How are you preparing for the NADA Auto Show?

Stalls for nada auto show are in the final stages of construction. The construction of necessary infrastructure is in the final stage. On behalf of the management, we are very prepared to welcome all the visitors.

What are you showing new at this nada auto show?

While imagining the 17th edition this time, we thought that something should be wonderful and memorable. We have envisioned the NADA Auto Show with a view to leave some mark for the Nepali world.

The main objective of the NADA Auto Show from the past is still intact. That’s business. About 40 percent of the bookings have been done on the vehicles sold by the traders. We have to keep it going. If there is no business, there will be no organization like us. Keeping this going, we will have to think about how to tackle in the coming days.

In that thinking, what we are targeting is sustainable development. What is automated driving, robotics, flying taxis. How can it be to encourage the future?

How many stalls are there at this auto show?

We have to give space for stalls there. NADA has done that.

It is the concerned exhibitors who make the stall state-of-the-art and exhibit there.

The main attraction this time is robot, flying taxi, vintage car pavilion. This time it is the auto dialogue that we think is the main one. The need of the hour is to promote policy. We have to move forward to focus on it.

With the NADA Auto Show taking place, how is it viewed from a commercial point of view?

From a commercial point of view, we had to sell vehicles, motorcycles and other parts at the protest site. Those who keep stalls bring out various schemes (offers) targeting NADA. Consumers are waiting for that plan. If they can book it and deliver it, then our purpose will be fulfilled from there.

Naima Mobility Expo ended a few days ago, NADA Auto Show is starting, what will be the difference between these two?

There is no alternative to nada auto show. The way NADA has been doing auto shows. It is the largest exhibition in Nepal. This has been confirmed by the 16th editions. All the visitors and consumers are looking forward to nada’s auto show with confidence. