India PM backs down on land reform Page III Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced he was ditching an executive order aimed at making it easier for busi-ness to buy land, in a major setback for his reformist government.

Ins IdeNew businesses bring more income to BadisJhalak Badi from Bijeshwori-3 has been operating a barber shop at Chaurjahari Bazaar for the last three years. Until five years ago, he was making a living by farming and fish-ing in the Bheri River. As earning a livelihood by following these tradi-tional occupations was difficult, the 31-year-old Jhalak chose to go into the hair cutting business. Jhalak’s father and forefathers spent their lives in caves and followed a nomadic lifestyle. But his children now study in a boarding school in Kathmandu. Pg: II

Political economy ‘reality’ for central bankersTerming politics an important force in determining tactics of economic policymakers, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the frame-work in India allows the central bank a “protection” to some extent and its policy has been to take the heat away from the “political economy”. Rajan said RBI’s policy process involves try-ing to “take the heat away from the political economy and put it on frameworks, technical models, projec-tions, et cetera, and say, ‘What we are doing is disinflation without worry-ing too much about distribution’. “To some extent, that framework allows us protection”. Pg: III

Monday, august 31, 2015 (14-05-2072) kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

moneymoneyfinance&economyfinance&economy

kathmandupostthecross currency

U.S. Dollar 106.13

Euro 118.66

Pound Sterling 163.37

Japanese Yen 8.72

Chinese Yuan 16.61

Qatari Riyal 29.15

Australian Dollar 76.12

Malaysian Ringit 25.30

Saudi Arab Riyal 28.29How to read tHe tableThe chart shows the rates of nine world currencies. Move across the table to find rates of exchange between any two currencies. One unit of the currency mentioned vertically is worth that amount in the currency mentioned horizontally.

USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD INR NR

NR 106.1300 118.6600 8.7200 163.3700 110.2700 80.4200 76.1200 1.6015

INR 66.14 73.931 0.5433 101.796 68.681 50.1061 47.422 0.6244

GBP 0.6497 0.7261 0.0053 0.6745 0.4921 0.4657 0.0098 0.0061

JPY 121.7 136.06 188.6792 126.38 92.16 87.2600 1.8406 0.1147

EUR 0.8946 0.0073 1.3772 0.9286 0.6774 0.6412 0.0135 0.0084

USD 1.1178 0.0082 1.5392 1.0395 0.7578 0.717 0.0151 0.0094

F o r e X

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

C M Y K

Agence FrAnce-PresseSINGAPORE, AUG 30

China’s currency devaluation and slowing economy have caused enormous turmoil in world financial markets, but they have not really bothered tourists like Henry Lee.

Not yet, at least. “I don’t even know what the exchange rate is,” the 36-year-old tech-nology entrepreneur from Beijing admitted. “We’re just here to relax with our kids. We’re not making any big purchases. I bought a Tumi bag, and I got a Tiffany brace-let for my wife,” said the father-of-two during a visit to Singapore’s Merlion Park, which faces the massive Marina Bay Sands casino complex, a favourite destina-tion for Chinese visitors.

Lee is among tens of mil-lions from China’s growing middle class who travel across the globe every year for leisure. A record 117 mil-

lion Chinese travelled over-seas in 2014, according to the Sydney-based Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA)—more than double the 57 mil-lion in 2010—and experts expect that trend to continue. “The short-term outlook for Chinese outbound visitors remains strong and the long-term is bright,” CAPA said in a report issued Thursday.

Beijing’s surprise devalua-tion of its currency on August 11, which is now trad-ing at a four-year low against the dollar, has sparked fears China’s big-spending tourists will start staying at home. Shares in tourism-linked businesses such as hotels across Asia have tanked, while Cathay Pacific’s chief executive has been forced to reassure investors the air-line’s future was secure.

Businesses on the ground, however, say more relaxed visa policies and the strength of the yuan against Asian

currencies mean Chinese tourists will remain not only the most numerous, but also some of the biggest spenders. “It’s not uncommon for a Chinese VIP player to gamble well over a million US dollars per trip,” said Aaron Fischer, regional head of consumer and gaming research at bro-kerage and investment group CLSA. “There’s probably 5,000 of them.”

The financial clout of China’s travellers can be eye-popping. According to China’s state news agency Xinhua, Chinese tourists spent $164.8 billion in 2014, a four-fold increase compared to 2008. A whopping 88 per-cent of that was on shopping, it said, citing the China Tourism Academy, a govern-ment agency.

Japan alone saw more than 550,000 visitors from China in July, a figure more than dou-ble the same period a year ago, and the average Chinese

tourist spends around $1,100—about twice as much as the next-highest spending cohort—according to the Japan Tourism Marketing think-tank. Fischer predicted that the yuan’s depreciation would not hinder Chinese from travelling but some may become more cost-conscious, particularly when it comes to luxury items. It is precisely that concern that is worrying organisations like the Indonesian Association of Travel Agencies.

Its chairman Asnawi Bahar said the industry’s fear was that Chinese visitors, who number roughly one mil-lion visitors to the archipela-go annually, would “hold back on shopping and shorten their stay in Indonesia”.

Trade bodies in a litany of other Asian countries from the Philippines to South Korea have expressed similar concerns. Many of them, however, are helped by the fact that their own currencies have fallen sharply. The yuan is still at, or close to, two-year or longer highs against the currencies of popular tourist destinations like Japan, South Korea, Australia and the eurozone, CAPA said.

“I think that in the bigger picture scheme of things, Chinese tourism to Australia will continue to rise,” said Craig James, chief economist at Australian stockbroking firm CommSec.

Other countries—from Europe to those in the Asia-Pacific region—have sought to lower visa barriers for Chinese travellers in a bid to attract what the China Tourism Academy says is the world’s largest pool of tour-ists. More and more places are becoming friendlier to Chinese tourists, starting from the immigration coun-ter: Chinese passport holders now get visa-free access to at least 74 countries, compared to 18 two years ago.

Chinese tourists unfazed by currency fall, market turmoil

t rav e l b o o m

n Chinese tourists take pictures in Singapore on Saturday. AFP/RSS

1660-01-1234501-4422190

Exports of woollen carpets down last FYPOsT rePOrTKATHMANDU, AUG 30

Export of woollen carpets plunged in terms of both quantity and value last year.

Export volume dipped 8.49 percent, while export earn-ings was down 3.48 percent in FY 2014-15, according to the Trade and Export Promotion Center (TEPC).

The statistics show Nepal exported the product worth $62.48 million last year, down from $64.74 million in the pre-vious year. The exported quantity shrunk to 421,907sqm from 461,065sqm.

Traders and experts attrib-uted the fall to labour short-age, government apathy, power outage and high pro-duction cost.

