Govt clamps ceiling on Moon Drops’ service fee

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KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : A high ranking official at the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management today said that the government has directed Moon Drops Manpower Services, an authorised agency to supply Nepali manpower to South Korea, to charge not more than US $ 1,292 (NRs 96,241) in service fees.

"The government has directed the Moon Drops not to charge aspirant workers more than US $ 1,292 to send Nepali youths for South Korean jobs," said the official. Talking to The Kathmandu Post, the source revealed that the latest ceiling on the service charge follows the recommendation from South Korean Federation of Small and Medium Business (SKFSMB), the South Korean employer.

The ceiling on the service charge on Moon Drops has come before the government’s announcement of limiting service charge on foreign employment. According to the official, the ministry is soon to decide on the ceiling for foreign employment fee after various manpower agencies were alleged of charging exorbitant fees from aspirant workers. Even Moon Drops was alleged of demanding at least Rs 400,000 from aspirant workers to qualify for the South Korean jobs.

However, officials at Moon Drops stated that the ceiling clamped by the government is not adequate to recover the investment made by the manpower agency. "We would be at loss with the latest ceiling. We have asked the ministry to rethink over the decision," said Prashida Rana, Managing Director of Moon Drops. Besides, the agency has already announced the first list of qualified 800 candidates. The candidates will be flying to South Korea within this month, according to an official with Moon Drops.

Nepal-India ICG Meet Begins
Nepal to raise beer, ghee exports issue

By Milan Mani Sharma

KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : Nepal today raised serious concern over the long-running embargo on vegetable ghee exports and the imposition of heavy Additional Customs Duty on Nepali Beer and asked India to resolve these impasses soon.

Among others, the Nepali team also raised the issue of non-tariff barriers imposed by India on Nepali tea and medicines. The issues were raised while exchanging agendas at a meeting of Joint-Secretary level Nepal-India Inter-Government Committee (IGC) in the capital today. The meeting, which was earlier scheduled to start from Tuesday, would last for three days.

"Today, the two teams formally exchanged agendas for negotiations," said a government source, adding that issue-wise discussions will begin from Tuesday. As usual, the long-running stalemate on ghee exports to India is at the top of the Nepali agenda.

The export of the largest Nepali exportable item to India has been stalled since the last four months after Indian ghee manufacturers raised objections to its government’s previous import modality through Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC). Although the Indian government appointed State Trading Corporation (STC) for vegetable ghee imports into India two months back, the state-entity is yet to begin imports.

However, the protracted stalemate is feared to hit the quantity of supply thereby disfiguring the country’s overall exports to India. Vegetable Ghee comprises over 20 percent of total Nepali exports to India.

"The IGC meeting will urge for more serious commitment from India," said the source.

The imposition of 75 percent Additional Customs Duty on Nepali beer exports in January is the other major Nepali agenda. Following India’s imposition of the duty on beer, the export of the product has stalled completely.

Also, the Nepali side raised concern over the latest notification of Indian revenue department not to refund excise duty (despite the Duty Refund Procedures) running below Rs 500.

"Nepal has challenged this notification, as it goes against the principle of the agreement that Nepal has with India," said the source. The notification is feared to siphon away millions of rupees in revenue from the Nepali government.

The Nepali side toady asked the Indian government to cut down its medicine factory inspection fee of US $ 5000 and registration fee of US $ 1500 citing that these have been eroding the Nepali pharmaceutical producers’ competitiveness. "In fact, we have proposed the Indian government to bring these to US $ 1500 and Rs 50,000 respectively," the source said.

The Nepali team also asked India to draw a single policy regarding the import of Nepali tea. India has been readily buying green leaves, while it has been imposing various restrictions on finished tea products. It also tabled the issue of Bilateral Railways Agreement for talks as well.

On the other hand, India has asked the Nepali government to simplify procedures while importing Ayurvedic medicines from India. The Indian side claimed that seeking Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) certificates by Nepal to Indian Ayurvedic medicine has dampened the prospects of these products in the Nepali market.

NEA in loss despite high sales

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KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) saw a significant surge in electricity sales, yet high operating expenses landed it with net loss for the second successive year.

"This eighteenth year of business operation produced mixed results. It was year of despair and hope," said Dr Janak Lal Karmacharya, the managing director of NEA, presenting an annual report today amid a ceremony marking NEA’s 18th anniversary.

