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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 4.75 points to close at 2,055.53 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 0.30 points to close at 385. 81 points. A total of 8,008,246-unit shares of 276 companies were traded for Rs 3. 44 billion. Meanwhile, Taragaon Regency Hotel Limited, Oriental Hotels Limited, Kalinchowk Darshan Limited and BPW Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited were the top gainers today, with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Similarly, Citizens Mutual Fund -1 was the top loser as its price fell by 8.41 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 01 trillion.

The increase in the cost of doing business due to rising interest rates, the hike in cost of raw materials along with the decline in market demand have badly affected the operational efficiency of industries in the Sudurpaschim Province. As industries grapple with economic issues, their capacity utilization has declined in the first half of the current fiscal year. According to the latest report of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the average capacity utilization of industries in Sudurpaschim Province stood at 36.24 percent in the first half of FY 2022/23 compared to 40.3 percent during the same period of the last fiscal. The report titled ‘Provincial Economic Activities Report-Sudurpaschim Province’, states capacity utilization of the sugar industries was the highest while the rosin industries had the lowest at 3.91 percent. Industries such as wheat flour, bricks, mustard oil, and concrete had higher capacity utilization in the first half of the current fiscal year. However, the capacity utilization of industries producing items such as rosin, processed milk, soap, and rice remained sluggish during this period. “The capacity utilization of industries producing rosin remained poor due to the lack of workers and delay in the collection of raw materials,” states the NRB report. According to the report, the production of wheat flour, rosin, and bricks has decreased significantly in the first half of the current fiscal. Of the total workforce in the industries of the Sudurpaschim Province, 88.02 percent are male while 11.98 percent are female. The industries in the province have employed 20.99 percent of Indian citizens in their total workforce. Meanwhile, the disbursement of loans by banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to the industrial sector increased marginally in the first half of FY 2022/23. The BFIs’ loan disbursement to industries increased by 6.85 percent to Rs 29.14bn in the first half of the current fiscal year compared to a growth of 19.74 percent during the corresponding period of FY 2021/22. Of the total loans disbursed by the BFIs in the province, the share of the industrial loans is 18.17 percent. According to NRB, of the total loans, Kailali district has the highest share of 72.12 percent while Bajhang district has the lowest share of 0.33 percent. In the review period, the BFIs’ loans to electricity surged by 304.47 percent while lending to the agriculture sector declined by 11.03 percent. Of the total industrial loans, the share of the agriculture industry stands the highest at 34.31 percent, followed by the non-food industry (31.67 percent), the construction industry (20.76 percent), the metal industry (7.75 percent), and the electricity industry (4.75 percent). Disbursement of industrial loans (District wise)

Pokhara International Airport has its first international flight with the A319 aircraft of Sichuan Airlines landing at the airport on Wednesday morning. After it was formally inaugurated on 1 Jan 2023, by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, it is the first time that the airport received an international flight. The plane carrying some Nepali and Chinese officials and Chinese players to take part in the Nepal-China Friendship Dragon Boat Race Festival to be organized in Pokhara landed at 9:06 am on Wednesday morning, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). The plane was welcomed with a water cannon salute. Sichuan Airlines conducted a chartered flight from Chengdu of Sichuan Province to Pokhara. The delay in conducting international flights and the report about its infeasibility to land narrow-body planes such as Airbus A320 and A319 in their full load capacity raised questions about the massive investment to build this airport. The project was built by taking $215.96m in loans from the China Exim Bank. The landing of A319 aircraft with 70 passengers and cargo loads at Pokhara International Airport showed that the airport is suitable for landing the type of aircraft the airport was supposed to accommodate,” said a senior official of CAAN. “The landing of the chartered flight also confirmed that equipment installed in the airport is in good condition and the geography of Pokhara can accommodate the jets that we envisioned.” Earlier media reports suggested that the airport has a payload issue as planes like Airbus A320 and A319 could not land there at their full capacity. Airports have load restrictions determined by obstacles, runway length, temperature, quality, and other factors. Load restrictions contribute to the rise in the operating cost of airlines. The first successful landing of the aircraft of Sichuan Airlines has not yet erased the doubt about the commercial viability to operate flights from and to this airport which is surrounded by high hills. Other international airlines are yet to come up with their plan to operate international flights from and to this airport. Even the state-owned Nepal Airlines is yet to announce a plan to operate its international flights from Pokhara. After the landing of a plane run by Sichuan Airlines, Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, Chairperson of National Assembly said that he, during his recent China visit, had insisted that the Chinese side start the first international flight in this airport as it is the Chinese-aided project. Timilsina stressed the need for regular flights to and from this airport while pointing out that operating flights should also be commercially viable. “All the stakeholders should work together to ensure regular international flights,” he said, adding that the federal government, Pokhara Metropolitan City, and tourism entrepreneurs should also make common efforts for the purpose. CAAN has not yet confirmed when the regular international flights will be conducted to and from this airport. In a statement posted on social media, the CAAN said, “Discussions with the relevant parties are underway to establish regular flights in the future.” A senior official of CAAN said that regular fights could start within a few months. “We hope to see increased regular flights from and to the Pokhara International Airport in September and October when foreign tourists visit Nepal in large numbers,” the official said. “ Nepal Airlines and Himalaya Airlines are also showing interest in conducting international flights.”

The Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) has drawn the attention of the finance minister towards the air tickets becoming expensive due to the imposition of VAT on airfare by the government. A NATTA delegation led by its president Ramesh Thapa met Finance Minister Prakash Saaran Mahat on Wednesday and called on the government to withdraw its decision to levy value added tax (VAT) on air tickets, citing that imposition of VAT on airfare through the budget for fiscal year 2023-24 has made the air tickets costlier. "As both the domestic and international airfare in Nepal are already expensive at present, the airfare would become exorbitantly expensive with the addition of VAT in the present situation, and there is possibility of tourist arrivals falling down and the prospective foreign tourists opting for traveling to airports in Bagdogara, Gorakhpur among other airports in India due to their proximity to the Nepal border and the high airfare in Nepal," Thapa said. He argued that the decision of imposing VAT on airfare would have a serious impact on the government's goal of bringing more than a million tourists to Nepal in the upcoming fiscal year. NATTA said imposition of VAT only in Nepal would make the air tickets issued by Nepali travel agencies more expensive while it would be cheaper booking tickets online and in foreign countries. This will impel foreign tourists to book air tickets from foreign countries, resulting in loss of foreign currency earning and an increased risk of the government losing the tax it has been getting from the travel agencies and the loss of employment provided by the latter. NATTA has also called for a change in the provision of the Nepali citizen having to purchase a package tour from the foreign currency facility that one gets while going on a foreign tour. In the meeting, Finance Minister Mahat expressed the commitment that the government would take measures so that the tourism entrepreneurs would not face problems for the development of the tourism sector in Nepal.