|
MARCH, 2002 |
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
Biznews |
|
FNCCI National Excellence Award 34 Applicants Compared to only 14 last year, the number of applicants for this year’s FNCCI – National Excellence Award has reached 34 by the end of the deadline for application. That is a good progress, note the FNCCI people involved in the selection process. The reason: the applicants last year were mainly those who were well aware about the ISO culture, hence most of them were foreign joint ventures. This year the list of applicants also includes the purely homegrown units. "In fact all those who applied last year deserve award", says an FNCCI official. To apply for the award means they are ready to offer themselves for a scrutiny by a team of experts. Such readiness for transparency is a commendable step in Nepal’s present business culture which values secrecy very much, they explain. Among those conspicuous by absence in the list of applicants for this year’s award is Pashupati Paints, which was presented commendation letter last year together with rival Asian Paints (Nepal) from the medium scale category. All the rest of firms that received commendation letter last year have participated in the contest also this year. FNCCI National Excellence Award Contestants - 2002 Asian Paints Bhalhala Enterprises Colgate – Palmolive Nepal Collage of Software Engineering Dabur Nepal Euro Pashmina Ganapati Rosin & Turpentine Godawari Marble Gorkha Brewery (P) Ltd. Hanuman Metals Humanwear leather Jagadamba Press Khajuri Foods Kunz Artisti Beed Works Manakamana Darshan Momento Apparels Nepal Ekarat Engineering Nepal Finance & Saving Nepal Lever Nepal Lube Oil Nepali Paper Products Panchakanya Steel Paragon Footwear Premier Wires Radha Structure & Engineering Saurav Oil Mill Shangri-La Hotel, Pokhara Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Surya Agro Surya Tobacco Swastic Oil Industries Vaidya’s Organization Vikash Flour Mill Ways Footwear 31 Cos in "A" Category Nepal Stock Exchange Ltd. (NEPSE) has added five companies in its controversial "A" category of listed companies increasing the number in the category to 31 from 26 last year. The revised list now has eight commercial banks, one hotel company (Soaltee Hotel Ltd.), one manufacturing company (Nepal Lever Ltd.), 14 finance companies and seven insurance companies. Among the three companies that were removed from the list last year, only Everest Insurance Co. Ltd. regained the berth by submitting its financial report in time to the NEPSE. The other four companies newly included in the list are Bank of Kathmandu, Nepal Merchant Banking and Finance Ltd., Narayani Finance Ltd. and Annapurna Finance Ltd. Category A Co’s in Nepse This Year
Apex IT Bodies Formed After one whole year and about a half of them being provisioned in IT policy, the two apex bodies with responsibilities to guide the IT development in Nepal have been finally constituted. The newly formed National Information Technology Development Council (NITDC) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister has Atma Ram Ghimire as the Executive Director. Another IT body provisioned in the policy is National Information Technology Coordination Committee (NITCC) chaired by the Minister for Science and Technology. NITDC executive director functions as the member secretary of both of NITDC and NITCC. Among the NITDC’s 22 members are Professors Jagannath Shrestha and Devi Datta Paudel and Suresh Kumar Pudasaini as experts while Sanjeev Raj Bhandari (of Mercantile Group), Allen Tuladhar (of Unlimited Numedia) and Brijesh Shrestha represent the private sector. Moreover, Presidents of FNCCI and Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) are also included in the council. Similarly, among the 14 members in NITCC are chancellors of two universities (yet to be nominated), while Muni Shakya and Suresh Kumar Regmi join it as experts. Shakya is the first in Nepal to assemble a PC. Visiting Business People Masahiko Shibuya, the MD of Yamaha Motor India Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of Japan’s Yamaha Motor Company, visited Nepal during February 18-21, 2002 to have a first-hand feel of the motorcycle market here.
"It is also to compliment the customers, dealers and distributors for their help to achieve a steady 30% sales growth per annum", said Shibuya in response to a question. He also revealed of Yamaha’s plan for year 2002 to launch two new models. Commenting on the influx of Chinese bikes into Nepal, Shibuya was blunt when he said that though the Chinese are making a huge quantity of bikes, they are not caring about quality. "The Chinese bikes are copies of Japanese bikes in appearance, but not in technology", says Shibuya, who was Yamaha’s in-charge of Chinese market before being deputed to India operation. Commenting about the world trends in motorcycles market, Shibuya said while the European and American markets (including Thailand of Asia) are going for power bikes such as 1600 cc, 4-cylinder, the South Asia including Nepal is for utility bikes. He rated China as the largest producer of bikes with 10 million units a year followed by India in the number two position with around three million units a year. John Burlison, Regional Director of British Executive Service Overseas (BESO) was recently in Nepal (6-8 February) when he visited Kathmandu and Pokhara. BESO helps small and medium enterprises and NGOs with business knowledge and management experience by providing advisors for short-term visit. BESO is part-charity, and advisers donate their time free of charge to help applicant organizations who have to bear local costs however.
Bishwas Govitrikar, an UNCTAD staff visited Nepal recently in preparation for the compilation of an Investment Guide for investors interested to come to Nepal. To be prepared in cooperation with International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and UNCTAD, the Guide is planned to be finalized by September – October this year. Similar ICC-UNCTAD initiatives earlier have already produced such guides for Uganda and Mozambique. EK Dastur, Director of KM-Dastur Reinsurance Brokers (P) Ltd. of India, visited Nepal recently in connection with business promotion. During his stay, he lectured a gathering of eminent personalities, including insurance experts, of Nepal about the situation of insurance today, particularly after the 9/11 incident of USA. The gathering was hosted by Nepal-Britain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NBCCI). |
|
Cover Story
| Editorial | World
Trends | Business News | Marketing | ICT
& Development | Economy & Policy | |
|
Send your feedback to the editor: bizline@mos.com.np |