Anup Bahadur Malla, presi-dent of Nepal Carpet Exporters’ Association, said labour shortage, which has worsened after the April 25 earthquake, affected the busi-ness. “With the shortage of manpower, we have been una-ble to dispatch previous orders on time,” he said.

Malla said the dearth of skilled manpower resulted in slow growth of the sector. “We have been asking the govern-ment to provide training to the general people, but our demand has remained unheard,” he said.

Soaring production cost, as a result of a rise in prices of imported raw materials, has also been attributed for the fall in the exports. “The high production cost has made our products expensive compared those of almost all the South Asian countries,” he said.

TEPC Executive Director Ishwori Ghimire echoed Malla. “The high production cost has made Nepali carpets incompetent in the interna-tional market,” he said. “However, the collective trade-mark is expected to help boost the market.”

Last year, Nepal exported carpet worth $29.80 million to the US, the largest of all. It was followed by Germany ($11.99 million), the United Kingdom ($5.03 million) and Canada ($2.95 million).

Belgium, Italy, Australia, France, Netherlands and Austria were among the top 10 importing countries out of 60 major importers of Nepali carpet.

Paramount Carpet Industry topped in terms of exports by quantity. It exported 23,405sqm of the carpets worth $1.24 mil-lion. Himalayan Art Carpet, NP Rugs, Third Eye International and The Shangrila Carpet and Handicrafts rounded out the top five exporters.

‘Rs2.22t’ needed to address infra gapPOsT rePOrTKATHMANDU, AUG 30

Nepal requires an investment of Rs2.22 trillion by 2031 to adders the existing infrastructure deficit and additional demands of 191 munici-palities, a government strategy paper has said.

The National Urban Development Strategy 2015 has stated the country requires huge investment for balanced and regional urban sys-tem as the strategy aims to make annual investment of 2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the purpose.

Currently, the annual investment stands at just Rs20 billion, 1 percent of the GDP.

As per the Urban Infrastructure condition Index of 58 municipalities, prepared to assess the infrastructure status of various municipalities, the investment deficit stood at Rs372 billion.

The deficit has been calculated based on existing and desirable state of municipalities.

Economist Keshav Acharya said generating necessary resources as per the strategy within 15 years would be challenging. “If there is a clear vision and implementation plan, generating big resources won’t be a problem, but the municipalities have been confined to approving designs of houses,” he said.

According to the strategy, the biggest investment is expected to come from the government and the donors. They are expected to contribute 60 percent, followed by municipalities (19 percent), private sector (10 percent) and community (6 percent).

The 15-year strategy aims at pro-viding cent percent access to piped water and sewages in all urban core areas, total electrification in all

urban areas with 80 percent house-hold with alternative sources, 80 per-cent paved roads in existing munici-palities, 50 percent new residential housing through land readjustment and 100 percent solid waste collec-tion.

It also aims at offering high speed internet availability, 2.5 percent of open space at ward-level in all old municipalities and 5 percent for new and 70 percent contribution of the urban areas to the GDP.

Acharya said the government should focus on newly-urbanising sectors for planned urbanisation where the cost of urbanisation will be lower compared to older urban centres where thick settlements make it difficult to implement the plan.

“There is also increased need for planned urbanisation in hilly areas where settlements are scattered and managing infrastructure there is costly and challenging,” said Thapa.

The budget for this fiscal year has focused on expanding urban infra-structure in major Tarai based cities including Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Dhangadi. “Targeting these cities, construction of six-lane trade road is under way,” states the budget.

The government has also intro-duced the idea of building two smart cities, in Kathmandu and Nijgadh, with all necessary infrastructure.

The strategy says increased invest-ment in the urban sector would be justified because of the sector’s con-tribution to production and living standards of the people.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), urban areas directly contributed 33 percent to the GDP, while another 30 percent is con-tributed by surrounding villages. “Investment in urban infrastructure facilitates wealth generation and generates employment while boost-ing economic growth,” it says.

n A file photo shows the Kathmandu-Bhaktapur road at Koteshwor. PoSt Photo

National Urban Development Strategy 2015 aims to make an annual investment of 2 percent of the gross domestic product

toP Five imPoRteRSCountry ValueUSA $29.80 millionGermany $11.99 millionUK $5.03 millionCanada $2.95 millionBelgium $1.40 million

toP Five exPoRteRSCompany QuantityParamount Carpet industry 23,405sqmhimalayan Art Carpet 23,394 sqmNP Rugs industries 20,942sqmthird eye international 18,378sqmShangrila Carpet & handicrafts 17,171sqm

moneyeconomy IIMonday, August 31, 2015 | thekathmandupost

Swiss to repay $700k to NorwayGENEVA: Swiss authori-ties will repay creditors around $700,000 in embezzled funds stashed in a Swiss bank account, in one of Norway’s big-gest-ever bankruptcies, prosecutors said this week. Geneva authorities seized the funds in 2011 from an account in the BSI bank linked to the former head of bankrupt Norwegian oil rig build-er Thule Drilling, Hans Erik Olav, who has since been convicted of embez-zling $6.0 million from the company and is serv-ing a four-year prison term. Geneva prosecutor Claudio Mascotto told AFP the conviction last month in the Swiss city of one of Olav’s accom-plices had made it possi-ble to finally hand some 700,000 Swiss francs ($730,000, 650,000 euros) back to Thule’s creditors, who are owed around $300 million after the company’s spectacular 2010 collapse. The bank-ruptcy was one of the largest in Norwegian his-tory. (AFP)

Obama defends Arctic drillingWASHINGTON: Two days before heading to Alaska to raise climate change awareness, US President Barack Obama on Saturday defended his controversial decision to allow Shell to drill in the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea. The Obama administra-tion’s green light for the Anglo-Dutch oil giant angered environmental groups which have decried the “hypocrisy” of the president, who in recent months has stressed the need for aggressive actions against climate change. Opponents note how the decision comes in the run-up to the UN climate conference in Paris in December. The meeting is seen as crucial in efforts to forge an agree-ment to curb interna-tional emissions. “I know there are Americans who are concerned about oil companies drilling in environmentally sensi-tive waters,” Obama said in his weekly address, noting that the drilling leases had been pur-chased before he took office. (AFP)

Brooks to return to News CorpLONDON: British former tabloid news editor Rebekah Brooks is to return to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp as chief executive of its UK division, the Financial Times reported on Friday. Brooks, who for-merly edited The Sun and The News of the World, resigned as chief executive in 2011 at the height of a scandal over the hacking of phone voice mails by journal-ists. She was arrested on suspicion of being involved, but was cleared of all charges last year. Speculation has grown in recent months that Brooks, 47, might return to the Murdoch empire. Brooks was initially reluctant but was per-suaded to take the chief executive job by the Australian-born mag-nate, with whom she has a close relationship. (AFP)

news digest

C M Y K

60th anniversary

n A ceremony is held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the discovery of China’s first large scale oil field in Karamay of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Sunday. Karamay is an important petrochemical industrial base for China. Xinhua

Agence FrAnce-PresseFRANKFURT, AUg 30

The European Central Bank looks set to keep its monetary policy gunpowder dry when its decision-making governing coun-cil convenes next week, despite recent turmoil that has engulfed global markets, analysts said.

