Kathmandu, November 10

As the government has decided to open all the customs points with India even during the public holidays of Tihar and Chhath festivals to facilitate import from India, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) — the central regulatory and monetary authority — today instructed the banks to open their counters at customs points to ensure that the operating server systems are running smoothly during the period.

“Banks have been instructed to operate import related services during Tihar and Chhath,” said Trilochan Pangeni, spokesperson for NRB.

Those banks that have opened letters of credit (L/C) have been asked to issue the documents to the importers for customs clearance of the cargoes from their respective banks.

Similarly, class ‘A’ financial institutions have also been directed to inform the name of the official contact person at their head offices to the Ministry of Finance, Department of Customs and the Foreign Exchange Management Department of NRB at the earliest.

The government has decided to open the customs points considering the difficulties facing the importers as many of the trucks and containers have remained stranded at the border points while the Indian customs offices have been dispatching only a handful of trucks and containers every day even as there are no protests at other border points, except for Birgunj.

“The customs offices will remain open so that importers can send the cargoes to their respective destinations because they have already been stuck at Nepal-India border points since long due to delay in clearance from Indian customs and protests in Birgunj,” said Damodar Regmi, deputy director general of the Department of Customs.

Meanwhile, NRB has also directed micro finance institutions (MFIs) — class ‘D’ financial institutions — to deposit one per cent of their net profit in Client Protection Fund.

Issuing a circular today, NRB has said MFIs are also obliged to deposit 25 per cent of the fund allocated to distribute dividend (both cash and bonus) in the same fund if they proposed more than 20 per cent dividend.

MFIs have been instructed to spend the fund for collective welfare of borrowers, to help restore the business of the borrowers who are facing problems and to enhance financial literacy and capacity of the clients. MFIs can show the fund as a supplementary capital for the purpose of capital fund calculation, as per NRB.