- Wednesday, 8 April 2026
TRN Online
Narainapur recommended as a crisis zone
The District Disaster Management Committee, Banke has recommended to the federal and provincial governments to declare Narainapur Rural Municipality of Banke as a crisis zone.
Unauthorized structures to be removed in Birgunj
Birgunj metropolis has launched its drive to remove unauthorized structures constructed by encroaching upon a public roads.
Power Infrastructure
At a time when the nation is making major strides in electricity generation and export, building reliable transmission lines has gained timely prominence. Nepal has already exported electricity worth billions of rupees to India within a few months and possibilities have emerged for power trade also to Bangladesh. It is indeed a positive development in the energy sector that Nepal Electricity Authority is encouraging its domestic consumers to use as more power appliances as possible at home and offices to make maximum consumption of electricity. This is a testimony of the fact that we have left behind a critical energy scenario when people had to suffer under nagging power deficit and load-shedding. Nepal seems to have
Civil Service Day Improving Public Service Delivery
Every year Bhadra 22 is celebrated as the Civil Service Day. Some even call it as Civil Service Workers’ Day. The essence of this day marks the crucial role that the civil administration plays in implementing public policies and delivering services. Nepal’s bureaucracy in general and civil service in particular, have immensely contributed towards democratising the governance, developi
Make Microfinances More Effective
The last three-decade has witnessed a tremendous expansion of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nepal. In the beginning, in 1993, there were only two government established microfinance institutions in the name of rural development bank in a regional level. Later on, the private sector also showed their interest in opening microfinance institutions. Since 1997, the private sector started taking license from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to establish microfinance institutions. As a result, the number of microfinance institutions started growing year by year, reaching 65 in 2018. In 2019, 24 financial NGOs were also converted into retail MFIs making the number of MFIs as high as 91 with addition of some new MFIs as well. Since then, given the higher number of MFIs, NRB has started pushing them for merger and acquisition to make them strong. Merger & acquisitionHence, with the merger and acquisition process, the number of MFIs has declined to 65 as of mid-July 2022. Out them, four are wholesale, 42 national level of MFIs, 13 provincial level and six regional /district level. Despite decline in the number of MFIs, they have been expanding in other dimensions such as branches, number of borrowers and credit volume. In 2013, there were only 646 branches of MFIs with less than a million (0.9 million) borrowers with outstanding lending of Rs. 23.4 million. As of mid-July 2022, the number of their branches has increased eight times to 5134, the number of borrowers to 3.3 million (3.6 times) and the outstanding loans to Rs. 450 billion (more than 19 times). Because of rapid of growth in lending of MFIs, per borrower lending increased from Rs. 26,000 to more than Rs. 136,000 during that time. The outreach of MFIs has reached all 77 districts, only few local bodies do not have such institutions. But, many of their branches are concentrated in the Terai districts, urban and semi-urban areas. With the rapid expansion of MFIs, some discontents have been surfaced in the society as some borrowers have started protesting against them in an organised way in recent times, blaming them for charging higher interest rates on loans, giving lower rates on deposits and adopting merciless measures for loan recovery. Since 2020, the central bank has put cap on lending interest rate at 15 per cent which is quite reasonable given the operational cost of MFIs. Other blames may be true in practice, to a great extent.In this context, the following issues need to be solved for making them effective in poverty reduction mission as discussed here. First, there is tough competition within MFIs as well as with other institutions like banks and financial institutions (BFIs) and cooperatives. Some BFIs have been aggressively engaging in microfinance activities and many cooperatives also provide small-scale loans to their members. This harsh competition has brought many anomalies to the microfinance sector. The second issue is the heavy concentration of MFIs in limited urban and semi-urban areas resulting in multiple borrowing, which may lead to over indebtedness for the borrowers and default risks for MFIs. Many needy areas and people are yet to get microfinance service, on the other hand.Third, there is a clear mission drift in MFIs' operations. They are supposed to engage in social banking with credit plus approach. Doing banking with the poor in a small scale is different from other types of banking. But, many MFIs have laid their focus on credit expansion with clear motive of profit, ignoring the other supports that they should provide to borrowers who are comparatively poor, and mostly illiterate women. Mercenary types of lending in the beginning to those who may not need a loan, and forceful loan recovery later from the borrowers has created a bad image for MFIs, compelling borrowers to protest in recent days. Fourth, there is weak management and monitoring of borrowers. Many MFIs have nationwide branch network. For MFIs with small capital and manpower, it is not easy to manage and monitor the nationwide network with a large number of branches. As a result, some frauds by staff as well as borrowers are reported. The aggressive expansion of MFIs has led to the selection of wrong borrowers without any financial literacy, who tend to misutilise loans and go to another MFI to pay the previous loans.Fifth, despite the expansion of MFIs, they have not been reached the ultra-poor as reflected by substantial presence of money lenders in the