It has been a chaotic week for stock markets around the world, spooked by fears of economic slowdown in China. Share prices have wildly seesawed, but trading received a lift later in the week from comments by US Federal Reserve officials, who said the current turmoil had weakened the case for a US interest rate rise in September.

The ECB, for its part, is unlike-ly to be panicked into any knee-jerk policy moves, particularly

since its radical asset purchase programme known as quantita-tive easing, or QE, finally appears to be bearing fruit, central bank watchers said.

QE is an ambitious scheme, launched in March, to buy more than one trillion euros ($1.1 tril-lion) worth of public sector bonds to pump liquidity into the system. The programme is indeed helping to get credit flowing again and pushing up the rate of inflation in the 19 countries that share the euro, new data suggest.

Hence, “in the short run, the ECB should not adapt its QE poli-cy. This (would) only add to the turmoil,” said Merijn Knibbe of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. There is no reason for the ECB to start phasing out its ultra-loose monetary policy, where interest rates have been

held at all-time lows since September 2014, the expert said.

Even Germany, Europe’s big-gest economy, where growth is picking up with confidence on

the rise and its public finances firmly in the black, was showing no real signs of overheating, Knibbe said.

But Natixis economist Sylvain

Broyer believes that the QE pro-gramme might have to be extend-ed beyond the original planned date of September 2016.

In the current market turbu-lence, the euro was seen as a safe haven by investors, pushing mar-ket interest rates down and caus-ing consumer price inflation to undershoot the central bank’s target.

Such factors “will provide the ECB ample excuse to extend its QE programme beyond September 2016. But let us be clear: even without such turbu-lences, the ECB would have had to extend its QE programme, since core inflation will remain far below price stability for struc-tural reasons,” Broyer said.

Andrew Bosomworth at Pimco thinks the ECB “will not be forced by current market turbu-

lences to extend or increase QE”.Lower oil prices meanwhile

suggest that the ECB may have to revise downwards its inflation forecasts. But it was “too early to tell how significant slower exter-nal demand growth from emerg-ing markets, particularly China, will impact aggregate demand growth in the eurozone,” Bosomworth said.

The ECB should look through the impact of lower energy prices on headline inflation and concen-trate on the trend in the core measure. “We expect core infla-tion to remain subdued around 1.0 (percent) through 2016 and to rise only gradually. An extension of QE beyond 2016 at this stage can therefore not be ruled out,” he concluded.

Jennifer McKeown at Capital Economics said the rise in the

euro exchange rate “has put the onus on the ECB to maintain and perhaps increase monetary policy support”. “We doubt that the bank will announce any policy changes following its meeting on Thursday as it downplays risks surrounding China. But with the lower oil price and stronger cur-rency adding to deflation risks, president Mario Draghi is likely to stress that further support is possible in future and perhaps outline how this could be provid-ed,” McKeown said.

The positive effects of QE were seen in credit and money supply data published by the ECB last week. After long months of con-traction, the volume of loans to private businesses and house-holds increased by one percent in July compared with the same month in 2014, the ECB said.

ECB mulls policy response to market turmoil over Chinag lo ba l m a r k e t ro u t

New businesses bring more income to Badi youthsKrIsHnA PrAsAD gAUTAMCHAURJAHARI, AUg 30

Jhalak Badi from Bijeshwori-3 has been operating a barber shop at Chaurjahari Bazaar for the last three years. Until five years ago, he was making a living by farming and fish-ing in the Bheri River. As earning a livelihood by follow-ing these traditional occupa-tions was difficult, the 31-year-old Jhalak chose to go into the hair cutting business.

Jhalak’s father and forefa-thers spent their lives in caves and followed a nomadic life-style. But his children now study in a boarding school in Kathmandu. “If I had not started this modern business, I might have suffered the same fate that my father and forefathers went through,” Jhalak said. After an inten-sive six-month training in Kathmandu, he started the salon from which he earns Rs1,000 daily.

Similarly, Rupa Badi, an 18-year-old from Bijeshwori-3, runs a beauty parlour and cos-metic shop. She makes a good living from it, and she has been taking care of the whole family with her income. She had received training in beau-ty care before starting the par-

lour which has helped to raise the economic status of her family. Rupa earns around Rs1,000 daily from her shop. She supports her five-member family including her father Kali Bahadur through her new occupation. A happy Rupa says her income has increased her courage and self-esteem. Likewise, Deepak Badi from Chaurjahari has been operating a restaurant

for the last three years. Badi youths have been increasingly entering new businesses as they could barely survive on the income from their tradi-tional occupations like pot-tery and fishing.

“Their involvement in mod-ern businesses has earned them respect,” said Rupak Badi, a youth engaged in the agriculture business. This deprived community has been

struggling to gain respect in society which has been lost due to their tradition of engaging in the flesh trade.

For the last five years, Rupak has been doing vegeta-ble farming on the four ropanis of land he has rented in Chaurjahari. He makes Rs400,000 annually from his farm. He believes that after engaging in agriculture, he has earned respect in society

which was unthinkable in the past. “This has also helped us to enhance living standard.”

Similarly, Badi youths have started commercial produc-tion of madals, a small dou-ble-headed drum. They are operating the enterprise at Rugha-2. The living standard of Badi youths has improved after they started selling these traditional drums. They pro-duce five madals daily.

In the past, they used to barter their madals for food grain. “Now, we take cash for the instruments, and this is profitable,” said Gopal Badi, a youth engaged in the busi-ness. Madals produced by this group are sold in Dang, Nepalgunj and Kathmandu. Their madals cost Rs1,500 each. “We are earning as much as Rs20,000 a month.”

According to Dalit Sewa Sangh, more than 400 Badi youths have abandoned their traditional occupations for modern businesses. “Badi youths today are operating many modern businesses and setting an example for oth-ers,” said Ganesh BK, the president of the association.

He added that his organisa-tion had also been conducting various programmes to lift the living standard.

Customs staff found absent face actionPOsT rePOrTKATHMANDU, AUg 30

The Department of Customs (DoC) has begun proceedings against 30 of its employees stationed at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) for being absent from their posts during a check on Saturday.

DoC Director General Shishir Kumar Dhungana said it took action as their negligence had caused suffer-ing to travellers passing through the airport.

