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President Ram Chandra Paudel is being taken to New Delhi, India today for further treatment. President Paudel will be flown to India by an air ambulance of Shree Airlines this morning, said President Paudel's press advisor Kiran Paudel. Earlier on Tuesday evening, President Paudel was admitted to the Maharajgunj-based Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital after he complained of health problems. President Paudel will be treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. The President had returned home after receiving treatment of stomach-related ailments at the same hospital on April 1.  

After a year-long decline, the country's realty sector is slowly gaining momentum with real estate transactions surging by 20.66 percent last month. The statistics of the Department of Land Management and Archive show 49,150 realty transactions took place in Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April), the highest monthly transaction in the current fiscal year. According to the department, 40,734 realty transactions were recorded in Falgun (mid-February to mid-March). The revenue collection from the realty transaction also increased in Chaitra. The government collected a total of Rs 4.51 in revenue from land transactions in the last month, the highest in this fiscal year. With the economic downturn and restrictive measures of the government and the central bank, the real estate market hit a low in the current fiscal year. According to people in the real estate and housing business, property transactions have fallen by over 60 percent in the last one and a half years after prices peaked two years ago. The downturn in the realty sector was visible from the start of the fiscal year. 33,834 property transactions were recorded in Shrawan, the first month of FY 2022/23. The transactions remained subdued in every successive month till Falgun. With the market going through a recession, housing developers even resorted to schemes to attract buyers, offering cars and scooters. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the abundance of cheap money in the financial system fueled asset class investments boom causing massive growth in sectors such as real estate and the stock market. In addition, businesspersons invested the money they received as working capital loans from banks in real estate. "As the financial system was flooded with investment-grade liquidity, banks even asked to take working capital loans. The money went to the real estate market and fueled the demand for land and housing properties," said a real estate entrepreneur. As soon as the liquidity crunch hit the banking sector, the flow of cheap money stopped and the market eventually went into a deep recession. On the other hand, the central bank also tightened lending of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to the real estate sector, reducing the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio in the Kathmandu Valley to 30 percent and 40 percent outside the valley in the monetary policy for the Fiscal Year 2022/2023. The government restriction on land plotting due to the delay over the classification of lands also hit the realty market hard. The Land Use Regulation (2022), introduced by the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, includes the mandatory classification of lands for buying and selling purposes. The land has been classified into 10 zones including agricultural, residential, commercial, industrial, mines and mineral zone, forest zone, public use and open space zone, cultural and archaeological zone, and others. However, the majority of local-level government are yet to classify the lands. As the realty sector went through a recession, the revenue collection from land transactions has been on a decline in every month of the current fiscal year. In Falgun, the revenue collection dropped to Rs 3.56 billion from Rs 6.26 billion a year ago, a decrease of 45.5 percent. In Mangsir, revenue collection dipped by 62.5 percent from Rs 7.06 billion a year ago to Rs 2.64 billion. The improvement in the land transactions in Chaitra, according to realty entrepreneurs, is due to an improvement in the banks' liquidity position and a gradual decline in interest rates in loans. As the majority of land and house transactions in the country are financed by the BFIs, the interest rates play a crucial role. Of late, the government also has assurances to the real estate businesspersons saying that restrictions on land plotting will be lifted soon. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that as a huge amount of money is stuck in real estate properties, it is important to make the sector vibrant again to end the sluggishness in the economic activities in the country.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden has condemned the police attack on loan shark victims. Speaking at a meeting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, he demanded that the government address the demands of the loan shark victims at the earliest. Lingden urged the government to address the demands raised by Haruwa-Charuwa in various districts of Tarai-Madhes. He warned that the RPP would launch a stern protest if the government did not address their demands. Similarly, lawmaker Prem Suwal said that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister should be informed about the attack on loan shark victims on Monday.

Nepal reported 171 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Tuesday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 980 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 105 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 312 people underwent antigen tests, of which 66 were tested positive. The Ministry said that 85 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 397 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 3. 07 points to close at 1,904.98 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index increased by 0. 17 points to close at 363. 04 points. A total of 2,975,920-unit shares of 266 companies were traded for Rs 870 billion. Meanwhile, Kalinchowk Darshan Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Khaptad Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 5. 05 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 77 trillion.

