Views of a Nepali Economist

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Use of internet bandwidth increasing

*Consumers of data and internet services have reached to 3,111,858 with overall 10.89 per cent internet penetration rate by mid-July
*Nepal Telecom has a total of 1,133,876 data and internet subscribers
*Ncell has 1,874,078
*UTL has 51,377 internet subscribers
*ISPs have 52,527
*There are 42 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Nepal currently

Banks' shareholders return decreases

In the last quarter of the fiscal year, the commercial banks’ return on equity recorded decline from that of third quarter when the average return on equity of the commercial banks stood at 15.56 per cent. Generally, the return on equity between 15 per cent and 20 per cent are considered desirable.

Among the 21 banks that have published Return on Equity in their financials, 12 commercial banks’ return on equity is above the average while nine commercial banks’ return on equity is less than the industrial average of 14.4 per cent.

Governor calls for investment in agriculture‚ service sectors

Banks' interest income rising

The higher lending interest rate due to tight liquidity situation pushed the interest income of the commercial banks by Rs 10 billion in the last fiscal year compared to a fiscal year ago. The total interest income of the commercial banks stood at Rs 37.8 billion by the end of fiscal year 2010-11, while the commercial banks had recorded Rs 27.8 billion a fiscal year ago, according to the unaudited financial report of fourth quarter released by the commercial banks.

In the last fiscal year (2010-11), the average net interest income of the commercial banks stood at Rs 1.21 billion while a fiscal year ago, the average net interest income of the whole banking sector was at Rs 896 million. Even discounting the four new commercial banks that were not in existence a fiscal year before, the average interest income of the old 27 commercial banks amount to Rs 1.38 billion in last fiscal year. In the preceding fiscal year these 27 banks had recorded Rs 1.03 billion as the average net interest income.

The old commercial banks’ interest income — that is income from interest on lending — rose to Rs 42 billion which was almost half at Rs 27 billion a fiscal year ago. The interest expense — that is interest paid for the depositors — also surged from Rs 57.5 billion to Rs 80.5 billion in fiscal year 2010-11.

The interest rate offered by the banks for deposit ranges from mere two per cent to 12 per cent, according to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) data

Garments demand in Europe up

...export of Nepali ready made garments has increased by 11.5 per cent compared to same period last year in the first eleven month of the last fiscal year...

PM to set up Economic Cell

Four Dharan drug makers close factories...unions to blame?

Nepal Telecom slashes data tariff by 33 percent

NT data uses will now have to pay just 10 paisa for 100 KB of data. Earlier, the state-owned telecom operator was charging 15 paisa per 100 KB. The tariff is applicable for subscribers using via from GPRS, PDSN, EVDO and 3G technologies.

NT has also slashed inter-zone voice tariff from VSAT, PSTN and fixed CDMA to GSM and CDMA to Rs 1 per minute. It was charging Rs 2 per minute for the service.

The state-owned telecom operator has also slashed subscription charge for CDMA Skyphone to Rs 600 with the talk value of Rs 500. Previously, it was charging Rs 1,135 as service charge for CDM Skyphone.

Two-wheelers registration slumps

...4,761 units of two-wheelers were registered in the first month of the current fiscal year in Bagmati zone...In the fiscal year 2010/11, about 53,960 units of bikes were registered in the Bagmati zone...Currently, Nepali customers pay 80 percent tax on two-wheelers and 238 percent tax on four-wheelers

Industries’ closure hits women the most

...around 20,000 workers lost their jobs in the past seven years in the Morang-Sunsari corridor. Of them, around 60 percent were women. The seven years saw more than two dozen industries of readymade garment products, ghee, jutes and zinc plate, shut down.

...the Surya Nepal’s garment division was employing 550 women...JD Apparels that was shut down one-and-a-half years ago had 1,300 women working...700 women lost their jobs when Easy Wear was closed

Airlines raise frequency for peak tourist season

Bhutan’s national carrier Druk Air, which currently operates daily flights between Kathmandu and Paro, has applied for six additional flights weekly under the temporary operating permit (TOP) from Sept 29

Air China and China Southern Airlines...have added three and four flights per week respectively, increasing their frequency to seven per week...Fly Dubai has been granted seven additional flights under the TOP for a total of 14 flights per week...Qatar Airways has upped its flight frequency to 28 flights per week from 21 which will be operational from Oct 1...Hong Kong-based Dragonair has increased its Kathmandu-Hong Kong flights to seven per week from thrice a week...Gulf Air is planning to add two flights per week due to strong demand from the European market

Bahrain Air and Arke Fly have announced resumption of their operations to Nepal. Bahrain Air resumed its flights from Sept 2 while Netherlands-based Arke Fly is scheduled to start service from Sept 23. Arke Fly will be operating a weekly flight while Bahrain Air operates a daily flight....Low-cost Indian carrier IndiGo will be the 28th international airline in Nepal’s skies when it starts its daily service from the second week of October

Labels: airlines, banks, garment, internet, labor unions, nepal telecom, nepal tourism year