“The absence of three-four employees who were supposed to be manning the walk-through X-ray area had caused inconvenience to air travel-lers,” he said.

Among the customs employ-ees who face action, two are gazetted officers and the rest non-gazetted officers. According to Dhungana, the department will take action against them under Civil Service Act 1993. “They may be given warning letters and their promotion may be stopped,” he said.

Dhungana added that they had formed an investigation committee led by Under-Secretary Surya Sedhai.

“Based on the committee’s report, we will initiate action against the accused staff.”

This is perhaps the first time that the department has begun action against its employees for not being at their posts.

On many occasions in the past, travellers passing through TIA have faced incon-venience due to the negli-gence of customs staff.

Delays in customs clear-ance and theft of luggage are among the common issues that travellers have been encountering occasionally at the airport.

Dhungana said they had moved with the aim of reduc-ing the hassles that travellers have been facing at the airport customs.

“We have planned to make our officials more responsible towards their duties in the future,” Dhungana added.

n People belonging to the Badi community make madal, a traditional musical instrument, at a workshop in Simrutu Bazaar, Rukum, on Saturday. Post Photo: Krishna Prasad Gautam

Greek graft case: German corp giants suspectedAgence FrAnce-PresseATHENS, AUg 30

Siemens, Daimler, Rheinmetall—the cream of German industry—have been mired in cases of alleged cor-ruption in Greece, the country that Berlin has repeatedly admonished for the parlous state of its economy.

No date has been set yet for 19 former executives of German engineering group Siemens to appear in Greek court, but it is expected to be one of the biggest financial trials of the decade in Greece. More than 60 people in total are being investigated for cor-ruption in the case that US watchdog CorpWatch has labelled “the greatest corpo-rate scandal in Greece’s post-war history.”

Bavaria-based Siemens, whose links to Greece go back to the 19th century, is suspect-ed of having greased the palms of various officials to clinch one of the country’s most lucrative contracts—the vast upgrade of the Greek telephone network in the late 1990s.

Overall, Siemens allegedly spent 70 million euros ($78 million) on bribes in Greece, according to Greek judicial sources. The investigation is now in its ninth year with a case brief over 2,300 pages long. Contacted by AFP, a Siemens spokesman at compa-ny headquarters in Munich said: “We don’t comment on that case.”

Among those suspected of corruption is the group’s for-mer point man in Greece, Michalis Christoforakos. But the 62-year-old, who holds dual Greek and German citi-zenship and at the height of his influence rubbed elbows with the ensemble of Greece’s political elite, is unlikely to face trial.

Christoforakos fled Greece

for Germany in 2009, and German justice has refused to extradite him, arguing that the statute of limitations cov-ering his alleged activities has lapsed. Relations between Athens and Berlin—already tested by the Greek economic crisis and Germany’s insist-ence on painful austerity to bail out the debt-wracked country—have not been helped by the Siemens case.

Earlier this year, Greece’s combative parliament speaker Zoe Constantopoulou said the affair smacked of double standards on the part of Berlin. “This is a question of justice that shows there is doublespeak by Germany,” she told France’s Liberation newspaper in a recent inter-view. “German companies have notoriously engaged in corrupt practices in Greece but such cases are only occa-sionally investigated,” the German Foreign Policy think-tank said in a recent report.

According to Transparency International and its 2014 cor-ruption perception index, Greece’s public sector was

regarded as one of the most corrupt in the European Union. In 2011, at the height of the Greek economic crisis, a parliamentary inquiry esti-mated the damage to public coffers at two billion euros from inflated contract costs ultimately borne by taxpay-ers. Arms procurement has been another lucrative field for German companies, with Greece for years spending the most money proportionately on defence—2.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014—among EU members, Sahra Wangenknecht, a law-maker of Germany’s leftist party Die Linke, told AFP. “German companies have reaped considerable profit from Greece’s colossal arms purchases.”

For Daimler, Greek justice opened an investigation earli-er this year on suspicion of bribery in the award of an 100-million-euro military vehicle contract. Krauss Maffei Wegmann, the makers of the German Leopard tank, was also placed under investi-gation in Munich.

Relations between Athens and Berlin—already tested by the greek economic crisis and germany’s insistence on austerity—have not been helped by the corruption cases

Noodles, biscuits worth over Rs66 million distributedPOsT rePOrTKATHMANDU, AUg 30

The government distributed noodles and biscuits worth Rs66.64 million to earthquake survivors, the Ministry of Industry said. Dried foods were issued to people whose houses were destroyed and food stocks lost during the disaster.

A total of 118,000 cartons of noodles and 175 tonnes of biscuits were dispatched to the affected areas. Ministry spokesperson Yam Kumari Khatiwada said that the Industry Ministry pur-chased dried foods as assigned by the Cabinet.

“The figure refers to gov-ernment distributed dried

foods. It does not cover foods distributed by non-govern-mental organizations and vol-

unteers,” she said. According to the ministry, the food distri-bution phase has ended.

The ministry procured dried foods from eight compa-nies, namely Pokhara Foods, Pashupati Biscuit Industries, Pashupati Diet and Food, Karmacharya Bakes and Foods, Asian Biscuit and Confectionery, Smart Foods and Snacks, Pokhara Noodles and Jagadamba Foods.

According to Khatiwada, they were chosen after studying their proposals. According to the ministry, payment for all the supplies has already been made.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that it had instructed the factories producing goods intended for distribution to quake victims to show the maximum retail price on the packaging.

the department of Customs took action

against 30 of its employees as their negligence caused

suffering to travellers

dried foods were issued to people whose houses were destroyed and food stocks lost. A total of 118,000 cartons

of noodles and 175 tonnes of biscuits were dispatched

money worldIII thekathmandupost | Monday, August 31, 2015

Canada pipeline suspension orderMONTREAL: The oil and gas producer Nexen Energy, a Canadian sub-sidiary of China’s CNOOC, was forced to suspend operations Saturday at 95 pipelines after a major leak last month. The leak in Alberta, western Canada, spilled some 31,500 bar-rels (five million liters) of oil sands, prompting concern and criticism from environmental groups. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) ordered the immediate suspension after it accused Nexen of “non-compliant activities” at the firm’s Long Lake oil-sands operations in terms of maintenance and monitoring. Nexen will have to provide doc-umentation to assure the agency that it can oper-ate the pipelines safely. “Protection of public safety and the environ-ment are the AER’s top priority,” said Jim Ellis, AER president and CEO. “Given that this compa-ny has already had a pipeline failure at this site, the AER will not lift this suspension until Nexen can demonstrate that they can be operated safely and within regula-tory requirements. (AFP)

