Three New Veg Ghee Factories
While complaining of
difficult times in the
country’s vegetable oil and ghee industry, industrialists have set up three new manufacturing units under the same industry. This has increased the number of vegetable ghee manufacturers registered in the country to 21 though some of them are already closed down citing lack of business.
Among the three newly set up units is Kusum Oil set up by the Chaudhary Group while Bhairahawa-based businessman Jagdish Agrawal has set up Siddhartha Oil and Kabra Group has set up Quality Oil. The capacity of these new units ranges between 50-60 tons per unit, say the sources. It is also learnt that the Chaudhary Group’s new unit is actually using the plant and equipments from Nirvana Vegetable Ghee Industry that is now closed down.
Notable among the other older vegetable ghee units that are closed down now are Laxmi, Arun, Nepal and Narayani.
Four New Pharma Cos
The country’s pharmaceuticals
industry is getting four new
members, according to the industry sources. Among them, the major ones are Panas Pharmaceuticals promoted by Ramesh Kumar Shrestha (Managing Director of Bheri Zonal Hopsital) and Nawa-Genetica Pharmaceuticals by Nanda Kishor Ghiraiya and Shashi Agrawal. Both these units are said to be set up with investment of more than Rs 200 million each. Ghiraiya and Agrawal had recently withdrawn out of Curex Pharmaceuticals which has a factory at Sanga of Kavre district.
The other pharma units coming up are Rs. 180 million Magnus Pharmaceuticals promoted by Birgunj-based medicine trader Prabhu Dayal Rungata and Om Pharmaceuticals promoted by Bhaktapur’s industrialist Sudarsan Khaikuli. Also the Biratnagar-based Birat Pharma that was closed down for some time is scheduled to start operation soon, say sources quoting the factory’s new owner Paras Baral.
SBI raises stake in Nepal JV
State Bank of India has raised its stake in Nepal SBI to 55 percent by
purchasing the shares that Agriculture Development Bank sold to
fulfil a rule that prohibits banks and financial companies from holding shares in other banks or financial companies.
Automation Impact on Nepali Bourse
The performance of Nepal’s
stock exchange increased
substantially after the trading floor of the exchange was automated on 23 August 2007.
A study by Securities Research Center and Services (SRCS) P. Ltd. has concluded that the overall liquidity, number of shares traded as well as the number of transactions have significantly increased after the automation. The study covered 16 months (328 days) before the automation and 16 months (355 days) after the automation, according to SRCS President Rabindra Bhattarai, who conducted the study.
The average daily traded amount after automation has increased more than three times to Rs. 100 million from Rs. 30 million after the automation. Similarly, the daily average number of shares traded has increased from 81 thousands to 130 thousand and average number of daily transactions from 461 to 840.
The daily average change in the Nepse index has however come down after the automation. Such change before automation was 0.2275 percent daily in average which came down to 0.0041 percent after the automation. The report blames the reason for this decline on two factors: the Maoist-led government’s policy and high fluctuation in the share prices of Nepal Telecom. According to Bhattarai, the stock market had decreased by nearly 50 percent after the formation of the Maoist-led government.
ALICO to Reduce Bonus
As a result of the bad
investment climate of the
last several years, the ordinary people are now getting hurt also in the form of reduced bonus rate on their life insurance premium.
This came out to the fore after the Nepal office of American Life Insurance Company (ALICO) asked the Insurance Board for permission to slash down the bonus rate to its policy holders for the period 2006-08 to around Rs. 25 per thousand. The company had paid around Rs. 50 per thousand during the period 2002-05. While the Board is considering the case, the company’s agents are preparing to wage a fight if the bonus rate is slashed.
According to the sources, the company’s proposal is based on the valuation by the actuary appointed by the company. The Insurance Board sources inform that when the proposal was cross-checked by another actuary appointed by the Board, the conclusion has been the same – to reduce the bonus rate.
Among the other life insurance companies, Rastriya Beema Sansthan (RBS) and Life Insurance Company (Nepal) offer a bonus rate of Rs. 65 per thousand while National Life Insurance and Nepal Life Insurance offer Rs. 50 and Rs. 52 respectively. Other companies such as Prime, Gurans, Surya and Asian are yet to complete their three years of operation after which they will be required to declare their bonus rate.
RBB Demands Rs. 10 B illion
State-owned commercial bank Rastriya Banijya Bank has demanded Rs. 10 billion from the government to improve its capital adequacy. If that money is made available soon, the bank can sell its shares to raise further capital, says the Bank’s CEO Janardan Acharya.
According to Acharya, excepting the negative capital fund of Rs. 15.13 billion, all the other indicators of the bank are now good. That deficit can be wiped out if the government provides Rs. 10 billion, he said. The remaining Rs. 5 billion is going to be raised partly by selling the bank's share investment and partly by retaining the profit. RBB holds shares in Nepal Investment Bank (NIB) and Nepal Awas Bitta Company, he informed. The bank has 3.6 million units of shares in NIB which can be sold at around Rs. 4 billion. The bank has a target to earn a net profit of over Rs. 2 billion in the current fiscal year that ends on mid-July. Of that target, Rs. 1.5 billion is already achieved by mid-April, says Acharya.
Nokia’s New Steps
Nokia has announced plan to
bring its newest service
Ovi mail to Nepal within a year or two. This new service from Nokia will have the facility to create e-mail accounts in Devnagari script.
Launching in Dhaka recently Ovi mail-compatible entry level mobile devices Nokia 2323 Classic and Nokia 2330 Classic, Prem Chand, General Manager at Nokia Emerging Asia (that includes Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal), said, the two devices will be available in Nepal in June.
Ovi mail is available at present in 50 languages, said Chand.
Ovi mail account can be created and used directly in a Nokia device without ever having to use PC, laptop or fixed landline.
Nokia 2323 classic will retail for approximately $60 while Nokia 2330 Classic will be available for about $50, according to the company.
“The aim of introducing these devices and services is to bring the power of the Internet to the people of this region at affordable rates,” said Paula Laine, Nokia’s vice-president for entry category marketing.
Meanwhile, amidst a special event called Nokia Connection held recently in Singapore, Nokia announced plans to launch a number of devices with solutions that it says ‘can be personalized to connect people in new and better ways’.
Among the new products announced was Nokia E72 which enables the owners to set up instant messaging (IM) accounts provided by Nokia Messaging direct from the homescreen. Also announced was Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, a compact XpressMusic device that uses a touch interface for accessing people and content on the homescreen. The homescreen also features one touch shortcuts to content and popular social networks, like Facebook and MySpace.
Also announced was the Nokia 3710 fold, a mobile device that balances eye-catching design with the latest in mobile functionality.
Both Nokia E72 and Nokia 5530 XpressMusic are expected to begin shipping late in the third quarter of 2009, while the Nokia 3710 fold is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2009, says the company.
Representatives of content providers and developers like Gambit, Singapore Press Holdings and tenCube were present at the Nokia Connection event to demonstrate to the media and analysts their innovative applications developed for Nokia and Ovi Store.
In a keynote at the opening ceremony of the event, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer Mary McDowell said, “Nokia envisions a world where people will be empowered to share and connect with what matters most to them through highly personalised and contextually relevant solutions.”
Chris Carr, Vice President of Sales in SEAP region, commented, “We are witnessing exciting developments in our industry driven by the rapid convergence of the internet and mobile. The next phase of growth will be very much driven by the emerging markets . Nokia is playing a pivotal role in this transformation.”
(By Madan Lamsal and Baburam Dhakal)
