Rumpum Prize

Asian Thai Foods — manufacture of various successful brands like Rum Pum, 2PM Noodles, Preety Noodles, Miteri Noodles, MaMa Cheese Balls, Krazy cheese balls and KrumKruwa — announced the launch of its new scheme ‘Rumpum ma Gadgad Sathma Nagad’ on Monday.

The scheme offers up to Rs 1 lakh in cash. “Rumpum, the highly successful flagship brand of Asian Thai Foods, has been successful in keeping its consumer happy with its quality, delicious taste and aroma,” company said.

Weekly Share Update

The shareholders of all the major sub-groups — commercial banks, development banks, finance companies, hydropower and others — gained this week as these sub-groups propelled the Nepse to 702.88 points. The Nepse surged by 35.45 points to 702.88 points from last week’s closing of 667.43 points in a week after a long spell of bearish trend. The investors looked hopeful that the budget would bring some relief to them like the capital gain tax would come down to 10 per cent from the present 15 per cent. The shareholders of commercial banks and development banks subgroups posted a whopping gain as they gained 51.54 points to 736.57 points and 44.31 points 744.66 points in five day trading this week

Similarly, the contribution of Group-A companies — the blue-chip shares in the domestic market — also increased to 44.36 per cent against week’s 24.69 per cent. However, the transaction has decrease by 17.36 per cent to Rs 382.31 million against last week’s increase of 103.88 per cent.

The 78-scrip sensitive index also flared by 10.73 points to 188.09 points from last week’s closing of 177.36 points. The float index — calculated on the basis of up real transactions — also gained 3.38 points to close at 67.47 7points from last week’s closing of 64.09 points. This week Nepal Bangladesh Bank (with Rs 62.37 million) topped the chart in terms trading amount followed by Bank of Kathmandu (with Rs 36.86 million), NIC Bank (with Rs 36.85 million), IME Finance (with Rs 19.59 million) and National Hydropower (with Rs 18.92 million). In terms of number of share units traded also Nepal Ban gladesh Bank topped the chart with Rs 62.37 million transaction of 2,49,000-unit shares changing hands, wh ile Pashupati Development Bank topped chart in terms of number of transactions

Kasthamandap Development Bank Opened 10th Branch

Kasthamandap Development Bank Ltd (KDBL) opened its 10th branch in Pokhara of Kaski district. Chairman Jagannath Gyawali inaugurated the branch amid a function on Thursday. KDBL collected deposit Rs 1.48 billion and gathered an investment of Rs 953.1 million in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. The bank has operating profit of Rs 9 million in the same period

Sanima's Branch

Sanima Bikas Bank Ltd added two more branches — Narayangrah and Pokhara — on Friday. Sanima’s director-duo Pankaj Adhikari and Bharat Kumar Pokhrel inaugurated the Narayangarh and Pokhara branches, a press note read. The bank collected deposit of Rs 3.08 billion, investment Rs 4.02 billion and capital of Rs 768 million

NIC Bank in Gaighat

NIC Bank opened its 20th branch at Gaighat of Udayapur district on Friday. The new branch is providing all modern banking facilities like deposit and lending, trade finance, remittance, ATM and debit card services and SMS banking. The bank registered an operating profit of Rs 510 million in the first eleven months of the current fiscal year, 37 per cent more than in the same period last year.

Himalayan 23rd Branch

Himalayan Bank Ltd (HBL) opened its 23rd branch in Bidur, headquarters of Nuwakot district on Thursday. HBL chairman Manoj Bahadur Shrestha inaugurated the Trishuli branch amid a function attended by bankers, businessmen and locals. The bank has deposit of Rs 33.32 billion and investment of Rs 25.30 billion in the first eleven months of the current fiscal year-end. The bank got operating profit of Rs 1.01 billion during the period. HBL also provides ATM and debit card services from the new branch.

Everest Bank's 32nd Branch

Everest Bank Ltd (EBL) opened its 32nd branch in Lagankhel of Lalitpur district on Thursday. Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry ) president Kush Kumar Joshi inaugurated the branch while the ATM was inaugurated by Lalitpur Chamber of Commerce president Naresh Kumar Shrestha.

Yeti’s Pilatus Porter ports at TIA

Yeti Airlines’ second brand new Pilatus Porter (PC 6) aircraft landed at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) this afternoon. “The aircraft has flown direct from the factory to TIA,” said Yeti Airlines. It has a PT-6A-27 engine made by world renowned engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. There are 266 PC-6s in operation all over the world. Pilatus Porter has excellent short take-off and landing (STOL) performance and it is a multipurpose airplane designed and built since 1959 by Pilatus Aircraft Ltd in Stans, Switzerland. The first flight of Pilatus Porter was operated on May 4, 1959. Pilatus Porter is celebrating its 50 years of production

Fifty years ago, during the Swiss Dhaulagiri Himalaya Expedition in May 1960, Pilatus Porter (PC-6) was used for transportation of climbing equipment. The name of the PC-6 at that time was ‘Yeti Himalaya’.