Call for more train patrolsPARIS: European minis-ters called on Saturday for more multinational patrols and tickets marked with passengers’ names on major conti-nental trains in the wake of last week’s foiled jihadist attack. The group of ministers meet-ing in Paris also called for increased checks on passengers and baggage at major stations and for the European Commission to tighten gun laws, in a joint state-ment read by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. “It is indispensable to put in place coordinated and simultaneous checks on certain targeted routes,” said Cazeneuve, adding that efforts were under-way to improve informa-tion-sharing on suspect-ed jihadists. The minis-ters called on the Commission to reinforce gun laws by the end of the year “to reinforce traceability... and fight trafficking (of arms) on the Internet”. (AFP)

Iraq outlines power problemsBAGHDAD: Iraq’s electrici-ty minister outlined to parliament Saturday a slew of problems that have contributed to abys-mal power services, which have sparked widespread public anger and protests. Qassem al-Fahdawi, who was being quizzed in parliament on Iraq’s electricity woes since he took office last year, criti-cised his predecessors for “focusing almost exclusively on produc-tion” at the expense of developing the distribu-tion network to raise out-put. The main example was Baghdad, he said, where the grid’s capacity was a maximum of 3,500 megawatts, regard-less of production levels. He reported a major pro-duction shortfall throughout Iraq. (AFP)

news digest

Agence FrAnce-PresseHONG KONG, AuG 30

Hong Kong’s towering skyline is dominated by major banks and investment houses—but smaller start-ups are playing an increasing role on the financial landscape.

The number of “FinTech” start-ups in Hong Kong—offering technology tailored to the world of finance—is rising rapidly, tak-ing advantage of the city’s posi-tion as an industry hub and gate-way to China. From data analysis to alternative lending and invest-ment options, nimble smaller firms with a tech edge are vying to lure consumers.

Some major players are now seeking to team up with these potential rivals as a short cut to innovation. “I think that what

you’re finding with a lot of these traditional institutions is the rec-ognition that their customers and consumers are all demanding more from them,” said Adrian Seto, director of FinTech innova-tion at consultancy Accenture. “They are looking for better ser-vice, quicker service, better user experience.”

Banking is, Seto said, “becom-ing a more competitive market-place, and all of this is driven by technology.”

Some leading financial institu-tions have launched their own programmes to support fledgling start-ups as a way to tap in to new ideas. “They have recognised that instead of pushing back, they should embrace the change and work with these start-ups,” says Seto.

Accenture runs the FinTech

Innovation Lab which sees seven start-ups from across the Asia-Pacific region come to Hong Kong for a 12-week programme, at the end of which they will present

their concepts to investors and finance executives.

US finance giant Citibank and Singapore-based bank DBS have also launched similar pro-

grammes in Hong Kong.Hong Kong’s status as a

finance hub and its connections to the Chinese market have led to an explosion of FinTech firms, according to Janos Barberis, founder of FinTech HK, an online platform which looks to help such start-ups. “The level of activity in Hong Kong has been incredible and it is due to continue, driven by the large market opportunity within Asia,” he says.

There are around 50 FinTech start-ups in Hong Kong with five or more new companies emerging each year, he adds. “Compared to Singapore, Hong Kong’s FinTech development is much more driv-en from the ground up, letting the market decide the best way for-ward,” says Barberis, who adds that the increasing number of

finance professionals looking for a new direction is also a boost.

Start-up founders have often broken away from a corporate background. “They are willing to take the risk and say: ‘I’m going to leave my job and build a busi-ness because the return will be better’,” says Barberis.

One such firm is DemystData, which launched four years ago after founders Mark Hookey and Oliver Meyrick met at a start-up event in Hong Kong. The compa-ny quickly analyses large sets of data to help financial institutions make better decisions on loans and other forms of credit, and has since secured several high-profile clients, including Citibank.

But while some start-ups are keen to team up with traditional finance houses, others want to

pave their own way. “One of the duties of small, innovative firms is to pressure bigger institutions to get better quicker and faster, and also to reduce fees and reduce what they charge custom-ers,” says Mathias Helleu, execu-tive chairman of Hong Kong-based 8 Securities.

Launched in 2011, Helleu’s firm helps smaller investors choose between investments from around the world—typically only within reach of large investment houses with global operations—which 8 Securities says offers an affordable alternative to services offered by banks.

“In that particular segment, the fees charged by the banks are very, very, very, high, and I think the only way for them to cool down is to have pressure,” says Helleu.

Hong Kong banks turn to start-ups for tech edgeF I n a n c I a l t ec h n o lo gy

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Modi backs down on land reformAgence FrAnce-PresseNEW DELHI, AuG 30

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced he was ditching an executive order aimed at mak-ing it easier for business to buy land, in a major setback for his reformist government.

Modi said he would let the ordinance lapse on Monday, following large-scale farmer protests led by a resurgent opposition to the reform, which he pledged soon after forming government last year.

In his monthly radio address to rural heartland, the premier lashed out at what he described as the spreading of false rumours that made farm-ers oppose the reform. “We had brought in an ordinance on land acquisition which is lapsing on August 31, and I have decided to let it lapse.”

Modi won a landslide elec-tion victory last May on a pledge to reform and revive Asia’s third largest economy, but some of his biggest initia-tives have hit roadblocks. His right-wing government has struggled to pass the land and other key bills in parliament where his Bharitya Janata Party (BJP) lacks a majority in the upper house.

The government has had to issue temporary executive orders three times since announcing the land bill in December after failing to push it through the chamber to make it permanent. Party leaders have hinted in recent

weeks that the ordinance would be dropped, but it is the first time Modi has publically conceded defeat on the issue.

Modi said he will amend the bill to favour farmers so that they do not face financial loss-es. “We will accept any sugges-tion in the interest of farm-ers,” he said.

The reform is aimed at speeding up land acquisition for billions of dollars worth of stalled infrastructure and other development projects to boost the economy. But the main opposition Congress party says the bill hurts India’s 300 million farmers and agricultural labourers.

Protests by farmers have drawn tens of thousands of people and served as a rallying point for anger among the rural poor towards the Modi-led government.

The bill exempts projects related to defence, rural hous-ing and power, along with industrial corridors, from the requirement that 80 percent of affected landowners must agree to a sale.

n Indian PM Narendra Modi

repair and maintenance

n A worker examines an electric power transmission line of a nuclear power plant in east China’s Shandong Province on Saturday. The 675km transmission line, a part of the 500KV power supply project of the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant, has 12km crossing sea water. Xinhua

Political economy a reality for central bankers: RBI guvPress TrusT oF IndIAWASHINGTON, AuG 30

Terming politics an important force in determining tactics of economic policymakers, Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the framework in India allows the central bank a “protection” to some extent and its policy has been to take the heat away from the “political economy”.

Rajan said RBI’s policy pro-cess involves trying to “take the heat away from the politi-cal economy and put it on frameworks, technical models, projections, et cetera, and say, ‘What we are doing is disinfla-tion without worrying too much about distribution’. “To some extent, that framework allows us protection”.

