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Chinese smartphone brand Vivo on Sunday launched the newest handset of its Y series, the Vivo Y02. According to Vivo, the phone comes with a 5000 mAh battery to effortlessly complete all the tasks for a day and 2GB RAM + 32GB storage, along with a beautiful and eye-catching design. Y02 is available at Rs 12,499 across all retail stores in Nepal. The Vivo Y02 is equipped with a 6.51-inch HD+ display with eye protection that allows for an immersive and enjoyable viewing experience. With its 2.5D slim body design, the phone is beautiful as well as comfortable to hold. The smartphone is available in two colors, Cosmic Grey and Orchid Blue. The Y02 has been designed keeping in mind young consumers' busy lives who desire a smartphone that will make their day-to-day lives easier. According to the company, the Y series, aimed at young customers, has established itself in the market as one of the most popular smartphone series. "The Y Series handsets are aimed at young millennials who increasingly rely on smartphones to keep up with their hectic lifestyles," reads a press statement of the company. The entry-level smartphone is powered by a MediaTek P22 that provides high performance and reliability. The devices have a large 2GB RAM + 32GB storage that has an expandable capacity of up to 1TB. The triple card slot supports memory expansion of up to 1TB. The device has an 8MP Rear Camera along with a 5MP Front Camera, coupled with a rear f/2.0 and front 2.2 aperture that elevate the camera experience for its users when it comes to clicking a photograph or selfie. There are features such as Face Beauty and Time-Lapse on the Y02 camera to enhance your day-to-day shooting experience. As a result of these features, users can take professional-quality photos from their smartphones, which enhances their overall photography experience. Vivo has added many new features to the Y02 to improve the user experience. Vivo's Face Wake feature unlocks the phone whenever needed in a blink of an eye. Vivo's exclusive Multi Turbo 5.5 focuses on optimizing core scenes to reduce stuttering and lag in games. The device is engineered to prioritize and allocate memory and CPU resources—especially when too many apps are running simultaneously in the background.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given its final approval for the acquisition of Civil Bank by Himalayan Bank Limited (HBL). A NRB board meeting last week gave its final consent for the acquisition. The HBL is acquiring Civil Bank at a swap ratio of 100:80. This means 100 shares of Civil Bank will get converted to 80.28 shares of Himalayan Bank after the acquisition. For Himalayan Bank, this acquisition has become a sort of a matter of reputation following the failed merger attempt with Nepal Investment Bank last year. Himalayan Bank started an initiative to acquire another commercial bank after its merger with Nepal Investment Bank Limited (NIB) got derailed at the final stage. The HBL-NIB eight months long merger process was aborted after the 29th annual general meeting (AGM) of HBL held on January 14, 2022, disapproved the plan of merger with NIB. Only 43.63 percent voted in favor of the merger while 42 percent came against the merger. As per the rules, a merger proposal will only be passed after 75 percent of the shareholders of the bank approve it. Three major shareholders of the HBL - Employees’ Provident Fund, N Trading Company, and Chhaya International- stood against the merger. With Nepal Rastra Bank continuously pushing the HBL for the merger, the bank on July 13, 2022, signed an acquisition MoU with Civil Bank.  

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 500 per tola in the domestic market on Tuesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 105, 800 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 106, 300 per tola on Monday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 105, 300 per tola. It was traded at Rs 105, 800 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has remained unchanged and is being traded at Rs 1,365 per tola today.

The development of cross-border transmission lines tops Nepal's agenda as the country's top energy officials sit down with their Indian and Chinese counterparts next month for bilateral meetings. Energy sector officials of the government are planning to discuss constructing two new high-capacity cross-border transmission lines during the meetings of the joint secretary-level Joint Working Group and the secretary-level Joint Steering Committee, both scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 17-18. According to Madhu Prasad Bhetuwal, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI), the ministry is currently working on the agendas to be presented by Nepal in the 10th meeting of the JSC. A ministry source close to the matter said that Nepal will propose to construct two more cross-border l transmission lines between Nepal and India in the meeting. Currently, the 400KV Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Cross-border transmission line is the only high-capacity power line for power trade between the two countries which can transmit around 1,000MW of electricity at a time. Nepal and India have already moved ahead to develop the New Butwal-Gorakhpur Transmission Line which will have a capacity of transporting power as much as 3,500MW. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and Indian Power Grid Corporation have established a joint venture company in India to construct this transmission line in the Indian territory. According to the MoEWRI official, Nepal will propose the construction of two additional 400 KV cross-border transmission lines - Inaruwa-Purnia and New Lamki-Bareli, in the upcoming meeting. With more power coming to the national grid in the current fiscal year and next fiscal year, there is an urgent need to initiate the construction of more cross-border transmission lines between the two countries to enable more power export from Nepal to India. "As Nepal will have more power to sell to India during the wet season, reliable infrastructure for cross-border transmission of power has become necessary," said the official. According to NEA, over 700MW is expected to be added to the national grid in the current fiscal 2022/23 while over 550MW is expected to be added in the next fiscal year 2023/24. Officials said it was necessary to export more power in the upcoming days to prevent power from being spilled. India has allowed Nepal to sell 452.6MW of power generated by eight hydropower projects in India’s energy market. NEA exported electricity worth Rs 11.16 billion to India beginning June last year until it stopped the exports in the third week of December last year owing to falling production. Similarly, Nepali and Chinese officials will be holding a third round of discussions regarding the development of the Nepal-China Cross Border Transmission Line in the last week of February. According to Energy Ministry, the Chinese side has already proposed a visit by a Chinese team to Nepal in February. The meeting of the Joint Technical Group will discuss the Ratamate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Transmission Line Project. The NEA has already completed a feasibility study of the 400 KV transmission line connecting Nepal and China. According to Komal Nath Atreya, Chief of the transmission line project, currently, an environmental study of the transmission line is being carried out. NEA Engineering Company, a subsidiary of NEA, is taking charge of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project. Officials said the 70km project which can carry 5,000MW of electricity would open the door for power trade between Nepal and China. The proposed 400 kV transmission line from Ratamate (Nepal) to Kerung (China) will form a basis for power trading between Nepal and China in the years to come, according to NEA. “As India does not buy electricity generated by projects where Chinese investors and contractors are involved, this project will be vital for attracting Chinese investment with the objective of selling power to the northern neighbor,” said the NEA official. Atreya said the upcoming Nepal-China meeting will discuss various issues regarding the cross-border transmission line including the DPR of the project, modality of investment, and other issues. The Nepal section of the trans-Himalayan transmission line will have a length of 70 km and 212 towers. The feasibility study of the project has shown that an investment of Rs 13 billion is required to build the transmission line of the Nepal section.