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The Free Student Union (FSU) election will be held in Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus on March 23. Making public the election calendar again, the Free Student Union Election Committee fixed the date of March 23 for the election in the Ghantaghar-based campus. The election calendar was affected in the Tri Chandra Campus due to a dispute over the admission of the students. In the notice issued by election officer Rajendra Gautam, voters list will be published on Friday. Candidates can file nominations on Sunday. The voting will be held from 8 am to 4 pm on Thursday. Students had staged a demonstration by placing the chair and name plate of Campus Chief Prof Dr Sunil Adhikari by taking the issue of election process in the Tri Chandra Campus. The FSU election is going to be held in all the campuses across the country on March 19.  

With revenue collection continuing to remain poor, the mismatch between government expenditure and income has widened further. Data show the government treasury is in deficit by Rs 156 billion by mid-March 2023. According to the latest statistics of the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government's expenditure has reached Rs 779.23 billion by mid-March while the income totaled Rs 622.78 billion. The government has been able to meet only 42.7 percent of the revenue target during the eight months of the current fiscal year while the total expenditure has reached 43.44 percent of the annual target. The dramatic decline in revenue forced the government to trim the federal budget of Rs 1.793 trillion by 14 percent to Rs 1.549 trillion through the mid-term review of the budget. While the recurrent expenditure has increased, development expenditure has remained dismal as before. FCGO data shows that by mid-March, government recurrent expenditure stood at 51.4 percent, capital expenditure at 22.1 percent, and fiscal management at 37.4 percent. The non-improvement in revenue collection has been a worrying factor for the government which is struggling to meet the expenses. In the eight months of the current fiscal year, revenue collection totaled Rs 582.77 billion, of which Rs 526.47 billion is tax revenue and Rs 56.29 is non-tax revenue. The decline in imports has hit the revenue collection hard. According to the Department of Customs (DoC), revenue from imports has declined by 25 percent in the eight months of the current fiscal year compared to the same period of the last fiscal year. DoC collected revenue worth Rs 250.64 billion till mid-March, which was Rs 333 billion a year ago. The country's total imports have declined by 18 percent in the review period. Nepal has imported goods worth Rs 1,057 billion in the eight months of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 1,308 billion during the same period of FY 2021/22.  

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 5. 32 points to close at 1,933.31 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 5. 32 points to close at 1,933. 30 points. A total of 3,402,267 unit shares of 258 companies were traded for Rs 1. 14 billion. Meanwhile, Unique Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited and Shuvam Power Limited were the top gainers today with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 5. 76 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 79 trillion.

At a time when microfinance institutions (MFIs) are grappling with multiple problems, the surge in non-performing loans (NPL) has emerged as a major issue for MFIs. A new report of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows NPLs of MFIs, both wholesale and retail lenders, have increased in the first half of the current fiscal year. According to the report, the NPLs of wholesale lenders have increased to 0.87 percent while those in retail lending have seen their NPLs increase to 4.68 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The NPLs of retail MFIs have gone up by 82.62 percent during the review period while it is 112.19 percent for the wholesale MFIs. The NPLs of four MFIs operating as wholesale lenders have reached 0.87 percent in mid-January 2023 from 0.41 percent in mid-July 2022. Similarly, NPLs of retail MFIs have reached 4.68 percent in mid-January 2023 from 2.56 percent in mid-July 2022. Of the total 64 MFIs operating in Nepal, four are wholesale lending MFIs and the remaining are retail MFIs. The surge in NPL, according to MFIs' promoter is due to the non-recovery of loans. Loan recovery became complicated for MFIs as their primary lenders—micro and small enterprises— have been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic slowdown. "As MFIs provided loans arbitrarily, they have struggled to recover the loans which resulted in the rise in their NPLs," said Dr. Man BK, former secretary and a microfinance expert. Of late, MFIs have been embroiled in controversies with issues of multiple lending, and high-handedness adopted for loan recovery. There have been cases where borrowers either committed suicide or fled from their residences after failing to pay interest and principal amounts for the money they’ve borrowed from MFIs that have been charged with using coercive measures to recover the debts. Prakash Raj Sharma, president of the Nepal Microfinance Bankers Association said that bad loans have increased due to the recent economic recession. In addition, he said, the recent movement against microfinance and the loan non-payment campaign has also increased NPLs. "Many borrowers of MFIs have been in a protest demanding their loans should be waived and many of them have not paid their loans," said Sharma, "As a result, NPLs have increased." The number of borrowers of MFIs has decreased in the first half of the current fiscal year. The new report released by NRB on 'Off-site Supervision Microfinance Finance' says the number of borrowers has decreased by 43,000 in the first six months of FY 2022/23. There were 3.3 million borrowers till mid-July 2022 which has come down to 3.26 million by mid-January 2023. According to the NRB report, the MFIs' borrowers started to decline from the start of the current fiscal year. While the borrowers' number has decreased, the total number of members of the MFIs increased by 2.19 percent in the first half of FY 2022/23.

The Election Commission said that all the preparations for the vice-presidential election slated for tomorrow have been completed. Issuing a statement on Thursday, the poll body said that voting will be held from 10 am to 3 pm. As the silence period has already started, the EC has directed the political parties not to get involved in publicity campaigns for or against the candidates. The statement issued by EC spokesperson Shaligram Paudel said that social media networks such as Facebook, Viber, Twitter and SMSes should not be used for campaigns during the silence period.  