Addressing the famous Jackson Hole economic sym-posium of the Kansas City Federal Reserve in Wyoming, Rajan said politics and history both have been important forc-es in determining the econom-ic policymakers’ goals and tac-tics globally.

“Political economy is not an aberration, but a reality that should be accounted for in our policy analysis,” he said.

Interestingly, it is the same summit where Rajan had once famously presented a paper that talked about an imminent global financial cri-sis, which eventually hit the world markets in 2007-08. Rajan was IMF’s chief econo-mist when he made that famous ‘prediction’.

At this year’s symposium, which ended last night, Rajan said when it comes to the mod-ern central banks’ focus on targeting inflation, it is the “history and political econo-my” that determines which side of the inflation band needs to be emphasised.

It has been argued that the US was focussing on costs attached to low inflation or deflation because of the bankruptcies in the 1920s and 1930s, while the Germany’s experience with high inflation in the 1920s explains their focus on protection against high inflation.

Talking about Japan’s aging population, Rajan wondered whether the political power of the elderly were the reason for the country’s tolerance for deflation. He was speaking at a panel discussion on global inflation dynamics. Others on the panel included Federal Reserve Vice Chairman

Stanley Fischer, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio.

Rajan said that unlike most of the advanced economies, inflation has remained very high in recent years and he was trying to bring down the high inflation rate while addressing the issues like high interest costs and currency fluctuations that were hurting manufacturers.

While most of the speakers at the symposium talked about major central banks being focused on bringing inflation up, Rajan said the lack of price pressure was not a uni-versal problem.

“Unlike our other panelists, I have the problem of dealing with the traditional central banker problem of high infla-tion and the task of bringing it down. We are disinflating in a world of very low global infla-

tion and that has problems.” On the sidelines of the

event, Rajan also told Wall Street Journal in an interview that the growth in global econ-omy has still not picked up in a significant way, except for the US and the UK.

“Emerging markets were still down. There was some questions about China’s growth. And I think it was time for reassessment, and I think we saw some volatility as a result. There’s still the playing out of the Chinese growth story. Is it gen-tle? Is it a drop? How does it go? When does it recover? And then there’s the emerging markets story. And finally, there’s this big question mark about when industrial coun-tries start picking up much more strongly. So lots of uncertainty still.”

Asked about the Chinese crisis, Rajan said it was hard for an outsider to gauge exact-ly the seriousness of Chinese economic problems and there was “a whole lot of uncertain-ty to come from a country”.

“What goes for China is the extraordinary skills its authorities had displayed in the past in dealing with their various problems,” he said.

When asked what could be the impact on India of the uncertainty about the poten-tial for an interest-rate increase by the US Federal Reserve, Rajan said the Fed’s move can exacerbate the vola-tility of it comes at a time when there is already a lot of volatility in the markets.

n Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan (left) during the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Saturday. REuTERS

US Fed ‘won’t wait’ for 2pc inflation to cut ratesAgence FrAnce-PresseWASHINGTON, AuG 29

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer warned Saturday that the US central bank will not wait for inflation to hit two percent before raising interest rates.

In a speech at a conference on monetary policy in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the Fed’s number two said: “We should not wait until inflation is back to two percent to begin tight-ening.”

He added, however, that the Fed needed to “consider the overall state of the US econo-my as well as the influence of foreign economies on the US economy as we reach our judg-ment on whether and how to change monetary policy.”

Fischer said he was confi-dent that US inflation was on track to meet the two percent target that the Fed considers a sign of a healthy economy, even though changes in the personal consumption expend-iture index “have recently been only above zero” due to temporary factors like declin-ing oil prices.

According to the PCE index, consumer prices currently are only up 0.3 percent over the past year, notably because of low oil prices but also because of easing demand in China and elsewhere. The Fed’s pro-jections put core inflation, excluding oil and food prices, at between 1.6 and 1.9 percent next year, rising from 1.2 per-cent in July.

Among the factors keeping

inflation low, Fischer cited the 17 percent increase in the value of the US dollar since last summer which has low-ered prices of imports. He added it was “plausible to think that the rise in the dol-lar over the past year would restrain growth of real GDP through 2016 and perhaps into 2017 as well.”

Evoking the impact of the foreign economic situation on US growth, Fischer explicitly mentioned China, departing from the Fed Open Market Committee’s usual language making oblique reference to “international developments.”

“At this moment, we are fol-

lowing developments in the Chinese economy and their actual and potential effects on other economies even more closely than usual,” Fischer said.

The Fed’s Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet September 16 and 17 and most economists believe that it will begin to raise interest rates, which have been at near zero since the 2008 financial crisis.

But turbulence in the finan-cial markets in recent weeks in the wake of the slowing of the Chinese economy has raised doubts about the timing of such a move.

Consumer prices currently are only up 0.3 percent over the past year, notably because of low oil prices but also

because of easing demand in China and elsewhere

n A file photo shows the Hong Kong skyline. The towering skyline is dominated by major banks and investment houses, but smaller start-ups are playing an increasing role on the financial landscape. aFP/RSS

market watch

Vegetables Unit Price (Rs)

Fruits Unit Price (Rs)

Red Potato Kg Rs 33White Potato Kg Rs 28Onion (Indian) Kg Rs130Tomato Small Kg Rs60Tomato Big Kg Rs70Squash Kg Rs 45Cabbage Kg Rs50Egg Plant Long Kg Rs 60Cow Pea Kg Rs 60

daily commodities

gasoline watch

bullion PRICE PER TOLa

SOuRCE: FENEGOSIDa

apple Kg Rs 150Pomegranate Kg Rs 250Mango Kg Rs 120Water Melon Kg Rs 80Orange Kg Rs 70Pineapple 1Pc Rs 95Cucumber Kg Rs 60Pear Kg Rs 110Papaya Kg Rs 80Banana Doz Rs80Lime 100 Pcs Rs 475

Pokhreli Rice Kg Rs 65Jeera Mashino Rice Kg Rs 65Indian Bashmati Rice Kg Rs 110Mansuli Rice Kg Rs 55Sona Rice Kg Rs 50Beaten Rice (Taichin) Kg Rs 115Beaten Rice Kg Rs 70Big Mas Kg Rs 175Small Mas Kg Rs 140Big Mung Kg Rs 180Musuro (No 1) Kg Rs 210Musuro (No 2) Kg Rs 180Rahar Kg Rs 180Chana (Big) Kg Rs 110Chana (Small) Kg Rs 100Chilli Powder Kg Rs 275Jeera Powder Kg Rs 350Sugar Kg Rs 65White Soyabean Kg Rs 140Black Soyabean Kg Rs 140Fried Mustard Oil lt Rs 240Soyabean Oil lt Rs 125Dalda Ghee lt Rs 125Nepali Ghee lt Rs 750