“It is a coincidence that the airline bringing the Pilatus Porter to Nepal after 50 years is also Yeti Airlines,” according to Yeti Airlines that is planning to bring in a third PC-6. PC-6 is practical for almost every function as a sky cab. It is used for passenger and material transport, medical and emergency service, measurement and photo flights, with spraying equipment for agricultural work and for fire fighting.

It can land equipped with skis on glaciers and with floats on water and is an ideal airplane for parajumping also PC-6 fixed wing aircraft made the first world record of landing at an altitude of 5750m in 1960. Yeti Airlines – established in May 1998 – has 14 aircraft including PC 6 in its fleet. The airlines has started its flight from Kathmandu to Lukla, the gateway to Mt Everest, the highest point on earth. This fleet of domestic airlines has been serving the isolated population in the remote mountain areas, providing the only means of transportation and connection to the outside world.

“Yeti has has the biggest domestic flight network and flies to almost all destinations in Nepal,” claimed the airlines. Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) had also operated three Pilatus Porters from 1961 to 1998. Yeti airlines is planning to revive PC-6 operation in the remotest areas of Nepal. “It will use the currently unused airports such as Syangboche, Jiri, Langtang, Dhorpatan and Kalikot which have long enough runways to suit the PC-6,” said Vijay Shrestha, executive director of Yeti Airlines Domestic (P) Ltd.http://yetiairlines.com/index.php

Yamaha Exchange

Rasik Automobiles and Das Auto Enterprises, authorized dealers of Morang Auto Works (MAW), are organizing Yamaha Super Exchange Camps at Lainchaur and Bhaktapur, respectively. According to MAW, the Lainchaur camp is open from July 8-11 and Bhaktapur camp will open from July 9-11. Both camps are offering sure-shot scratch card offers between Rs 5000 and Rs 100,000 on the purchase of Alba ES motorcycle. A straight discount of Rs 10,000 is available on cash and finance purchase of Crux, Alba and G5 motorcycles.

Cash discount of Rs 5,000 is available on FZ-16 and Gladiator SS/RS

RBB Evenin Counter

Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) Tansen branch is planning to upgrade its service in the next fiscal year 2009-10. The branch is starting an evening counter from July 16, a press note issued by branch manager Shree Bahadur Ranabhat said. The bank also plans to provide automatic teller machine (ATM) in Tansen soon. The branch has been providing banking facilities in Palpa since the last 45 years.

Nepal Bank's New ATM

Nepal Bank Ltd (NBL) opened an ATM in its Narayangarh branch on Monday July 6, 2009. The ATM centre is linked to STC network which has the largest network of 247 ATM machines and 1400 franchises. It can be used in over 1,000 ATMs of neighbouring India. NBL is planning to expand ATM service in 20 more places for 100,000 customers.

SBI's CSR Initiative

As part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives on the occasion of its 16th anniversary, Nepal SBI Bank provided cash support to 10 students from Shree Nandi Madyamik Vidyalaya, Naxal, for meritorious performance in the SLC Examination 2008. Support to the students will assist them in pursuing their next level of studies. Bank chairman Bal Krishna Shrestha handed over cheques and letters of appreciation to the students at a function held on the school’s premises in the presence of bank managing director N K Chari. Senior officials of the bank as well as teachers and students of the school were presented on the occasion.

NT’s Balance Transfer in Sudden Coma

Due to technical problems, the balance transfer facility in GSM prepaid mobile service has been disabled.

Nepal Telecom (NT), one of the telecommunication service providers here, today faced a problem in the balance transfer system.

The process has halted since 4 pm July 7, 2009. According to NT spokesperson Surendra Bahadur Thike, due to some technical problem in the system the balance transfer facility has failed. “We are trying to solve the problem,’’ he added though he was not sure regarding the recovery of the system. “It could take some time, we have forwarded messages regarding the technical problem the system is facing,’’ Thike said.

This is not the first time that NT’s balance transfer system has failed. It is now a year that NT brought the security system in its balance transfer service. The balance transfer system comes under USSB technology

“Earlier too, we had faced a problem in NT’s balance transfer system under USSB technology. However, as the system was misused we introduced a new system with a security code while transferring the balance and then the problem was solved,’’ said Thike. He added that the current problem would be solved at the earliest

Meanwhile, NT’s all other services are functioning without any glitch whatsoever.

Play hard with Royale Play

Asian Paints announced the beginning of a new era in ‘wall fashion’ by launching its latest decorative offering — Royale Play. Royale Play is a collection of innovative and ready-to-use special effect paints that allow users to unleash their creativity on walls. Now along with colour, paint consumers in Nepal can give their walls textures, patterns and a range of fashionable finishes by using specially designed ‘application tools’ from Asian Paints.

“Using a bit of imagination, special effect tools and palette of vibrant colours, Asian Paints consumers will now be able to create numerous eye-catching special effects that give walls a distinctive look and feel,” said Soumitra Roy, general manager of Asian Paints Nepal. “Royale Play has been a huge success in the Indian market where it was launched a few years ago and we are delighted to introduce this product in Nepal,” he added.

