister of Sudurpaschim government, met with an accident, breathed their last during the course of treatment. The deceased have been identified as Minister Singh’s wife Amrita Singh and his sister-in-law Jayadevi Singh. They died in the course of treatment at the Rayal Primary Health Center in Kedarsyun Rural Municipality, Kedarsyun Rural Municipality Chairman Kedar Bohara said. The jeep (Supapra 01001 Jha 480) was heading towards Chainpur from Dadeldhura when the incident occurred at around 1:30 pm today. Seriously injured in the incident, Minister Singh, driver Dharma Raj Joshi and PSO Constable Deepak Bhandari have been airlifted to Nepalgunj on a Nepal Army chopper for further treatment. Four including Minister Singh injured in Bajhang jeep accident Four persons including Prithvi Bahadur Singh, Internal Affairs and Law Minister of Sudurpaschim government, were injured when a jeep they were traveling in met with an accident at Dharchada in Kedarsyun Rural Municipality of Bajhang on Tuesday. The jeep (Supapra 01001 Jha 480) was heading towards Chainpur from Dadeldhura when the incident occurred this afternoon. The four-wheeler fell some 50 meters down the road. Minister Singh sustained injuries on his legs and face. He is receiving treatment at the Deura-based Ritu Polyclinic in Kedarsyun Rural Municipality-1. Other three are undergoing medical treatment at the Rayal Primary Health Center. Details about the incident are awaited.  

With India delaying Nepal’s request to approve sales of electricity from additional hydropower projects to the Indian energy market, fear is growing that the country will once again face power spillage like last year. Currently, the southern neighbor has granted approval for 10 hydropower projects to sell a total of 452.6 MW of power to India’s day-ahead market where prices are fixed a day earlier than the day when trading takes place. It has been several months since the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) sought approval from Indian authorities to supply 1,000 MW of electricity generated by more power projects to the southern neighbor’s power market. In the rainy season last year, the country’s electricity spillage reached as high as 800 MW during the festive period in October and November. With industrial power demand declining sharply due to the closure of industries during the holiday season, the domestic energy demand fell to as low as 700 MW. Till last year, the total installed capacity of Nepal’s power projects was more than 2,200 MW while Indian authorities had granted approval to export 364 MW from Nepal. Now, Nepal’s generation capacity has already reached nearly 2,700 MW which requires more exports to India to avoid spillage in the rainy season when power plants start generating power at their full capacity. “Approval process is undergoing not only to sell power in India’s day-ahead market but also for selling 200MW under the five-year-long power purchase agreement,” said Kul Man Ghising, Managing Director of NEA at a press meet on Sunday. “We are hopeful that the Indian authorities will grant approval for more power projects to sell power before spillage takes place.” He said that NEA is not worried about the power spillage at least for a month with the current generation not being enough even to export the currently approved 452.6 MW. “At least until mid-August, rainfalls remain erratic and power generation also remains unstable,” said Ghising adding that the hydropower plants would be able to produce at their full capacity on a daily basis from mid-August to November. Starting from June 12, Nepal resumed exporting power to India regularly as continuous rainfalls increased water levels in the rivers helping power projects to generate more electricity. With the late arrival of the monsoon, regular export of power to India resumed late compared to last year when Nepal had started exporting power from June 2. Monsoon clouds arrived in the country in the middle of June after Nepal witnessed a prolonged drought this year. However, the country's power generation capacity is rising along with the completion of one after another power projects. The country’s power generation capacity is expected to rise to 2,853 MW by the end of the current fiscal year, according to NEA. The projected peak domestic demand for power in the current fiscal year is 2,036 MW. “The country is expected to produce surplus energy of 1,000 MW in this wet season,” said Ghising. “But in the night time, power demands are lower and the country has to export more power compared to other times.” By the end of the next fiscal year 2023/24, the country’s electricity generation capacity is expected to rise further to 4,507 MW and to 5,251 MW by the end of fiscal 2024/25. Besides increasing domestic consumption, boosting exports will be required to ensure that power is not spilled. “For this, it is necessary to invest heavily in improving domestic transmission and distribution networks and cross-border power lines,” said Ghising. He said that electricity could be a leading export product for the country contributing to reducing the ballooning trade deficit of the country. Nepal exported power worth over Rs 11bn in the last wet season. “There is scope for increased earnings from exporting power in the upcoming years,” said Ghising.

The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has suspended the entire process related to the initial public offering (IPO) of Ghorahi Cement Industries. The board stopped the IPO process after the company extended the application deadline even when the IPO was oversubscribed. According to Sebon sources, Ghorahi Cement’s IPO has been postponed after 12m units of fraudulent applications were found. After the continuous surge in fake applications, Sebon sent a letter to the issue manager Himalayan Capital to suspend the IPO process immediately. On Monday, CDS and Clearing Limited issued a warning regarding fraudulent applicants during the IPO process. It was found that nine applicants applied for one million shares each even though they do not have sufficient funds in their bank accounts. On June 13, Sebon sent a letter to the Care Rating Nepal asking it to send a reply within three days saying whether it did or did not violate the primary share rating rules of the company. The board has said it stopped the IPO process after the rating agency did not reply to the letter. According to Sebon, it has stopped the Ghorahi Cement IPO keeping in mind the interest of the general investors as the company extended the application deadline even after the IPO was oversubscribed. A total of 544,247 applicants have applied for the shares of Ghorahi Cement till 2 pm Monday. Ghorahi Cement opened an IPO for 6,911,670 units of shares for the general public at Rs 435 per share on June 15. The deadline for the IPO was June 19. However, the company on Monday extended the deadline to June 29. Generally, if the IPO is oversubscribed within four days, the deadline is not extended. The company already opened an IPO, from May 2 to May 16 for project-affected locals and Nepalis employed abroad, which went undersubscribed.  

The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday issued a directive to open brokers’ new license process. A meeting of the Committee held in Singha Durbar this afternoon directed Securities Board of Nepal, the regulatory body of capital market, and Nepal Stock Exchange to open the brokers’ new license process. The Committee, which had issued a directive to stop the process of distributing new licenses earlier, directed Sebon and NEPSE to open the brokers’ new license process today after holding a discussion. Committee President Santosh Chalise said that the directive to proceed with the process was issued after the ambiguity in this matter was removed. Chalise said that the meeting decided to direct Sebon and NEPSE through the Finance Ministry to issue the permits to brokers and traders if they meet the standard. During the meeting, Sebon Chairman Ramesh Hamal said that the permits will be issued to those who meet the set standard and process. He said that the decision to issue the permit was made by the board of directors, not by individuals.