Commodities Unit Price (Rs)

int’l market

Energy Price (US$) %Change

Agriculture Price (US$) %Change

Industrial Metals Price (US$) %Change

Copper Future (Lb) 234.6 0.75

Precious Metals Price (US$) %Change

Gold 100 oz futr (t oz) 1,134.00 1.02Silver future (t oz) 14.58 0.18

Cocoa Future (Mt) 3,166.00 0.03Coffee ‘C’ Future (Lb) 124.05 -0.40Corn Future (Bu) 375 0.00Cotton No.2 Futr (Lb) 63 -0.55Rough Rice (Cbot) (Cwt) 11.89 2.55Soybean Future (Bu) 885.50 0.74Soybean Meal Futr (T) 312.7 0.73Soybean Oil Futr (Lb) 28.17 3.41Sugar #11 (World) (Lb) 10.97 -0.81Wheat Future(Cbt) (Bu) 483.75 -1.23

Hallmark Gold Rs 50,700

Tejabi Gold Rs 50,450

Silver Rs 675

RETAIL PRICE

Brent Crude Futr (Bbl) 50.05 5.24Gas Oil Fut (Ice) (Mt) 482.25 7.05Gasoline Rbob Fut (Gal) 151.48 -0.46Natural Gas Futr (Mmbtu) 2.72 1.91

moneybazaar iVMonday, August 31, 2015 | thekathmandupost

Limited edition Astron watchKATHMANDU: Pinki International, authorised distributor of Seiko 5 watches, has launched limited edition of Astron GPS Solar watch with Tennis player Novak Djokovic. The watch connects to the GPS network and automatically adjusts, showing the time with a precision of one second every 100,000 years. In addition, the day of the week is displayed in a retrograde display at the 2 o’clock position, with the date at the 4 o’clock position. The new Novak Djokovic Limited Edition combines sport and elegance in a way that makes the watch perfect for every aspect of Novak’s busy life, said the Co in a state-ment. (PR)

IME, NB Bank join hands

KATHMANDU: IME and Nepal Bangladesh Bank (NB Bank) have inked an agreement to facilitate remittance disbursement in Nepal. Rudra Poudel, manager of Head Agent Networking at IME and Surendra Bhusan Shrestha, deputy general manager of NB Bank, signed the agreement. Under the pact, remittance sent through IME from all over the world can be received and deposited in Nepal Bangladesh Bank’s all 31 branches. Also, the bank will provide the facility of the internal remittance services which runs in collaboration with Global IME Bank. (PR)

KCM, NYEF sign agreement

KATHMANDU: Kathmandu College of Management (KCM) and Nepalese Youth Entrepreneurs’ Forum (NYEF) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to pro-mote the spirit of entrepreneurship. The MoU serves to further the interests of both parties by creating a plat-form for open access to resources in fostering an enter-prising culture. The partnership will facilitate coopera-tive initiatives to conduct joint research, trainings, semi-nars and event management. Other areas of collabora-tion include providing key resource persons and mentor-ship to inspire and guide the start-ups of the KCM Business Incubation Centre (KBIC). (PR)

Himalaya, Pelesys in tie-up KATHMANDU: Himalaya Airlines, a new Nepal-China Joint Venture

Airline Co, has signed agreement with Pelesys, a leading aviation training solutions provider of Canada, to receive its online and offline training courses and training services for flight crew and other personnel. Pelesys will provide its services in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, providing Training Management and Deployment system (TMDS) across the entire organisation. (PR)

Bihani launches membership cardKATHMANDU: Bihani Social Venture has launched mem-bership card for the senior citizens on the occasion of its second anniversary. Becoming a member, the elderly peo-ple will be able to get discounts ranging from 10-50 per-cent from 100 outlets. Its partners range from retail out-lets to pharmacies, restaurants, spas, among others. They will also get discounts on the services and events of the organisation itself. Bihani has been organising ‘Bazaar’ fortnightly on Saturday where local entrepre-neurs showcase their products and services. (PR)

Panama Canal cancels cargo limitsPANAMA CITY: The Panama Canal is suspending plans to limit ships’ cargo size in response to a drought, after recent rainfall increased water levels, officials said Friday. Three weeks ago, the Panama Canal Authority announced plans to cut ships’ maximum draft from the usual 12.04 meters (39.5 feet) to 11.89 meters, starting on September 8. It said a drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon was reducing the depth of the waterway. A ship’s draft is its depth in the water, and changes as the vessel becomes heavier or lighter. (AFP)

China ministry defends devaluationBEIJING: China on Saturday defended the recent revamp of its foreign exchange regime that led to a sharp devalu-ation of the yuan, calling it a “normal adjustment”. State news agency Xinhua quoted an unnamed Commerce Ministry spokesman as saying the devaluation will have “limited impact” on the country’s foreign trade. On Aug. 11, in a move that stunned markets, China devalued the yuan by nearly 2 percent. The devaluation was meant to correct a “relatively large deviation” between the yuan’s spot rate in the market and the daily midpoint fixing by the central bank, the spokesman said. (AFP)

bizline

REUTERSDuBaI, auG 30

The joy of riding big Japanese and American motorbikes was just one of the pleasures taken away from Iranians after the country’s Islamic revolution.

But three decades on, to the delight of enthusiasts, there are signs of restrictions being eased. This month a dozen bik-ers on pre-revolutionary and newer models were allowed a strictly regulated ride in Tehran. It was still a far cry from the open highways of “Easy Rider”.

Special permission is needed to ride just one weekend per month and the cruise is limited to specific streets during day-light hours. Women are still pro-hibited from ridng bikes. It fits in, however, with other develop-ments as Iran opens up to the

West again under reform-mind-ed President Hassan Rouhani.

The ban outlawing motorcy-cles with engines above the size of 250 cubic cm was introduced in the early years of the revolu-tion to halt drive-by killings of Iranian officials by the opposi-tion. It was also part of an effort to eradicate vestiges of an un-Is-lamic Western lifestyle that had prevailed under the monarchy overthrown in 1979. Women were barred from riding motor-cycles as it was seen as incom-patible with Shi’ite values.

Motorbikes with big engine power were used exclusively by the Basij, the government’s plain-clothes security force, which often paraded on them around Tehran in a show of power. Under the reprieve, authorities select members of the Tehran Motorcycling and Car Racing Association to

licence for street riding after running them through security checks, the association’s manag-er Mehrdad Hemmatian said.

Police and Interior Ministry agents monitor the riders while

they are on the road. “We are hopeful that the restrictions on full-sized motorcycles will be revised and lifted,” Hemmatian said. “The restrictions are out-dated.”

