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The Agriculture Wholesale Bazaar Management Committee has exported agricultural products worth over Rs 1 billion in seven months of the current fiscal year, 2022/23. The Committee at Lalbandi Municipality-7 exported agricultural products worth Rs 1.06 billion between July 17, 2022 and February 12, 2023, said the Committee Manager Shambhu Ghimire. The exported agricultural products include tomato, eggplant, black-eyed bean, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, cucumber, cauliflower, cabbage, sponge gourd, green bean, lady finger, radish, green chili, carrot, lamb's quarter, pointed gourd, jackfruit, pumpkin, coriander, lemon, ginger, pea, onion and capsicum among others. The agricultural products produced mostly in Lalbandi, Hariwan, Haripur and Ishworpur in Sarlahi district have been exported to the places outside the district including Sindhuli, Ramechhap, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Butwal, Bhairahawa, Narayangadh, Nepalgunj, Hetauda, Birgunj, Gaur, Janakpur, Siraha, Biratnagar and Ithari among others, said the committee chair Toran Bahadur Magar. Meanwhile, the foundation stone has been laid for a six-room building belonging to the committee, which is under the purview of the federal government. The project will be completed within the current fiscal year, said Magar.  

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 33.57 points to close at 2,080.38 points on Wednesday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 4.81 points to close at 396. 34 points. A total of 4,779,796 unit shares of 269 companies were traded for Rs 1. 80 billion. Meanwhile, Liberty Energy Company Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 9. 80 percent. Adarsha Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 10.00 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 00 trillion.

As a series of anomalies come to light, Nepal Rastra Bank plans to tighten its grip on microfinance institutions (MFIs). Of late, MFIs have been embroiled in controversies with issues of multiple lending, and high-handedness adopted for loan recovery. The central bank has now said that it will introduce a provision whereby one person cannot take loans from multiple MFIs. In addition to this, the NRB is also planning to cap the dividends of the MFIs. Revati Prasad Nepal, who heads the Microfinance Institutions Supervision Department at NRB, says the central bank is preparing a policy that will prohibit borrowers from taking loans from multiple MFIs. While the central bank had introduced a policy of discouraging multiple banking five years ago, it could not be implemented effectively. The central bank had directed the MFIs that they should grant loans only after ensuring that borrowers have not taken loans from more than one institution. And, such loans should be within the limit as prescribed by the central bank. MFIs can grant loans up to Rs 700,000 without collateral and Rs 1.5 million with collateral. Later, the central bank introduced a provision, whereby MFIs have to do 100 percent provisioning if the loans exceed the limit. However, the issue of taking loans from multiple MFIs continued. Nepal said that the central bank will introduce provisions immediately to discourage this trend. "The problems we have now are due to the micro-finances providing loans beyond the specified limits. We are now planning to tighten the credit flow," said Nepal. The central bank officials are of the view that there should be a cap on the dividends of the MFIs. "The basic principle of microfinance is to offer financial services in rural areas to financially vulnerable individuals and small businesses that don’t have access to traditional lending resources," said an NRB official, "However, with the surge in the number of microfinance companies, they have become more profit-oriented." As MFIs have deviated from their basic principle, the NRB is of the view that there is a need to limit their dividend distribution. However, NRB officials said the Banks and Financial Institution Act (Bafia) should be amended for this. "If there is a need for such intervention, the central bank will move toward this direction," he said. "The current mess in the microfinance sector is a result of micro-finance companies operating as commercial banks." Loan recovery became complicated for micro-finance institutions as their primary lenders—micro and small enterprises—were badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. There have been cases were borrowers either committing suicide or absconding from villages after failing to pay exorbitant interests of the MFIs, who have been charged of using coercive measures to recover their loans. According to microfinance expert Dr. Man BK, the microfinance sector landed in trouble as it operated beyond its principles. "The microfinance sector in Nepal was run under a corporate model when it should have been run under a community financing model," he said. BK argues that both commercial banks and microfinance institutions are being run under the same model. "The regulator has allowed MFIs to be listed in the stock market and also given free hand when it comes to dividend distribution," said BK.

With Indian assurance of allowing power export from Nepal to Bangladesh, the Nepali authority is planning to export the electricity generated from Likhu-4 Hydropower Project to Bangladesh. According to a senior official at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, preparations have begun for project selection after the Indian government agreed to allow Nepal to use its transmission infrastructure to export 50 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh. During the 10th joint secretary-level Joint Working Group and the secretary-level Joint Steering Committee meeting held in Jaipur, India on February 17-18, India agreed to grant its approval once Nepal submits the proposal along with the project whose power will be sold to Bangladesh. According to Energy Ministry officials, India promised to give approval according to the Indian government's Electricity Import-Export Directive. The Nepali side has proposed that the electricity from the Likhu-4 project could be exported to Bangladesh. According to Madhu Bhetuwal, spokesperson of the Energy Ministry, Indian assurance is very important symbolically. The Indian decision, according to Nepali officials will be a milestone for opening the door for trilateral cooperation in energy trade among Nepal, India, and Bangladesh as well as regional trade in the long run. Nepal and Bangladesh in August last year had decided to request the southern neighbor to allow the export of 40-50MW of Nepali electricity to Bangladesh in the initial phase by using the high-voltage Baharampur-Bheramara cross-border power transmission link. Earlier, in December last year, the Indian side had told Nepali officials that electricity export from Nepal to Bangladesh through the Baharampur-Bheramara cross-border power transmission line was not immediately possible. Nepali officials were told that there was a transmission constraint in the Baharampur-Bheramara transmission line. India's cooperation is vital for power trade between Nepal and Bangladesh, as there is no separate dedicated transmission line to export electricity between Nepal and Bangladesh. According to Nepali officials, since the Likhu-4 project is a joint venture between Nepali and Indian companies and an Indian contractor was involved in the construction, the southern neighbor will give the green signal to export power from this project. The Likhu-4 Project was developed by Nepal's Triveni Group and India's Bhilwara Energy. Located on the border of Okhaldhunga and Ramechhap districts, the project started its commercial production last year. Bangladesh has been keen on importing electricity from Nepal as well as developing hydropower projects in Nepal on a joint-venture model in recent years. The 683 MW Sunkoshi 3 hydropower project is one such project that Bangladesh is looking to develop under a joint venture arrangement.