Minister for Physical Planning and Works Buddhi Man Tamang attended the ceremony as the chief guest. Secretary at the Ministry of Water Resources Dr Kishore Babu Aryal and members of NEA Board of Directors were also present on the occasion.

NEA has recorded a sale of 1708.456 GWh (Giga Watt per hour), an increase of about 168.426 GWh (10.94 per cent) over last year. It has made a collection of Rs 11.27 billion in revenue through the sale of electricity, which was 18.99 per cent more that the previous year’s collection of Rs 9.47 billion.

Internal sales within Nepal increased to 1522.165GWh and accounted for 89.09 per cent of the total sales and registered an increase of 115.992 GWh (8.25 per cent) over the last year.

Similarly, exports to India have also increased to 186.291 GWh, an increase of 52.434 GWh over last year.

However, operating expenses have increased by 0.97 per cent on last year’s figure to Rs 9.53 billion, which included depreciation of Rs 1.83 billion. And as a result, despite reducing previous year’s loss by 8.6 per cent, it has incurred a net loss of Rs 655.7 million.

"This resulted in the reduction of the revenue by 7.88 per cent against the projected figure," Karmacharya noted.

Attributing NEA’s bleak financial position to insecure atmosphere due to the continued insurgency in the first half of the year, he said that NEA encountered numerous difficulties in its development activities and in its efforts to maintain its services.

But the managing director is hopeful that with the introduction of its bold reform process like NEA would be successful in increasing its efficiency and reducing losses.

Speaking on the occasion, leaders of various trade unions representing NEA employees associations urged NEA management and its board of directors to increase transparency with its employees.

Blaming imprudent management on part of NEA decision-making authority while signing agreement with IPPs for its bleak outlook, they demanded the management and board of directors to make proper load forecast before signing any Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in future.

Commerce Department issued show cause notice

KATHMANDU, Aug 17 (PR)- The Supreme Court today issued a show cause notice to the Department of Commerce in relation to the department’s action on more than 2,000 different business firms last year. The court also decided to assign priority to the case.

The single bench of Justice Ram Nagina Singh handed down the notice upon a writ filed by advocate Jyoti Baniya last week. In the writ, the advocate claimed that the department encroached the jurisdiction of a district court by fining the business firms up to Rs 75,000 for their alleged unwanted and wrong business activities.

Tourist inflow to Palpa rises

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PALPA, Aug 18 : Local tourism entrepreneurs have heaved a sigh of relief following an increase in tourist arrivals in Palpa, a treasure trove of western Nepal, lately.

Tourist arrivals into the district had been on a constant decline over the years due to the Maoist insurgency and the September 11 strikes in the United States that put the global tourism on turmoil.

Following the cease-fire between the government and the Maoists in the country, situation for the tourism sector turned favourable, which helped increase the number of tourists visiting the district.

"Earlier, only three to four tourists used to keep in touch with the office monthly, but this time around, the number has climbed to 30 to 40," said Binaya Raj Bajracharya, official secretary at Palpa Tourism Information Centre (PTIC).

On the other hand, locals are still unable to disseminate information regarding the scenic beauty of the district. In addition, they have not introduced any packages to attract both domestic and international tourists.

Highlighting the importance of introducing new packages for the promotion of local tourism, Jaya Prakash Bhusal, a local tourism entrepreneur, said that new packages as floated by Pokhara tourism entrepreneurs must be introduced to attract more tourists.

NIC Life Savings Account launched

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KATHMANDU, AUG 18 : Nepal Industrial & Commercial (NIC) Bank today announced the launching of NIC Life Savings Account, the bank’s new savings accounts scheme. The depositors of this account will be insured for life and other accident insurance.

Organising a press conference in the capital today, the Bank said that the customer would be ensured Rs 100,000 in life insurance and a maximum of Rs 200,000 as accident insurance. A customer has to maintain a minimum balance of Rs 50,000 in this account.

Amidst a function organised in the capital today, LIC (Nepal) handed over the master policy of the insurance scheme to NIC Bank. The insurance plan provides life insurance coverage along with accident benefits to members of a large group at very low cost.

"This is the first and only banking product in Nepal bundled with a comprehensive life insurance policy without additional cost to the insured," said Sashin Joshi, Chief Executive Officer of NIC Bank.

During the programme, S K Sakhuja, Chief Executive Officer of LIC Nepal, said that they would expand the new scheme on a large scale.

