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Cellular Phones: Price Cuts in Face of Competition

State owned Nepal Telecommunications Corporation (NTC) has slashed down the rates for cellular mobile phone services with effect from December 1, 1999 to attract more customers to its fold in view of eminent competition from the private sector.

Offering three options to the perspective customers, NTC is now asking for only Rs. 10,000 as deposit for local and domestic calls facility and Rs. 15,000 for domestic and international calls facility. The cost goes up to Rs. 25,000 if roaming facility also is required. However, NTC still has not started roaming facilities.

For the customers who have already paid the deposit of Rs. 25,000, NTC is offering to refund the amount. Earlier, cell phone subscribers had to dish out a total of Rs. 54,000 to avail of the services. This has now come down significantly to Rs. 25,000.

Similarly, the NTC has also offered 100 minutes of free calls for the first month and 50 minutes for every month thereafter. Other services to be offered include voice mail and call holding and forwarding. These are to start from December 16. A one time charge of Rs. 1,000 will have to be paid for short message from one cellular phone to another.

The NTC is also introducing a three party conference call service from December 16, which will be an additional Rs. 100 per month facility. Another Rs. 200 per month will be charged for data/fax transmission.

The NTC has also allowed choice to the customers about the mobile phone sets. They can now buy the sets from the market if they choose to do so.

Making Tax Administration Service-oriented

Trying to make the tax administration more service-oriented, HMG has opened a new office called Kathmandu Taxpayers Service Center (KTSC) where taxpayers can register themselves for both VAT and income tax under the same roof.

"Considering the hassles that taxpayers are facing while getting tax registration and clearance, KTSC has been introduced, which will serve both VAT and income tax payers," said Shri Ram Pant, Chief of KTSC in an interaction program organized by Nepal Foreign Trade Association (NFTA).

According to KTSC program, all the nine tax offices of the valley are to be computer networked in the first phase. The networking has a target to register 50,000 taxpayers out of the 60,000 in the valley, it is learnt. Very soon, the system will be extended to Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Pokhara also.

The KTSC will provide a Permanent Account Number (PAN) and an identity card to the tax payers. In the past, tax payers had to pay income tax (IT) and VAT registration numbers. PAN is to replace both. While IT and VAT had to be renewed every year, PAN is to be a permanent number.

PAN is to serve as the identification of tax payers for all the offices under the Finance Ministry like tax department, VAT and customs department.

Lokmanya Golchha, President of Nepal Foreign Trade Association (NFTA), hopes that the newly introduced system would bring more transparency in the relations between the taxpayers and the tax officers.

Pointing out the present unsystematic process and hassles in the tax offices, he urges the authorities concerned to be more cautious in enforcing PAN.

Nepal to Negotiate for WTO Accession

Nepal is likely to enter the final round of bilateral and multilateral negotiations in March-April 2000 for accession to World Trade Organization (WTO). A press release issued by the Ministry of Commerce states that Nepal has already replied queries raised by various WTO member countries on the Memorandum of Foreign Trade Regime sent by Nepal to WTO.

The negotiation for WTO accession begins after the concerned country submits the memorandum. Nepal submitted its memorandum to WTO in 1998.

20 p.c. Dividend by Ace Finance

Ace Finance Company Ltd. has announced a 20% dividend to its shareholders at its fourth AGM.

Revealing that the company had extended a loan of Rs. 448.4 million, Yogendra Shakya, Chairman of Ace Finance Company disclosed that the company collected a deposit of Rs. 470 million and invested Rs. 90 million in the fiscal year that ended July 16, 1999.

12th Icdc to be Hosted in Nepal

The 12th Insurance Congress of Developing Countries (ICDC) is to be held in Nepal from March 12 to 14, 2000. Beema Samiti is to host the conference.

The conference, to be the first of its kind held in Nepal, is expected to be attended by about 500 participants from around the globe. Entitled "Facing the Challenges in Emergine Insurance Markets in the 21st Century" the conference is expected to cost Rs. 3.5 million, which is to be borne jointly by the participating countries.

