PETROLEUM SUPPLIES TO BE NORMALIZED ONLY FROM THURSDAY

PETROLEUM SUPLIES TO BE NORALIZED FROM
THURSDAY

Kathmandu, 4 Jan.: Suresh Kumar Agrawal of Nepal Oil
Corporation (NOC) said Wednesday supply of petroleum
products in the market will be normalized from Thursday.
NOC settled a Rs.1.5 billon due with Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC) Tuesday and is settling an additional Rs 800 million due Wednesday,
The money was loaned to the NOC by government agencies
against government guarantee.
IOC has adopted has adopted a policy to export POL products to Nepal only with settlement of dues creating shortages
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MORE DETAILS OF BIG-3 INCONCLUSIVE MEET
Kathmandu, 4 Jan.:, The meeting of three main parties Tuesday failed to garner any consensus on the remaining disputes on some issues of the new constitution, The Rising Nepal reports.
The meeting held at Singha Durbar discussed the election system for the president and prime minister and their rights. But it could not reach any agreement while parties stuck to their earlier stands.
After the meeting UCPN-Maoist lawmaker Dev Gurung told journalists that the meeting became fruitless while Nepali Congress was adamant on parliamentary system while Maoists pressed for the presidential system.
NC proposed to change the calendar of the constitution writing. But, Maoists and CPN-UML were opposed to this.
After the meeting, NC general secretary Krishna Sitaula said the matter should be forwarded with consensus.
"If it is sent to Constitutional Committee for the final decision, that will hamper the constitution writing," he said. "If it goes for a voting, no one will garner the majority."
Earlier to this, the constitutional dispute resolution sub-committee under the Constitutional Committee also failed to garner consensus from parties regarding some other disputed issues of the constitution.
The sub-committee meeting discussed the form of governance and electoral system.
The meeting concluded by requesting the top leaders to develop a political consensus on these matters.
At the meeting, the task-force report on the form of governance was discussed. The task force suggested a mixed form of governance
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ARCHEOLOGICAL OBJECTS OF BUDDHA ERA RECOVERED
Kathmandu, 4 Jan.:, Archeological objects dating back to Lord Buddha’s time have been discovered at Kanyamai, the parental home of Lord Buddha’s mother, The Rising Nepal reports.
The excavation process has been carried out at Kanyamai area from Falgun month last year. Department of Archeology (DoA) and Lumbini Development Committee jointly carried out the excavation process here, said Prakash Darnal, Chief of DoA.
During the excavation process it discovered two ancient idols, mud mask with other ancient earthen pots and matriak, he said.
Similarly, they discovered other antic pieces consisting of a tea cup shape where woman body was printed and the handled of cup with human hand shape, he informed.
He further said that they discovered a well, the wall of well is very wide and might be of Malla era’s time.
Last year, they discovered headless Buddha idol, man idol and matrika from the side.
The place of Lumbini is known as birth place of Lord Buddha and Kapilbastu is the capital of the kingdom ruled by his father and Dev Daha is famous as Lord Buddhar’s maternal uncle’s home.
According to him, the maternal uncle’s home of Buddha was not excavated before. Earlier, no one paid interest to its excavation. There are lots of ancient relics at the Kanyamai, Bharimai, Bhawonipur and Ghaerdada.
Darnal said that there a structure of brick and stone temple and square shape monastery were also discovered at the excavation site..
It should be preserved as ancient historical and archeological important place but there is a need to give continuity to the excavation.
The Lumbani Development Committee should begin the physical survey of this area before constructing the building, he said. The locals here demanded to turn the site into a museum.
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INTERVIEW

