December 5: Industrialists of Chitwan have announced fresh protest against the current working capital guidelines 2079 and rising interest rates. The Chitwan Chamber of Commerce announced the protest programme at a press conference in Bharatpur on Sunday. The chamber warned that if their demands are not met, they will stage a series of protests.

According to the chamber, the implementation of the new guidelines is ruining the industry day by day, compelling the industrialists to shut down.

According to the officials of the chamber, due to lack of liquidity and high interest rates, there has been a contraction in the overall demand, so they had to announce the protest programme under pressure. Raju Poudel, the immediate past president of the chamber, said that the current working capital loan guidelines are not appropriate in the current situation and that the guidelines are not in the best interest of industrialists.

He said that due to current working capital loan guidelines and high interest rates, 30 to 40 percent of industries are currently closed. He informed that due to this, there has been a decline in revenue collection and 1.7 million employees are on the verge of unemployment. To ease the situation, he suggested that the bank's CD ratio should be managed and the use of indigenous products should be increased.

Trilochan Kandel, president of the chamber, said that their demands are not met even after drawing the attention of the government several times. He said, “We will organize peaceful protest programmes in coordination with other umbrella organizations of industrialists.”

He said that in addition to submitting memorandum to the district administration office, the Ministry of Finance and NRB, the protest programme will be continued. He warned that if the demands of industrialists are not addressed politically, they will not pay tax and interest from mid-December to mid-January. The industrialists complain that they have had to partially operate industries of construction, politics, pharmaceuticals, and food due to the current economic crisis and high interest rates.