Massive rise in Business for Multiplexes in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Dec 30: The state-of-the art cinema halls are turning into the most appealing destination for moviegoers in recent years.

The main reason for the attraction is the location of the multiplexes: in the shopping malls.

 The multiplex business that began with Jai Nepal a decade ago has leaped forward to a new height with QFX Cinemas, Big Movies, and more recent FCube Cinemas.
The improvement in technology has revolutionized the movie-viewing experience. Around 30 to 40 million rupees are invested per theater in a multiplex in QFX.

“We have introduced European sound technology and the 2K projector which has given a whole new experience to the audiences that they couldn´t experience in the single screens,” said Basanta Manandhar, distributor manager QFX.

QFX cinemas that includes three multiplexes -- Jai Nepal, Kumari and QFX Central at Civil Mall sees 90 to 100 percent occupancy on weekends and around 50 to 60 percent occupancy on weekdays. There are 930 seats at QFX Central, 475 at Jai Nepal and 543 seats at Kumari.

The QFX team is also planning to expand to Lalitpur Bishal Bazar in Lalitpur. It also plans to reach outside the valley in future in urban areas of Pokhara and Birtatnagar.
“The package of state-of-the-art cinema halls, shopping malls and food court is adding great value to the family audiences. The comfort level and security that multiplexes provide is way better than a single screen” said Manandhar.

“The major audiences of the multiplexes are school and college going youngsters. However, on the onset of festive seasons and holidays, family audiences and the working class also throng the multiplexes,” said Rakesh Shrestha, operation manager of Big Movies.

Big Movies have invested over Rs 100 million on its 875-seat multiplex at the City Center, Kamal Pokhari. According to Shrestha, due to the availability of different facilities like gaming zones, shopping outlets, café and cinema hall all in one place, the multiplex business has blossomed in the capital.

As the market grows, it has also reduced the ticket price recently by up to 10 percent in order to make the prices suitable for all classes.
Big Movies also plan to add its customer service by improving online ticketing facilities.

Source:myrepublica.com, 30th Dec 2013
You may also like:
Brand New Bikes to be launched in the Nepalese market in 2014

Read More

Increase in Nepali Apps developed for Smartphones

KATHMANDU, Dec 29: With the increase in number of smartphone users, the development of new Nepali apps by different companies and individuals, especially for Android-based phones, are on the rise.

To cash in on the increasing number of users of Andrioid phones, BrainDigit IT solution, a Nepali company has come up with different types of Nepali apps.

The company has developed more than dozen of productive mobile apps for Android and Windows Phone like File Locker, a data protection app, Simply Schedule, that allows users to schedule their SMS and Facebook posts, Budget Planner that helps plan and manage money, Trek Guide (TG) for trekkers and Khabar Sanchar for news updates.

The company is soon planning to release two new apps: Predicting Game and Ramailo Mart.

Though the company was established five years back and used to focus mostly on business application development, enterprise content management, and collaborative e-commerce solution, currently it has focused its drives in the field of mobile apps development.

The company assimilates that mobile phones are ubiquitous and the services and wonderful usefulness of the small gadgets have made them an integral part of human race.

“Understanding this scope of mobile phones, we have specially focused on mobile apps and as the users of Andrioid-based smartphones from low end to high end are increasing day by day, we have specially focused on apps for Andriod operating system,” said Gaurab Raj Pant, sales manager of the company.

According to the company, the upcoming app, Predicting Game is an app for online games that allows users to play free online game, creating opportunity to use one´s skill of predicting and wining exciting rewards.

Both these apps will be launched within the second week of January.
“The app is linked with email and Facebook and is free and easy to register. Each game is sponsored by a brand and the winner is privileged by the rewards in the form of cash, voucher and gifts,” said Pant.

Similarly, Ramailo Mart is an online portal which serves as a platform to advertise company and its products and services.

“The app for the portal will help to promote big, medium and small-sized companies and their products nationally as well as internationally. It is a platform for the companies to advertise their products, offerings, events and everything else to a wide range of audience,” added Pant.

The company said that the users of Ramailo Mart app will be able to brand their business and products to large number of audience, advertise their brand in advertisement section, create separate brand pages and even sell their product and services online.

Similarly the newly launched app Khabar Sanchar, which targets readers as well as media houses, allows users to read news from major newspapers and online news portals faster and also according to their interest.

The app has categorized news into different headings, and one can read news in either Nepali or English. However, for the full coverage users are redirected to the website of the source media.

