Kathmandu: Finance Minister Rameshore Khanal has formed a four-member task force to study the irregularities and problems that have emerged in Nepal’s capital market.
On Friday, Minister Khanal appointed Rupesh KC, the Acting Executive Director of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON), as the coordinator of the task force.
According to Tanka Prasad Pandeya, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and its spokesperson, the task force has been mandated to study distortions and problems in the capital market and to recommend systemic and procedural reforms aimed at immediately boosting investor confidence. Along with recommendations, the task force must also submit a concrete action plan for implementation.
The Ministry has instructed the task force to present its report within five days. The formation was made through a ministerial-level decision by Finance Minister Khanal.
Along with coordinator Rupesh KC, the task force includes Sharan Adhikari, a director at Nepal Rastra Bank who also serves as Secretary to its Board, and Niranjan Phuyal, Acting Executive Director of the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE), as members. Sharad Niraula, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance, has been designated as the task force’s member-secretary.
Although the mandate speaks of studying market distortions and problems, ministry officials said the immediate purpose of forming the task force was to send a positive message to investors at a time of uncertainty in the share market.
Officials further explained that rather than focusing solely on resisting political and economic pressures, the government—which was formed in a difficult political environment—has sought to project timely optimism through such initiatives.
The recent report of the High-Level Economic Reform Recommendation Commission, also led by Rameshwor Khanal, had included numerous recommendations for improving the capital market. These ranged from listing hydropower shares and restructuring companies under the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model, to reforming the organizational structure of the Securities Board and restructuring NEPSE itself.
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