KATHMANDU, April 18: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) has resumed progressing with its restructuring proposal.
The High-Level Economic Reform Advisory Commission submitted a report recommending that NEPSE restructure by selling shares to the private sector, prompting the revival of the restructuring proposal. NEPSE management is preparing to present the new restructuring proposal to the board of directors.
NEPSE submitted its restructuring proposal to the Ministry of Finance a year and a half ago. After then-Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat requested the proposal, NEPSE management submitted it in mid-November 2023. However, Mahat did not advance the proposal, and his successor, Maoist leader Barshaman Pun, also showed no interest in it.
Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, who has held the position for the past nine months, has not advanced the NEPSE restructuring proposal either.
The government formed the High-Level Economic Reform Advisory Commission last Ashoj, led by former Secretary Rameshwar Khanal, which recommended restructuring NEPSE. The commission proposed selling NEPSE’s shares to the private sector.
NEPSE has a paid-up capital of Rs 1 billion, with the government owning 58.66 percent. National Commercial Bank holds 11.23 percent, the Employees' Provident Fund holds 10 percent, Nepal Rastra Bank holds 9.5 percent, and Laxmi Sunrise and Prabhu Bank each hold 5 percent of the shares.
Earlier, NEPSE proposed increasing its paid-up capital to Rs 3 billion, issuing a 30 percent IPO to the public, bringing in a foreign partner, and encouraging institutional investors to invest more.