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The price of gold has increased by Rs 500 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 103, 900 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 103, 400 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 103, 400 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,365 per tola today.

In a 'season of mergers and acquisitions' in the Nepali banking sector, the proposed acquisition of Civil Bank by the Himalayan Bank Limited (HBL) has moved further ahead with the former's annual general meeting (AGM) approving the swap ratio. The Civil Bank's 12th AGM on Thursday endorsed the swap ratio of 100:80 that the two banks had agreed earlier. This means 100 shares of Civil Bank will get converted to 80.28 shares of Himalayan Bank after the acquisition. According to Pratap Jung Pandey, Chairman of Civil Bank, the unified business will be started within Magh after getting final approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank. For Himalayan Bank, the acquisition has become a sort of a matter of reputation, following the failed merger attempt with Nepal Investment Bank last year. Himalayan Bank started an initiative to acquire another commercial bank after its merger with Nepal Investment Bank Limited (NIB) got derailed at the final stage. The HBL-NIB eight months long merger process was aborted after the 29th annual general meeting (AGM) of HBL held on January 14, 2022, disapproved the plan of merger with NIB. Only 43.63 percent voted in favor of the merger while 42 percent came against the merger. As per the rules, a merger proposal will only be passed after 75 percent of the shareholders of the bank approve it. Three major shareholders of the HBL - Employees’ Provident Fund, N Trading Company, and Chhaya International- stood against the merger. With Nepal Rastra Bank continuously pushing the HBL for the merger, the bank on July 13, 2022, signed an acquisition MoU with Civil Bank. BFIs number declined by 183 in the past decade The number of banks and financial institutions (BFIs) has declined by 183 in the last one decade after NRB announced its merger and acquisition policy. The number of BFIs that stood at 303 in 2012 has come down to 120 as of January 11, 2023. Following the merger, a total of 10 commercial banks, 75 development banks, 61 finance companies, and 37 microfinance institutions have merged with other financial institutions. In 2022, 32 commercial banks, 92 development banks, 78 finance companies, and 111 microfinance institutions were operating in Nepal. Currently, this number has been reduced to 22 commercial banks, 17 development banks, 17 finance companies, and 64 microfinance institutions.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 41. 04 points to close at 2,149. 39 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 7. 89 points to close at 411. 25 points. A total of 14,482,959 unit shares of 252 companies were traded for Rs 5. 47 billion. Meanwhile, Kumari Dhanabriddhi Yojana was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 02 percent. Likewise, Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 18 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 10 trillion.

The logistics services provider Upaya has announced an investment closure of Rs 60 million from Nepal Infrastructures Investment Fund Limited (NIIF). Managed by Global Equity Fund (GEF), the NIFF is a capital venture jointly promoted by Global Equity Fund (GEF), Prime Life Insurance and Himalayan Everest Insurance. According to Upaya Managing Director Suman Rayamajhi, the funding from NIIF will be utilized for the business expansion and growth of Upaya 2.0. "Upaya is committed to making investments in two key areas of infrastructure and technology to uplift and collaborate the entire logistics sector of Nepal involving driver/rider partners, franchise partners, business partners, and alliance partners," he said.Dr. Manish Thapa, Managing Director of GEF said that with new investment, NIIF is confident that Upaya will continue to revolutionize the logistics industry and drive growth in the coming years through its use of advanced technology and innovative approaches to solving common challenges. In 2021, Upaya successfully closed funding worth Rs 180 million from Dolma Impact which was used for the expansion of the company along with the introduction of various logistics solutions across the country. Issuing a press statement Upaya said that the company has been successful in integrating all aspects of logistics involving market aggregation operations and end-to-end delivery operations. Currently, Upaya has a network of five branches, 10 regional hubs, and 100 plus last-mile delivery locations across the country. Established in 2018, Upaya has been providing technology-enabled logistics services to its clients. The company says it has been providing logistics services across four verticals targeted toward the needs of different types of businesses and individuals in Nepal. "The Series B closing target of Upaya is Rs 400 million for the successful completion of Upaya 2.0 and the company expects to close its funding target by end of 2023," reads the statement. According to the statement, the major areas of focus of Upaya 2.0 are building automated warehouses for the 3PL base of operation, Upaya Station - truckers resting hub across the country, Upaya-Nagar - transporters hub along with a multi-transport system in east, central and west Nepal for inter-city synchronization under Upaya Alliance. "Along with this, Upaya 2.0 targets to have 300 plus pin codes delivery points for catering to customer’s easy delivery across Nepal," says the company.