Int’l Trade Agreements to Be Fulfilled Despite Crisis

Despite the global financial and economic crisis, countries continue to rely on the conclusion of international investment agreements (IIAs) as a means of promoting foreign investment and attendant benefits, UNCTAD’s latest IIA (International Investment Agreement) Monitor reports. The first six months of 2009 saw the conclusion of 25 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and six other international agreements with investment provisions — a development that further strengthens and expands the current international investment regime. This is line with the last year’s trend, when the network of IIAs continued to expand, with the number of newly concluded double taxation treaties (DTTs) (75) and other IIAs (16) exceeding those for 2007 (69 and 13, respectively).

With 59 new agreements, the number of BITs concluded in 2008 also was significant. This suggests that there may be a role for the international investment regime to play in responding to the global economic and financial crisis. Among other things, IIAs may be a way of effectively promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) — this is particularly the case for agreements that contain effective and operational provisions on investment promotion — and by stemming the rising tide of protectionist dangers during the financial crisis. To play such a role, the IIA Monitor says, numerous substantive and procedural questions should be dealt with, including how to ensure a balance in IIAs that grants policy makers sufficient flexibility to respond to the financial cri sis and how to ensure that investorState dispute settlements involving crisis-response measures can be handled in a manner responsive to their particular challenges.

The report says that at a broader level, key systemic considerations also need to be addressed regarding the interaction between the global financial system and the international investment regime, with a need for coherence between the two regimes, regulating the interwoven and inter-related global long-term and short-term capital movements.

FNCCI Call to End Scrap Tax

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has urged the government to end the scrap tax in the coming budget. A delegation led by FNCCI president Kush Kumar Joshi met Minister for Local Development Purna Kumar Sherma Limbu and asked him to abolish the tax.

FNCCI was moved to action when district authorities call the tender for scrap tax recently. The district development committees of Kaski, Makwanpur, Nawalparasi and Rautahat have called for scrap tax tender and other VDCs are following them. “The tender must be stopped first,” the umbrella organization of entrepreneurs argued.

The government and the FNCCI had signed an understanding to end scrap tax by fiscal year 2009-10. Minister Limbu as- sured the delegation saying their demand would be addressed in the coming budget. “It will be adjusted,” he said. The scrap tax is used in local development projects at the district level. Local Self-governance Act has granted the right to district development committee to collect scrap tax but due to lack of a monitoring mechanism, contractors have been collecting it unlawfully

FNCCI has been decrying it as a cause of the price hike.

Promote Development Banks, Says NPC Veep

Development banks should be promoted to develop rural areas and raise the living standards of people, said National Planning Commission vice-president Dr Yuvraj Khatiwada while speaking during the eighth anniversary celebration of Sana Kisan Development Bank Ltd’s (SKDBL) here today. He focused on the development of an enabling environment for the development of people in rural areas. According to Khatiwada, development banks should be promoted so as to develop rural areas and raise the living standards of people there.

“Though the number of financial institutions is increasing, it will not affect the number of customers going to any particular financial institution,” said Dr Khatiwada adding that for this budget they have advised the government to include special package for those taking loan and making timely payback.

SKDBL managing director Upen- dra Bahadur Karki said the bank has prepared a four-year business plan from 2009-2013 and will soon implement it. The bank aims to reduce poverty by increasing its services by 15 per cent compared to the current level of service.

The bank has total paid up capital of Rs 123.1 million in which Agricultural Development Bank has Rs 44 million, the government has Rs 20 million, Nepal Bank Ltd has Rs 50 lakh, Nabil Bank has Rs 2 million and there is Rs 52 million of 178 small farmers’ cooperative companies. The total number of credit transactions till date is 223, and total number of investors is 47,77,032.

Within another three years, the bank through 334 micro finance companies will be extending its services to rural areas and within the same period it has targeted to flow loan of Rs 3 billion. According to Karki, government should work out more programmes so that there is no lack of financial resources.

Meanwhile, Khatiwada urged for the promotion of products made by people from rural areas. “Products from rural areas must be recognized and brought to the market to make these known,” said Khatiwada.

Capital Merchant Banking

Capital Merchant Banking and Finance opened its new branch at Battisputali and Rabibhawan and also started ATM and ABBS services from Monday. The branch was inaugurated by the president of the company, Bijyan Prashad Poudel. During the programme, Poudel assured that the company will provide modern and standard facilities and services.

Machhapuchhre ATM

Machhapuchhre Bank on Monday July 6, 2009 opened a new ATM at Khairenitar, making it to a total of 31 branches. The bank has also targetted to install ATM services at 10 more places in the country. Apart from the SCT Card, the customers can use international cards like - Visa Card, Visa Electron, Visa Plus, Master Card, Master Card Maestro and Cirrus Card.

Rum Pum Cash Prize

Asian Thai Foods — manufacturer of various successful brands like Rum Pum, 2PM Noodles, Preety Noodles, Miteri Noodles, MaMa Cheese Balls, Krazy cheese balls and KrumKruwa — announced the launch of its new scheme ‘Rumpum ma Gadgad Sathma Nagad’ on Monday. The scheme offers up to Rs 1 lakh in cash. “Rum Pum, the highly successful flagship brand of Asian Thai Foods, has been successful in keeping its consumer happy with its quality, delicious taste and aroma,” claimed the company.