At the conference, Nepal, which is the only SAARC country after India to host the conference, will present a paper on ‘Marketing and Selling Insurance in Emerging Markets.’

IFAWPCA Meet Concludes

The 30th convention of the International Federation of Asian and Western Pacific Contractors’ Association (IFAWPCA) organized in Kathmandu with the theme ‘Partnership - a need for growth and development for the next millennium’ concluded by unanimously forming a new working committee for 1999-2000 under the leadership of Gerrard B. Tait of New Zealand.

Established in 1957 in Manila, Philippines, with a view to bring about closer contact, international fellowship and co-operation among the contractors in the countries and geographical area in Asia and the Western Pacific, IFAWPCA has 17 Asian and Pacific countries as its members at present.

Participated in by 500 contractors including some 300 foreign construction entrepreneurs, the convention was organized by Federation of Contractors Association of Nepal (CAN), which was established in 1990.

Stating that construction industry contributes 11 percent to Nepal’s GDP, IFAWPCA outgoing president Ganesh Lal Shrestha said that Nepal could benefit from the exposure to construction giants in attracting investment in major public and private partnership projects in the area of infrastructure development. Sakuntala Hirachan CAN secretary, hoped that the convention would help to attract more fareign investment to Nepal. Similarly, Khagendra Pokharel, Executive member of CAN, also hoped that result of the convention will be noticed within one year.

During their stay in Nepal, the contractors also held talks with the World Bank resident representative to attract WB's investment in this sector. The next convention of IFAWPCA will be held in February 2001 in New Zealand.

IMF Mission Completes Consultation

A mission of International Monetary fund (IMF) left Nepal after a two-week visit calling for banking sector reforms. Jeremy Carter, the leader of a mission that was in Nepal under the first phase of annual consultation, said in a press conference that the Nepali economy was gradually recovering and there were possibilities for further growth. Carter stressed the need to improve the banking system to consolidate the financial sector. He identified tax structure reforms, data management and legal framework as areas in which Nepal needed technical assistance from the IMF.

The mission’s discussions here centered on the present state of the economy and its near term and medium term projects. The mission during the visit, met with representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank, National Planning Commission, and other ministries, representatives of state enterprises, commercial banks, multilateral and colateral donors, representatives of the private sector as well as of political parties.

Everest Bank Expects Profits to Double

Everest Bank, a joint venture with India’s Punjab National Bank is likely to increase its operating profit at least by 50% during the fiscal year 1999/2000, informed B.K. Shrestha, Chairman of the Bank at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) referring to the results of the first four months of the current fiscal year (July 17-October 17).

The Bank’s operating profit increased by 50% during the year that ended on July 16 compared to the previous year. In 1997/98, the bank earned operating profit of Rs. 41.3 million, which increased to Rs. 62.2 million in 1998/99.

Declaring a maiden dividend of 15% for fiscal year 1998/99 of which 10% was already paid as interim dividend, the bank is considering to declare an interim dividend for this year too after results for the first six months of this fiscal year are available, the Bank sources say. The Bank also plans to open its tenth branch at Tripureswor.

National Finance Company Maintains Dividend Pay-out

Despite a slight decline in its net profits, National Finance Company Ltd (NFCL) has decided to distribute a 22% dividend to its shareholders from the profits of the year that ended on July 16, 1999.

At the seventh AGM held recently, chairman of the company Hem Bahadur Malla reported that the company’s net profits for the year stood at Rs. 15.72 million, down from Rs. 16.0 million recorded last year. Explaining the reason for the decline, Malla showed that while deposits with the company increased in 1999 by 12.26%, the loans and investments rose by only 5.97%. For the phenomenon, he has blamed the slackness experienced in the overall economy of the country during the year.

Established in 1993, NFCL is the fourth oldest finance company and accounts for 6.61% of total deposits collected and 6.41% of total loans advanced by all the finance companies together in the country.

Financials of NFCL