meroLagani | Kist - Punjab National Bank in talks for major stake sale

meroLagani | Kist - Punjab National Bank in talks for major stake sale

Kist Bank Limited is planning to sale its 51% shares to Punjab National Bank of India to enter into a partnership with one of the leading banks in India. Punjab national bank has already invested 20% stake in Everest Bank in Nepal.

meroLagani | Low inter bank rate to pull interest rates down

meroLagani | Low inter bank rate to pull interest rates down

The current low inter bank rate could pull the interest rates down, according to the central bank.

meroLagani | NT refuses to pay license renewal fee

meroLagani | NT refuses to pay license renewal fee

KATHMANDU, Sept 14: While the private operators, including Ncell, were waiting for Nepal Telecom´s response on outstanding dues, the state-owned operator on Wednesday said it will not pay license renewal fee worth Rs 20 billion.

Responding to queries of lawmakers of a sub-committee under the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Vishwanath Goel, managing director of NT, said the amount was too high to pay in every five years.

“Operators eying to sale their operating license can sustain, but those that intend to continue their service will find it difficult to sustain with such high renewal fee,” Goel added.

Ncell officials on Monday had expressed commitment to pay license renewal fee worth Rs 20 billion, if NT is willing to clear its outstanding fee.

As per the pre-condition of operating license, NT must pay Rs 210 million as license fee and Rs 20 million as renewal fee every five years. It, however, paid only 10 percent of licensing fee while renewing license about two years ago.

Goel also requested the government to treat all operators equally. “If we are to follow Public Procurement Act while purchasing products or services, other operators must follow it,” he said, adding that the government´s formalities were hindering NT´s growth.

Officials of Nepal Satellite Telecom (NST) - a rural telecom operator -- also said that they were not in a position to clear their outstanding dues. Mani Chaulagain, CEO of NST, said that were facing loss of Rs 30 million every month. “Despite being a rural telecom operator, we haven´t received any incentives from the government,” Chaulagain said.

Source: www.myrepublica

meroLagani | NRB seeks clarifications from six banks

meroLagani | NRB seeks clarifications from six banks

KATHMANDU, Sept 14: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Wednesday sought clarifications from six commercial banks through which eight firms in Birgunj managed to siphon out Rs 1 billion worth of Indian Currency (IC) by producing fake customs documents.

The central bank has asked the six banks to furnish details that led them to pay such a huge amount of IC to them. NRB sough clarification from Birgunj-based branches of NIC Bank, Nepal Investment Bank, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Laxmi Bank, Everest Bank and Siddartha Bank after a three-member team led by NRB Deputy Director Chet Prasad Upreti initiated investigation into the cases.

The central bank had deputed the team mainly to dig out facts and complexity surrounding the case, mainly to know if banks staffs and customs officials were involved in the wrongdoing.

“We have distributed questionnaires to all six banks, seeking details on their IC transactions over a year´s span,” said the source.

The banks´ response will determine whether or not they flouting existing rules and regulations while dealing with their customers.

The NRB team will also verify the customs declaration forms and demand drafts with banks statements to confirm whether or not the traders had misappropriated IC.
Another team from Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) has also been investigating the documents at Birgunj Customs Office to check possible involvement of customs officials in the cases.

The High-Level Financial Sector Coordination Committee had also recommended to the government on Monday to form a high-level panel to be led by a deputy governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to look into the reported IC misappropriation in the name of imports.

DRI´s initial investigation shows that the eight firms have misappropriated around Rs 770 million worth of IC by producing demand drafts and customs declaration forms at over half a dozen banks in Birgunj.

Those firms withdrew Rs 630 million from NIC Bank, Rs 11.8 million from Everest Bank, Rs 32.3 million from Laxmi Bank, Rs 7.7 million from Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Rs 60.4 million from Siddhartha Bank and Rs 16.4 million from Nepal Investment Bank. Those firms are also found to have opened accounts with Sunrise Bank, Nabil Bank, Global Bank and Bank of Kathmandu.

An investigation carried out by the DRI had found Maxwell Computer, Shyam Galla Bhandar, Jaya Mata Di International, Digital World and GS Traders of producing fake customs documents to withdraw the huge amount of IC from different commercial banks. Five proprietors of those firms have been taken into custody.

In another cases of suspected IC misappropriation, DRI has sealed Nitesh Brothers, Jaibaba Amar Nath and Gangotri Gallaghar in Birgunj and put Dinesh Gupta, proprietor of those firms, behind the bars.

Source: myrepublica

meroLagani | Standard Chartered declares Dividend for 2010/11

meroLagani | Standard Chartered declares Dividend for 2010/11

Standard Chartered Bank in the 281th meeting of the Board of Directors held on 12th September 2011 has approved financial statements of the fiscal year 2067/2068.

The Board, subject to the approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank and General Meeting of shareholders , has proposed a cash dividend of 50% (at the rate of NPR 50 per share) for the Fiscal Year 2067/2068.

Source: Nepalstock.com

meroLagani | PM to fly economy class to NY

meroLagani | PM to fly economy class to NY

meroLagani | New stockbrokers mark a happy beginning

meroLagani | New stockbrokers mark a happy beginning

With the entry of 16 new stockbrokers, transactions in the stock market have surged.

With a significant contribution from the new brokers, the transaction volume surged by 81.38 percent to Rs 150.89 million last week from Rs 83.19 million in the previous week, when the new agents started trading.