"We have to expand it to the mass to sustain the scheme because of low premium and low profit margin," he said.

FNTE demands separate ministry

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KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : Office bearers of the Federation of Nepalese Transport Entrepreneurs (FNTE) have strongly demanded with the government for a separate ministry on "transport" alone, stating that the present portfolio division of the ministries is "inept" to respond to the emerging challenges from the ever-expanding transport sector.

"The government has underestimated the transport sector by not prioritizing it and dealing it as a secondary task," said the entrepreneurs at a programme held in the capital to mark the silver jubilee anniversary of the FNTE’s establishment today. Currently, the ministry that looks after labour management also oversees transport issues.

"We suggest the government to frame a single ministry for transport alone, and without any burden of labour and construction that has been regularly stringed up with the transport ministry," they said.

The silver jubilee anniversary of the FNTE, which was supposed to be inaugurated by
His Majesty the King, saw schedule cancellation from the palace, after controversy swamped over the federation’s silver jubilee anniversary.

Federation of National Nepali Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE), a contemporary federation of the FNTE that was tagged as a "rival" group by the FNTE’s officials today, had questioned over its the FNTE’s rights to celebrate the silver jubilee.

"FNTE is lying. Official record reveals that FNTE was established not more than 10 years ago," Yogeswar Karmacharya, President of the FNNTE had said during a press meet last week. "It is amazing how FNTE got the rights to celebrate 25 years of its establishment."

Bishnu Siwakoti, President of the FNTE, said that they are committed to provide more effective transport services to the general people in days to come.

"We are primarily responsible to our passengers. Our federation will be addressing the new challenges by improving services in the future," said Siwakoti.

On the same occasion, Surya Bahadur Bhattarai, General Secretary of the FNTE, expressed disappointment over the government’s laxity in the implementation of the agreement recently signed between the two parties. "The government had assured us to fulfill our demands within the first 15 days of the agreement. Two months have passed since then, and the government is still keeping complacent," he added.

With time, cheers to Nepali beers differ

By Sameer Ghimire

KATHMANDU, Aug 18 : It is surprising, and also interesting. Nepal’s beer market, which has been ever growing, reveals an unusual trend. The brand leader is always on the change. And that is unusual for beer markets of many other countries.

First, it was the days of the home-brand – Star beer. Then came Iceberg, a prominent choice of youngsters during the early 90’s. A sudden shift in "taste" then came in as San Miguel, originally of Philippines, was launched.

San Miguel dominated the market for quite some time. But now, it is ‘where-ever you are’. Simply put, that is Tuborg.

As all these major changes came in only within a span of less than 15 years, in relatively a short period, trend analysts point out Nepal’s beer market as a "model" where aggressive marketing does make a difference even when rival products may be equally satisfying.

"San Miguel and Tuborg are at par when taste comes. But still, Tuborg has a good market comparatively as it is consistent in marketing," says Suman Shakya, a marketing expert and also a lecturer at Kathmandu University.

Tuborg and San Miguel, a leader brand of Gorkha Brewery and Mt Everest Brewery respectively, were launched almost during the same period in the market. Year 1992 saw San Miguel as winner against Tuborg that had only 17.29 percent market share against the former share of around 25 percent.

San Miguel’s days of glory continued until year 1998, when it had an overall market share, commanding almost 38 percent against Tuborg’s 31.

But thereafter, it was Tuborg, a product launched in collaboration with the Danish company, that popped-up in the market as a leader. Today, when Tuborg is at top by capturing more than 55 percent of overall beer market’s share, San Miguel, a leader beer brand for almost five years, now continues to fall.

Is it that only aggressive marketing made Tuborg a leader, as Shakya said, even being on a par with taste vis-a-vis San Miguel? "Oh yes," concedes Daman Amatya, Director of Amatya Group that owns Mt Everest Brewery, which manufactures San Miguel. "We were at backside to invest on marketing in recent years," adds he. "And that has cost us now." After quite a few passive years, San Miguel sponsored the recently concluded Martyrs Memorial ANFA Cup. Surendra Silwal, a senior marketing official of Gorkha Brewery says that they now have cashed the high risk that they took to expand their share. "We took marketing as an integrated part of our strategy to penetrate the market at first, and then to be a leader," says he.

Silwal, who has been with Gorkha Brewery since its establishment, is also of the view that quality of "taste" alone cannot be the ultimate factor for beer to lead the market.