Congratulation Mr Vaidya

We congratulate Mr Suraj Vaidya on being elected to the presidency of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), apex body of Nepal’s business community and we wish him all the success in his tenure. This, certainly, is the time to rejoice for you and your team, after months of hectic electioneering. However, on this D-Day we want to remind you that your victory to the post of FNCCI president is just the beginning of a difficult journey toward a course full of challenges and obstacles, and your success as a leader will depend on how tactfully you will be able to deal with the problems.



Undoubtedly, the urgent task, we believe, will be to reunite the business community that suffered multiple divisions during the most fiercely contested election. Many elections have come and gone in the five-decade long history of FNCCI, but such deep-rooted division has never been witnessed before. So, in order to mend them, the first good gesture should come from those who have won the election by opening their arms wide enough to accommodate those who have lost. Beware, any attempt to ignore those who have lost will be counterproductive, as it will further deepen the rift, thereby weakening the private sector as a whole. Equally important will be the positive response from those who unfortunately lost the election. We hope the new leadership will also take steps to brush off the dirty party politics that sneaked into business community during the recent election.



Being an admirer of liberal market economy, we have always been an advocate of a strong private sector, capable of driving the economy toward the betterment of the country and its people. Unfortunately, it is a fact that both the confidence and credibility of the private sector have been fast waning in recent years. On the one hand, the coexistence of twin evils - acute power shortage and frail security situation - has badly eroded investors’ confidence, turning Nepal into an unsavory place to do business. And on the other hand, the shameful involvement of established business houses in series of tax evasion scandals running in billions has badly tarnished the reputation of business community.



Oddly enough, we have not heard FNNCI’s comment over the scandal that has shaken the whole country. Such mysterious mum maintained by an apex business body of private sector is not only shocking but also unacceptable. In this regard, we salute the newly elected president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) Suresh Kumar Basnet, who publicly supported ongoing government investigation over the tax evasion and vowed to expel those firms that are found to be involved in the fake VAT receipts scandal from NCC’s membership. So, we urge the new leadership to start its tenure by publicly denouncing tax evaders and supporting legal actions against them. By doing so, we believe, it will be taking a major step toward restoring the badly tarnished reputation of Nepal’s private sector.

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