CAPITAL MARKET OUTSIDE A MUST SAYS'
Dr. Jiba Nath Dhital


Dr. Jiba Nath Dhital is the Chairman of the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) Limited. An Associate Professor of economics at the Tribhuvan University, Dr. Dhital has a doctorate of philosophy (PhD) in economics. Additionally, he has also acquired MBA and BL degrees and practicing advocacy as a successful lawyer. With over two decades’ of experiences in teaching at TU, the knowledgeable and dynamic personality has been appointed as the chief of the Nepse. He has remained effortful in strengthening the Nepalese capital market. Dhital is confident that he would be able to revive the long-lost confidence of the people towards the capital market and create a more favorable environment in the Nepalese capital market. Sharing his plans with this daily, he said that the works are underway to regain investors’ confidence towards the capital market and increase the access of small investors in the market through various policy measures.
For the last few years, Nepalese capital market had dip down enormously forcing the investors to look for other alternative sectors to invest. The capital market has faced several other problems which have led to the decline of confidence of investors towards it.
C K Khanal and Yogesh Pokharel of The Rising Nepal talked to Dr. Dhital on various aspects of the Nepalese capital market, including his plans to improve it and challenges facing this sector. Excerpts:
How do you asses the Nepalese capital market’s present situation?
The main indicator reflecting the performance of the Nepalese capital market is the Nepse index. If we look at this index; it has declined sharply since a few years. Though the index has shown an upward trend in recent days, it is nominal in extent. Frankly speaking, the condition of Nepalese capital market is miserable. We need to pay urgent attentions towards improving its condition.
There are various reasons behind such a poor condition of the Nepalese capital market. One of the main reasons is the narrow scope of the Nepalese capital market itself. Till date, the capital market has been valley-oriented and out of the access of small investors. This is also a responsible factor behind its past downturn trend. The cost of transaction in the capital market is also high and time-consuming which is also discouraging investors in the market.
To improve the Nepse index, we should extend the capital market outside the valley by enhancing the small savers’ access to it. On the other side, we have to reduce the dominance of the banking and financial institutions in the capital market. For this, we are working towards attracting the productive sectors to the capital market. The CDS and Clearing Company which is going to be operated in the near future will also be supportive for attracting more investors and industries.
The capital market is taken as the mirror of the country’s economy. Do you think our capital market reflects the whole economy?
Despite this, the Nepalese capital market could not reflect the entire economy. As the capital market of the developing countries is not well developed, these economies could not be reflected in the capital market truly. Most of the people of the country, whether they be literate or not have no any idea about the capital market. Besides, the need for extending the capital market to the rural areas has not been realized yet. Due to the lack proper information regarding the certainty and profitability of investments in the capital market, potential small entrepreneurs have not entered into the capital market. Likewise, the Nepalese capital market is mainly dominated by the shares of banks and financial institutions. But industries and other manufacturing sector have not joined the capital market as expected. Under these circumstances, we could not see the performance of the whole Nepalese economy by looking only such an immature capital market.
What are the reasons for a sluggish growth of Nepse?
Before getting unexpected sharp decline in the Nepse index during the past few years, it was true that the increase in the index was also not justifiable. There were no sufficient reasons to have such an increment in the index. In fact, manipulations have also played a crucial role in increasing the index in such a high level. However, this does not mean that the present position of the Nepse was on the right track. The Nepse should have gone up to get its actual size as per the performance of the economy. The sluggish growth of the index has been attributed by the increased interest rates, lengthy, time-consuming and costly transaction process, together with the loss of confidence of the investors. As installation of CDS system makes the transaction and clearing process efficient and secure, it will have a significant effect on the improvement of in the Nepse index.
What are your plans to attract more investors to the capital market?
For the development of the capital market, there should be the maximum participation of both small and big investors in it. The main tool to attract more investors to the market is to create awareness among them about the capital market. For this, we are organizing various awareness programmes at different levels. We have planned to extend such activities even to the access of the rural people. It will certainly help in attracting potential small investors from the rural areas into the capital market. Besides, we are thinking of attracting more institutional investors to the capital market for the development of capital market by offering various facilities in a package.
Presently, there is a massive dominance of banks and financial institutions over Nepse. What are your plans to include other sectors in the capital market?
Certainly there is a dominance of shares over transactions of the secondary market. The share transaction is also dominated by banking and financial institutions. We are going to improve the system of transaction to ensure the security and liquidity of the capital market. The new system of transaction will reduce the duration of the clearance of transactions in the secondary market. This would support for luring the productive sector to the capital market. At the same time, poorer performances and presence of the productive sector in the capital market was also due to their condition in the economy. So, there should be the growth of industrial sector in the economy to reduce the dominance of the productive sector. Similarly, the improved system of transaction will also attract the investors towards the bonds and debenture, too.
Almost one year has elapsed since the Central Depository System (CDS) was established in the country. But it has yet to come into operation. When will it come into full-fledged operation?
The CDS Company has not come into operation mainly due to the delay in getting operating license and approving a bylaw. The Security Board of Nepal has just approved the bylaw. With this, we have started preparatory works. Now we are working towards recruiting the manpower needed for the institution. We have planned to provide training to the employees. Immediately, we are going to publish a notice by calling the listed companies to join the CDS system of transaction giving certain time period. The company will come into full-fledged operation within three months.
At the end, would you like to add anything more to this, please?
The Nepalese capital market is being improved by the new system of transaction and policy measures. So, investors need not doubt about investing in the sector. Through this, I assure all the potential investors for the security and early clearing of their transactions in the secondary market. However, the investors should be aware of the liquidity and risks while being in securities of certain companies. Investing in the capital market without having its basic knowledge and information regarding the performances of listed companies could be a risky one. I would further urge the new entrants of the capital market to participate in awareness programmes for improving their performances.
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