Nepal Infrastructure Bank gets operating license

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Feb 12: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has issued operating license to Nepal Infrastructure Bank Ltd (NIBL).

NIBL, which has been established to invest in infrastructure sector, is the first specialized bank to meet the need for investment in infrastructure sector. It is jointly promoted by Government of Nepal and various commercial banks, insurance companies, micro finance institutions, private companies and a group of business entrepreneurs. With this, the dream of establishing an infrastructure bank, which shall provide long-term loan maturity period needed by term gestation projects including hydropower and mega projects, since over a decade, has become a reality.

The bank has authorized capital of Rs 40 billion, issued capital of Rs 20 billion and paid-up capital Rs 12 billion. The government owns 10 percent shares in the bank, while remaining 90 percent of the shares are held by the private sector.

Issuing a press release, NIBL said that the prime objective of the bank is to play a vital role in Nepal’s Infrastructure development, specifically in the area of construction and development of transportation, agriculture, energy, tourism, Special Economic Zone (SEZ), advanced urbanization infrastructure, information technology along with other areas of infrastructure.

“The bank shall strive to bring both public and private sector together in order to achieve its core objectives, including infrastructure financing, sourcing of long-term funds from international and domestic capital market, investing on shares of the companies operating in infrastructure development and other services offered by the bank,” the release added.

Though the central bank has officially stopped issuing new license to banks, the central bank had issued a separate licensing policy only for the infrastructure banks two years ago.
Caption:

Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Chiranjibi Nepal hands over operating license of Nepal Infrastructure Bank Ltd to the bank’s chairman Anuj Agrawal in Kathmandu on Monday. Agrawal is also a director of Vishal Group.

 

Source : Republica