Smart Telecom has lost its telecom license after failing to clear the dues and renewal fees it owes to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA). The embattled telco's license got revoked automatically as it failed to pay the dues within the stipulated time of Sunday. Smart Telecom has to clear Rs 28bn in dues to NTA to renew its license. With the company losing its operating permit, NTA has advanced the process of asset management of Smart Telecom. A board meeting of the telecommunications sector regulator on Monday decided on the takeover of the company by the government on the basis of Property Management Regulations, 2079 BS. The government on the second week of December last year issued the Regulations for managing the property of telecommunications services providers who do not have valid licenses. The NTA board meeting decided to instruct Smart Telecom to hand over its telecommunication infrastructure, systems and network in accordance with Rule 9 of Sub-rule 1 of the Regulations. The company is required to pay Rs 23bn for license renewal and Rs 5bn as dues. According to NTA Co-spokesperson Achyutananda Mishra, the license of Smart Telecom was automatically revoked following non-payment of renewal fees and dues. After the cancellation of the license, the NTA has written a letter to Smart Telecom to hand over the property within 15 days. According to Mishra, a committee led by NTA board member Gokarna Sitaula will oversee the takeover of Smart Telecom. In the first phase, the authority has planned to proceed with the property evaluation of the company. Smart Telecom received the basic telephone services operating license on April 15, 2013, and had to renew the license by paying dues and renewal fees before the permit term expires. However, the company had defaulted in clearing the dues in the past and had sought an extension from the government several times. The then KP Sharma Oli-led government had allowed the company to clear the dues in five installments. Even then, Smart Telecom was not able to clear the outstanding amount. The Singapore-based Lal Sahu Distribution Pte. Ltd. has a majority stake of 70 percent in Smart Telecom. By using political influence, the company in the past had been successful in getting extensions to pay dues as well as securing its license even when the regulator revoked it. This time also, the promoters of the company did intense political lobbying to secure the license, but to no avail. On July 29, 2019, NTA revoked the license of Smart Telecom. However, the company succeeded in rolling back the authority's decision after it filed a review application at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology within five months. Smart Telecom moves court While the NTA has set a deadline of 15 days for the transfer of assets, Smart Telecom has gone to court to safeguard its license. The company had filed a case at the Patan High Court demanding to reserve the license. On behalf of Smart Telecom, Ramnath Bantha Tharu filed a case in the Patan High Court on Thursday making the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, NTA, and its chairman the defendants. However, the Patan High Court has issued only a show cause notice in the case filed by Smart Telecom not the interim order. A bench of Justice Dipendra Bahadur Bam's bench issued a show cause order on Monday and called for a discussion on the interim order. Only after the discussion, the court will decide whether or not to issue an interim order. The show cause order of the court will not stop NTA to proceed with work related to the takeover of Smart Telecom.

A mountaineer from Ireland, who had climbed Mt Everest 10 times, died while climbing Mt Annapurna at Narchyang in Annapurna Rural Municipality-4 of Myagdi district. An Indian national has been missing and another has been rescued alive by a helicopter. A Kailash Air helicopter rescued Baljeet Kaur from 7, 500 meters on Tuesday afternoon, Indra Singh Sherchan, a member of the rescue team, said. He had gone to climb Mt Annapurna through Pioneer Trekking Company in Kathmandu. Sherchan said Neol Hanna died at the high camp of Mt Annapurna last night. The body of Hanna, who had gone to climb Mt Annapurna through Seven Summit Trek, was brought to the base camp from 6,000 meters this afternoon. Neol and Baljeet were missing since Monday morning. The whereabouts of Anuraj Malu (34) of Kishangadh, Rajasthan, India is yet to be ascertained. Thaneshwor Guragain, Manager of Seven Summit Trek, said that Malu went missing from 7, 500 meters while descending to the base camp after he failed to climb the mountain on Monday afternoon. Four choppers of Simrik, Kailash, Air Altitude and Everest Air were deployed to search for the missing persons.

The Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA) has planned to extend the deadline for insurance companies to increase their paid-up capital by three months. As the majority of insurance companies' paid-up capital is below the regulatory requirement, the NIA extended the deadline to mid-July, 2023. The authority is pushing for a consolidation drive in the insurance sector by increasing the minimum paid-up capital requirements for both life and non-life insurance companies. A year ago, NIA required non-life insurers to have Rs 2bn in paid-up capital, while it is Rs 5bn for life insurance companies, by mid-April 2023. According to the NIA Chairman Surya Prasad Silwal, the companies failing to meet the new capital requirement have been given one chance. NIA has said that insurance companies such as Prabhu Insurance, Asian Life Insurance, and Rastriya Beema Company have not made substantial efforts to raise capital. These companies have to go for mergers to increase their paid-up capital. The authority is discouraging companies to issue the right shares for the purpose of capital increment. After the NIA issued the directive on paid-up capital increment, only four insurance companies raised their capital as per the regulatory requirement. Among the life insurance companies, the paid-up capital of Nepal Life Insurance Company is above Rs 5bn. Three non-life insurance companies - Shikhar Insurance, Siddhartha Premier Insurance, and Sagarmatha Lumbini Insurance have also met the regulatory obligation. With NIA pushing for capital increment, the majority of insurers have opted for mergers. Of the 19 insurance companies involved in the merger process, six companies have merged to become three and have started their integrated business while 13 others are still in the process of completing their mergers. NIA has recently given its final approval to the merger between IME General Insurance and Prudential Insurance. Similarly, Sanima Life Insurance and Reliance Life Insurance have also received a final nod for the merger from the regulator. In the case of insurance companies having foreign investments such as MetLife, and The Oriental Insurance, their foreign promoters are said to be injecting additional capital to meet the regulatory requirement. Meanwhile, Citizen Life, Sun Nepal Life, IME Life, and Reliable Life are yet to issue initial public offerings (IPOs).