Views of a Nepali Economist

. Record 95,000 trekkers visit Annapurna area last fiscal year
*85,000 tourists had visited the area in fiscal year 2009/10
*95,314 tourists visited the area in fiscal year 2010/11
*Total arrivals from South Asian region has declined by 25 percent and overall growth of other region stands at 9.4 percent

Number of tourists to the area had dropped by 40 percent in 2005. With the improvement in peace process, number of trekkers in this region has gone up. When the impact of Maoist insurgency was minimal, the number of trekkers had reached up to 76,407 in 2000. The number had dropped to 36,224 in 2005.

Repeat visitors to Nepal down 81pc

...tourists making repeat visits to Nepal were down 81 percent in 2010...Among the 602,867 visitors to the country that year, 34,948 were repeat travellers and 428,485 were first-time visitors. In 2009, there were 191,693 repeat visitors among the 318,263 arrivals.

Among the 120,898 travellers from India, 75,057 were here for the first time while 3,541 were repeat visitors. Repeat visitors numbered 7,941 among the 45,531 Sri Lankan visitors to Nepal.

Number of large tax payers doubles in 5 yrs, revenue triples

...number of large tax payers has almost doubled to 514 and their contribution to the national coffer tripled to around Rs 40 billion over the five years, thanks to better functioning of trading sector...number of large tax payers was 414 during the fiscal year 2009/10 with the revenue collection amounting Rs 32.87 billion...number of large taxpayers was 280 in 2006/07 when they paid revenue to the tune of Rs 12.41 billion

Revenue contributed by these tax payers touched Rs 39.95 billion with their number reaching 514 during the fiscal year 2010/11. The government collected Rs 22.55 billion as income tax, Rs 14.27 as VAT, Rs 2.76 billion as interest tax and Rs 224.25 million as rent tax from large tax payers during the year.

According to Large Taxpayers´ Office (LTO), the number of large taxpayers was 327, 366 and 414 in the year 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10 respectively. Total revenue collection from the large taxpayers was Rs 17.2 billion, Rs 24.42 billion and Rs 32.87 billion in 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10 respectively.

Average yearly contribution of a large tax payer to national exchequer is Rs 77.72 million during the fiscal year 2010/11, well up compared to Rs 44.32 million during the fiscal year 2007/08. Contribution of total 36 PEs to the government revenue as dividend was Rs 4.8 billion during the fiscal year 2009/10. According to the latest government data, 22 PEs reported profit whereas 14 PEs suffered loss with consolidated net profit touching Rs 10.55 billion during the year 2009/10.

Maximum subsidy for optical fibre network set at Rs 3.27 billion

The project which will lay 4,000 km of fibre cable is estimated to cost around Rs 5 billion. Originally, the project planned in 2009 was estimated to cost Rs 8.40 billion for building a fibre network of 6,291 km by utilising the resources of the Rural Telecommunications Development Fund (RTDF). The new plan has avoided duplication of the networks which have already been set up by the telecom operators Nepal Telecom, Ncell and United Telecom.

...the company winning the bid for the western part would be provided a subsidy amounting to 90 percent of the project cost and that the subsidy for the eastern part would be 60 percent...the company will be able to use up to 75 percent of the total built fibre network for its own purpose; however, 25 percent of the network must be shared with other companies for expanding their services as per the criteria set.

BFIs drag market 9.41 pts down

...the capital market last week plunged by 9.41 points to close at 329.63 points on Thursday...Only the group representing manufacturing sector registered a surge of 25.69 points. Groups representing commercial banks, hotels, hydropower companies and trading companies witnessed decline by 16.26, 0.94, 7.64 and 0.43 points, respectively. Likewise, insurance companies, finance companies and development banks saw a decline of 1.26, 2.71 and 2.15 points, respectively.

Top five companies in terms of turnover (in Rs million) 
Bank of Kathmandu // 50.04
Standard Chartered Bank // 8.31
NIC Bank // 6.55
NABIL Bank // 5.68
Fewa Finance // 4.52