Source:myrepublica, 29th Dec 2013
You may also like:
Brand new bikes to be launched in the Nepalese market in 2014
 

Read More

Century Commercial Bank IPO for Rs.920 million

KATHMANDU, Dec 26: Century Commercial Bank Ltd (CCBL) on Thursday received the go ahead from the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) to issue 9.2 million units shares in an initial public offering (IPO). After getting the nod from the securities market regulator, CCBL is likely to hold its IPO on mid-January 2014, the bank said.

“The upcoming meeting of the board of directors will take the decision on the date to for the IPO. Probably, we will issue shares by the third week of January,” the bank´s CEO Ganesh Kumar Shrestha told Republica.

The bank´s paid-up capital will reach Rs 2 billion from the current Rs 1.08 billion after the IPO with CCBL looking to raise Rs 920 million from the public.

According to the Unified Directive 2013 from the Nepal Rastra Bank, the central regulatory authority for financial institutions, commercial banks are required to maintain their paid-up capital at Rs 2 billion.

CCBL would be a last among the existing commercial banks to start issuing for the public after NRB stopped issuing licenses to open new banks.

Source: myrepublica.com 26th Dec 2013
You may also like:
 IFRS to be partially implemented in Nepal from next fiscal year

Read More

IFRS to be partially implemented in Nepal from next fiscal year

KATHMANDU, DEC 27 -

The government has planned to partially implement the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to strengthen the accounting system in various sectors of the economy. The new reporting standards, which will be launched in the next fiscal year, are expected to allow regulators to monitor companies in a more effective manner.

Auditor General Bhanu Acharya said the government planned to enforce the accounting practices fully by 2017. “The new standards to be implemented will help measure the actual financial health of organizations in a more effective manner,” Acharya told a programme organised jointly by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal and the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal. 

Acharya added the 

government envisaged implementing the standards at public enterprises and multinational companies in the beginning. According to him, the IFRS is now in practice in 122 countries.

The IFRS were developed by the International Accounting Standards Board as a system of keeping accounts of companies that would be recognized universally. Besides helping in effective regulation, the standards are also expected to aid domestic companies attract strategic partners by increasing foreign direct investment in the country.

The new reporting standards include balance sheet, statement of profit and loss, statement of cash flow, statement of changes in shareholders’ equity and notes comprising a summary of accounting policies and other explanatory notes.

Parakram Sharma, member of the Nepal Accounting Standards Board, said the new standards would be based on general purpose financial statements that measure the various financial components in fair value instead of the timeframe value being implemented now. 

He added that they were developing a model that would comply with the norms of the concerned regulators and international auditing standards. “The standards will be based mainly on financial principles than on a rule-based system,” he added.

At present, the Nepal Accounting Standards is in effect. With the aim of implementing the IFRS, the government has been providing training to officials of financial regulating bodies.

Source:ekantipur.com, 27th Dec 2013

You may also like;

Samsung to cut prices from January 2014

Brand New Bikes to be launched in the Nepalese market in 2014

Read More

Land transactions in Nepal up 21%

KATHMANDU, Dec 25: Revenue from land registration across the country increased by around 21 percent over the first five months of the current fiscal year compared to the figure of corresponding period last year.

However, the rise is relatively low compared to general expectation that there will be significant improvement in property transactions after timely announcement of budget and successful Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.

Data compiled by the Department of Land Reforms and Management (DoLRM) shows land registration fee worth Rs 2.25 billion was collected until mid-December. In the same period last year, the government had mobilized Rs 1.85 billion.

“We could not see remarkable improvement in land transactions even after positive political and economic development in the country,” Tulasi Ram Vaidhya, an official at DoLRM, told Republica.

Land revenue offices in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur mobilized Rs 144.1 million in the month ending mid-November and Rs 200 million in the month ending mid-December. Last year, the government had collected Rs 135.3 million and Rs 169.8 million, respectively, in the month ending mid-November and mid-December.
The government mobilized Rs 5 billion in land registration fee in 2012/13 against the target of Rs 4 billion.

Source:myrepublica.com, 25th Dec 2013
Brand new Bikes to be Launched in the Nepalese market in 2014

Read More

Samsung to cut prices from January 2014

KATHMANDU, Dec 25: Samsung is slashing prices of its smartphones from January 2014, thanks to stiff competition from brands like Micromax, Colors, Sony and Lenovo, among others.

Officials of International Marketing Services (IMS) - the authorized distributor of Samsung in Nepal - confirmed that prices of Samsung smartphones would go down form the first week of January. “But we can´t say by how much margin the prices will be cut as we are yet to get confirmation from Samsung,” an official of IMS said.