society. Even in Madhes Province where the branches of MFIs are the highest and geographically easy to reach to the borrowers, a large number of people have been found borrowing from money lenders. Scattered settlements and geographical difficulties are hindrances in hilly and mountain regions.No visible impactSixth, even after the three decades of expansion of MFIs across the country, there is no visible impact on macro level data. Imports have been increasing year by year, and more importantly, Nepal has been importing even agro products worth billion rupees which MFIs' borrowers can and should produce easily. It shows that MFIs' lending has been mostly used for consumption and trading purpose only. Going forwards, MFIs have to tackle the above-mentioned issues to be effective in poverty reduction and survive in a competitive environment. The government also needs to support them by providing incentives like tax concession and others. The current fiscal year budget statement has two ambitious and ambiguous policies such as establishing National Microfinance Fund without allocating any budget for it and expanding the network of Grameen Development MFI to all local bodies with their share investment irrespective of their needs. In the past, because of weak financial performance, the then five rural development banks were merged into one and renamed as Grameen Development MFI which financial status is still not strong compared to other peer MFIs. These two policies will be implemented effectively. Even then, without tackling these issues by the concerned stockholders, more discontents and protests are likely to emerge, making MFIs less effective. (Dr. Shrestha is an executive director at Nepal Rastra Bank. (praks.shrestha@gmail.com)
Support Artists
A painter applies strokes of colours through the brushes in his or her artwork. A sculptor chips away at a methodical pace to create statutes. A singer/songwriter strums the guitar for a tune. And an actor rehearses lines written by writers who create works of fiction and non-fiction. All of these people are known as artists.
NRCS Kathmandu Committee looks for government, KMC assistance
Campaigns against COVID-19, dengue and other life-threatening diseases as well as humanitarian works are the main focus of the Nepal Red Cross, for which it will continue to work with government, non-government and international partners as well as social organisations. Speaking at the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response: Review and Planning Meeting on Monday, stakeholders vowed to work together for the betterment of the communities at the local, district and national level. The programme was organised by the Nepal Red Cross Society, Kathmandu District Committee, and was inaugurated by Kathmandu Metropolis City Mayor Balendra Shah by putting his signature on a poster in honour of those engaged in the anti-COVID campaigns in the country. Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol also signed the poster.
14 years of Haliya freedom: Situation remains same
Fourteen years have passed since the liberation of Haliya system, but the living conditions of the freed Haliyas have not yet improved. Over a decade has passed since the declaration of Haliya's freedom, rights activists said that they still have to fight for their rights. Gorakh Bahadur Sarki, a rights activist, said, "Despite the declaration of liberation, the living standards of the freed Haliyas have not improved. They still have to struggle to make ends meet.
15 drug smugglers arrested
The Narcotics Control Bureau of Nepal Police has arrested 15 smugglers of different drug rackets operating in Kathmandu Valley during a five-day operation since September 1. Over Rs. 2.9 million worth of brown sugar, pharmaceutical drugs and cannabis were seized from the individuals. The first racket busted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) was involved in smuggling pharmaceutical drugs. On September 1, the NCB arrested 32-year-old Sanjay Kapali, a resident of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, and 27-year-old Kumar Tamang, a resident of Ramechhap district. The duo was held with a total of 92 ampules of buprenorphine, diazepam and phenergan.
Srijana’s success story in Dhaka industry
Srijana Teyung of Solma, Laligurans Municipality of Tehrathum, district wanted to learn skilled work from an early age. However, her family’s weak financial status barred her from acquiring training or skills for livelihood. Meanwhile, while going to school at early years of her life about two and a half decades ago, she used to draw pictures and watch women weave Dhaka cloth in the houses next to the school. She used to request the women weaving Dhaka hats to teach her the skill.
Actor Shah convicted for sexually assaulting a juvenile, sent to 2.5 years in prison
Actor Shah has been in custody in a prison in Tanahu district since he was arrested following a complaint by the victim, who charged him of raping her.
6th report of Language Commission submitted to President
The annual report of the commission for the financial year 2078/79 was submitted to the President at a program held today at Rashtrapati Bhavan Sheetal Niwas. The Commission officials and employees were also present on the occasion.
NHRC urges to bring effective measures on dengue control
Issuing a press statement on Tuesday, NHRC Spokesperson Dr Tikaram Pokharel urged the federal, provincial and local level governments to take effective measures in preventing and controlling dengue outbreak.
SAFF Women's Championship: Host Nepal starts off with a win
Nepal has made a winning start to the 6th edition of South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women's Championship that kicked off in the capital today
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Consensus forged to take forward Bill related to Investigation on enforced disappeared persons
Political parties have agreed to take forward the Bill designed to amend the Act relating to investigation of the enforced disappeared persons, truth and reconciliation commission within the current session of the parliament