The government-linked asso-ciation is also lobbying to bring down import tariffs on sports bikes to 6 percent from 100 per-cent. People involved with the government are mostly behind the demand for motorcycles as it is easier for them to obtain spe-cial permission and they are better able to afford the expen-sive American-made Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Bikers who are not from the elite can manage to afford cheaper Japanese sports bikes for use on race tracks.

Under reforms initiated by Rouhani, who successfully con-cluded an accord with world powers on curtailing Iran’s nuclear programme in July, life could become a bit easier for some Iranians as trade sanc-tions are lifted.

Marginal advancements in allowing Western culture to

seep into Tehran are mirrored in other ways, for example a knock-off version of fast food chain McDonald’s called Mash Donald’s in a posh neighbour-hood of the capital.

Many Iranians now also have luxury Japanese and European cars as some of the policies instituted after the downfall of the Shah are relaxed. American dealerships for Harley or General Motors have been absent from Iran but a sanctions deal would open the gateway for such manufacturers to have a local presence.

Businesses worldwide want to get into Iran, home to some 80 million people and with a siza-ble middle-class craving inter-national brands. In a sign of its reconnection to the internation-al world, Britain and Iran reo-pened their embassies in their respective capitals last week.

Big motorbikes rev up again under Iranian reformsj oy o f r i d i n g

C M Y K

Apple debuts at 2nd spot in wearablesPRESS TRUST of IndIaNEW DELHI, auG 30

Within months of its smartwatch launch, tech giant Apple is already at a “striking distance” with glob-al leader in the wearable market, Fitbit, with shipments of 3.6 mil-lion units in the April-June quar-ter, research firm IDC said.

According to data by IDC, Apple is just 0.8 million units behind Fitbit’s 4.4 million units shipment (24.3 percent market share) in the second quarter of 2015. The Cupertino-based firm had a mar-ket share of 19.9 percent in its debut quarter.

The global wearable shipment for April-June 2015 quarter grew a whopping 223.2 percent to 18.1 mil-lion units from 5.6 million units shipped in the year-ago period, IDC said. Apple, which sells the cult range of iPhones, iPads and Macbooks, started selling its smartwatch in select markets like the US, China, Hong Kong, Australia and France in April.

“Anytime Apple enters a new

market, not only does it draw attention to itself, but to the mar-ket as a whole. Its participation benefits multiple players and plat-forms within the wearables eco-system, and ultimately drives total volumes higher,” IDC

Research Manager (Wearables) Ramon Llamas said.

He added that Apple also forces other vendors, especially those that have been part of this market for multiple quarters, to “re-evalu-ate” their products and experienc-

es. “Fairly or not, Apple will become the stick against which other wearables are measured, and competing vendors need to stay current or ahead of Apple.”

Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers, said about two of every three smart wearables shipped this quarter was an Apple Watch.

“Its (Apple) dominance is expected to continue. Although Fitbit outshipped Apple, it’s worth noting that Fitbit only sells basic wearables, a category that is expected to lose share over the next few years, leaving Apple poised to become the next market leader for all wearables.”

Xiaomi and Garmin ranked third and fourth in the tally with 17.1 percent share (3.1 million units) and 3.9 percent share (0.7 million units), respectively. Samsung saw its shipment declin-ing to 0.6 million units in April-June 2015 quarter from 0.8 million units in the year-ago period. Its market share stood at 3.3 percent in the quarter under review.

n A file photo shows a visitor taking photograph of Harley Davidson motorcycles during the Tehran Classic Car Show in Tehran, Iran. REUTERS

milk collection

n A dairy operator collects milk at Biruwa in Ananta Lingeswor, Bhaktapur, on Sunday. The trader said he buys 200 litres of milk daily from farmers at Rs40 per litre. POST PHOTO:PRAKASH TIMILSENA

New phones lined up for launch during festivalPoST REPoRTKaTHMaNDu, auG 30

Domestic dealers of various mobile phones have lined up a slew of new products for launch during this festive season. Gionee will be rolling out three new mod-els and Colors five new models. Similarly, Lava plans to unveil the Irix X1+ by the first week of September.

Teletalk Nepal, the authorised distributor of Gionee in Nepal, has planned to launch the Marathon M5, F103 and P2S smart-phones within two weeks. “As per the target of Gionee to give stiff competition to other brands in all ranges of phones, from affordable to premium, we have planned to launch three new models priced between Rs8,000 and Rs30,000,” said Samir Dhungana, brand man-ager of the Co.

The M5’s strongest feature is its battery which has a capacity of 6,000 mAh. The Co claims its bat-tery lasts for four days on a single charge. The M5 will cost around Rs30,000 in the domestic market.

Other features of the Marathon M5 are a 5.5-inch AMOLED display, Android Lollipop operating system, 13 MP rear camera, 5 MP front camera and 16 GB internal storage. “Its predecessor the M3 was a very successful model in Nepal. With the M5, we will be able to increase our market share further,” said Dhungana.

Similarly, the F103 smartphone

is the first phone in the F series from

Gionee which will be more focused on

style. The phone sup-ports GSM and CDMA

dual SIM functionali-ty. The device comes with a 5-inch HD 720p

display. The F103 sports an 8 MP rear camera

with LED flash and a 5 MP front camera. The phone will be tentatively

priced between Rs15,000 and Rs16,000. Gionee will

be entering the low-end seg-ment with the P2S which will be launched by mid-Sep-

tember. It will have a price tag of Rs8,000 in the domestic

market. The phone features a 4-inch display, 1.3 GHz dual-core processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB of inbuilt storage, 5 MP rear camera with LED flash and VGA (0.3-meg-apixel) front-facing camera.

Similarly, Ambe Mobiles, the authorised distributor of Indian handset maker Lava in Nepal, will roll out the Irish X1+ selfie focused

smartphone. According to the Co, the phone will cost around Rs12,000. “We are now on a rapid market expansion drive with a slew of new launches planned for this festive season. We hope that the X1+ will be received well by Nepali consumers,” said Puskar Ghimire, national franchise man-ager of the Co. The Lava Irish X1+ features a 5 MP front facing cam-era, 8 MP rear camera, 4.5 inch screen, 1 GB RAM and 8 BG inter-nal memory.

Likewise, Nepali brand Colors will be launching the Elite E20, Elite E10, T20, T50 and P30 budget smartphones. The E10 and E20 will be priced between Rs10,000 and Rs15,000, and the T50 and T20 will be priced between Rs6,000 and Rs10,000. The P30 will be the most affordable phone in the domestic market with a price tag of Rs5,000. Niru Dhougoda, senior marketing executive at the Co, said that all these phones would be launched by mid-September. “Coinciding with the festive season, we are going to launch a wide range of phones for our customers.”