A snap survey conducted by Republica shows Samsung is losing market share, albeit marginally, and new smartphone brands like Micromax, Colors, Lenovo and Sony, among others, are making gains. Lenovo, which is yet to be launched formally here, is gaining popularity in Nepal.

A New Road-based dealer of Samsung told Republica that IMS is decreasing prices of Samsung smartphones by 8-15 percent from the first week of January. “Samsung smartphones are priced comparatively higher in Nepal than other countries, including India and Thailand,” the dealer said preferring anonymity. “Stiff competition in the market is forcing IMS to go for a price cut.”

Samsung India had slashed prices of various smartphone models in October. It had reduced price of Galaxy S4 Mini (16GB) and Galaxy S3 by around IRs 4,000. According to Times of India, Samsung had cut the price of its flagship phablet -- Galaxy Note 3 -- by IRs 2,000 in October end within a month of its launch.

“If I get all the features that a Samsung phone has on a cheaper phone, there is no point paying more for just the brand,” Alisa Pradhananga, a user of Colors phone, told Republica.
Vivek Sharma Dhandh, managing director of Virgin Mobiles, said people do not hesitate to pay ay amount for new gadgets with latest features. “But if they get the same features at lower price, they will definitely go for it regardless of the brand,” he added.

As the average life of mobile phones is around two years and technology gets updated day by day, dealers say people prefer to carry phones with affordable price tag and keep changing them time and again.

Source:myrepublica.com, 25th Dec 2013
You may also like:
Price of Gold down Rs.1,135 per 10 grams
Brand New Bikes to be launched in the Nepalese market in 2014 

Read More

Price of Gold down by Rs. 1,135 per 10 grams

KATHMANDU, Dec 20: Nepali rupee weakened by 2 paisa this week as the Indian currency, with which rupee is pegged, weakened negligibly against the greenback. Price of gold, on the other hand, went down by Rs 1,135 per 10 grams over the week due to drop in prices in the international bullion market.

CURRENCY
Nepali rupee dropped to 99.73 against US dollar losing 2 paisa over the week. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central monetary authority, opened currency trading on Sunday with exchange rate of US dollar fixed at Rs 99.71.

Rupee unchanged on Monday but gained 63 paisa on Tuesday to settle at 99.08 after the Indian currency logged gain against US dollar. The local currency, however, shed 44 paisa on Wednesday to close at 99.52. Rupee dropped another 13 paisa against US dollar on Thursday to settle at 99.65 after Indian currency weakened against the greenback.

According to Reuters, the Indian currency fell for a third session on Thursday in line with emerging market currencies as the US Federal Reserve began its long-awaited tapering, but losses were minimal as the currency is seen less vulnerable on a sharply lower current account gap.

Rupee lost 8 paisa on Friday - the last trading day of the week - to close at 99.73.

The local currency gained 39 paisa against Euro but lost a whopping Rs 1.04 against British Pound over the week. A Euro was valued at Rs 136.48 on Friday, while the Pound Sterling was exchanged at Rs 163.37.

BULLION
Gold price went down by Rs 1,115 per 10 grams this week.

Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Associations opened bullion trading on Sunday with price of gold fixed at 45,695 per 10 grams on Sunday. On Monday, gold price went down by Rs 170 per 10 grams to Rs 45,525. The price, however, increased by Rs 85 per 10 grams to close at Rs 45,610 on Tuesday.

Gold price went down by Rs 340 per 10 grams to Rs 45,270 on Wednesday. Though gold price remained unchanged on Thursday, it declined by whopping Rs 690 per 10 grams to end the week´s trading at Rs 44,580

Price of silver dropped by Rs 15 per 10 grams this week. On Friday, silver was traded at Rs 835 per 10 grams.

Source:myrepublica.com, 20th December 2013.
You may also like:
Brand new Bikes to be Launched in the Nepalese market in 2014
 

Read More

Rs.1m looted of Alpine Development Bank

MAKWANPUR, Dec 22: A group of two armed robbers looted Rs 10, 00,000 (1 million) in cash of Alpine Development Bank at gunpoint here in the district on Sunday.

The motorcycle-borne gang looted the cash at Phurkechaur of Harnamadi VDC, at jungle while the money was being ferried to the Chhatiwan, Hattisunde-based branch office of the bank from its central office, Hetauda via a motorbike.

According to police, the incident occurred at around 11:30 am at  the Chorbhanjyang Jungle as Branch head Bishnu Adhikari and a security person were heading to office after withdrawing the money.

According to Ganesh Ayer, Superintendent of Police, they have launched a manhunt to nab the looters.

Source:myrepublica.com, 22nd December 2013
You may also like:
 Brand New Bikes to be Launched in the Nepalese Market in 2014

Read More