As the expenses surged, the profit of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has declined by around 10 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year 2022/23. The state-owned power utility has posted a profit of Rs 10.91 billion (before tax) in the review period. NEA had logged profit of Rs 12.12 billion during the same period of  FY 2021/22. The authority's net profit in the last fiscal year was Rs 16.16 billion. The power utility's net profit had increased by a whopping 157.73 percent in the last fiscal year. Despite the decline in profit, NEA's operating income has surged by 22 percent in this fiscal year. The authority earned an income of Rs 58.57 billion till mid-January, 2023 from Rs 47.97 billion in the same period of last year. Data shows NEA's expenses jumped by 33 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year to Rs 47.65 billion from Rs 35.85 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. According to NEA officials, the increase in expenses are attributed to rise in the import of electricity from India as well as investments in various hydropower projects. Due to the prolonged dry season and decrease in water levels in the rivers, NEA has been importing more electricity from the southern neighbor this year. The dry season runs from December to April while the wet season lasts from May to November. According to NEA, the run-of-the-river type hydropower projects produce less than 40 percent of their installed capacity during the dry season. In the meantime, NEA has also invested Rs 15.22 billion in shares and loans in various hydropower projects and rural electrification projects. NEA Deputy Managing Director Pradip Kumar Thike said that the authority's profit generally contracts during the first half of the fiscal year. "The actual picture of the NEA's profit will be visible by the end of the fiscal year," he said. In spite of the decline in profit, business prospects are bright for NEA as the Nepal-India power trade is in the favor of Nepal. NEA's statistics show an earning of Rs 4.53 billion from the power trade in the first six months of the current fiscal year. The power utility exported electricity worth Rs 8.43 billion to India while the power import stood at Rs 3.90 billion. Similarly NEA said it purchased electricity worth Rs 22.85 billion in the first half of this fiscal from independent power producers (IPPs).

The state-owned Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) Lainchaur has increased the prices of milk. According to DDC Deputy General Manager and Information Officer Rajendra Prasad Adhikari, the DDC today sent the milk packets with the new prices to the market. A Cabinet meeting held on March 3 had decided to increase the price of raw milk. The new rate of the raw milk has been fixed at Rs 65. The price of DDC standard milk which is available in a blue packet and the most-selling milk has increased by Rs 11 per liter. Now, a packet of milk will cost Rs 97. The government has set this price in Kathmandu, Biratngar, Janakpur and Hetauda. Likewise, a packet of milk will cost Rs 94 in Butwal and Rs 92 in Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi.    

The two new international airports of Nepal that recently started operation in Pokhara and Bhairahawa have one thing in common—-the involvement of Chinese contractors. China CAMC Engineering constructed the Pokhara Regional International Airport which was built with the assistance of China. The Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded Gautam Buddha International Airport was constructed by another Chinese contractor, Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group. Chinese companies have emerged as dominant players in Nepal's physical infrastructure development, be it the projects of the government or the private sector. The Chinese contractors were awarded the contract of constructing the important sections of the Kathmandu-Nijgadh Fast Track Project by the Nepal Army. Similarly, the Chinese contractors have also been awarded contracts for expanding the Prithvi Highway and the Narayangarh-Butwal section of the East-West Highway. According to officials of the Department of Roads (DoR), 60 percent of contracts under international bidding are handled by Chinese contractors. "Around 60 percent of contracts under the international bidding have been awarded to the  Chinese contractors related to roads and bridges,” said a senior DoR official. Zhang Shaogang, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) also boasted about the involvement of Chinese contractors in Nepal while addressing the ‘Nepal China Business Forum 2023’ organized by the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and the CCPIT) in Kathmandu on Tuesday. “Chinese enterprises are also the major players in the Nepali project contracting market,” he said, adding, “As of the end of last year, China had signed project contracts worth US USD 10.74 billion in Nepal with a turnover of USD 5.48 billion. This fully demonstrates the great attention and importance Chinese investors attach to the Nepali market.” The contracts handed over to the Chinese companies as claimed by Zhang are equivalent to the capital expenditure of the federal government in the last six fiscal years. In the last six fiscal years till 2021/22, the government spent Rs 1350 billion capital budget and USD 10 billion in contracts awarded to Chinese enterprises is around equivalent to the total capital expenditure in the last six fiscal years. The government spent a capital budget of Rs 225 billion on average every year between FY 2016/17 and FY 2021/22. According to the DoR official, the main reason behind the Chinese companies being able to outcompete bidders from other countries is that they usually make the lowest evaluated bid. “The government entities usually approve the lowest evaluated bids though the lowest bidder is not necessarily awarded the contract as per the public procurement law if there are other shortcomings,” the official said. While Chinese contractors have omnipresence in the country's infrastructure development, their performance in a number of projects has come under scrutiny in recent years. The contract with a number of Chinese contractors has also been terminated. For example, the contract with the first contractor for digging the tunnel of the Melamchi Drinking Water Supply Project was terminated because of slow progress. The Melamchi  Water Supply Development Board had terminated the contract with the China Railway Bureau Group. The Nepal Electricity Authority in December 2018, terminated the contract with company Guangxi Transmission and Substation Construction Company and the Shenzhen Clou Electronics Co Ltd for poor progress in first package of (New Khimiti-Bahrabise) under the Tamakoshi-Kathmandu 400 KV transmission line. DoR has also put pressure on the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited for dismal progress in widening the Narayangarh-Butwal Road. “Currently, foreign contractors can compete without the involvement of Nepali contractors as joint venture partners,” said the DoR official. “Studies show that involvement of Nepali contractors as joint venture partners has been more beneficial to complete the work in a shorter period.”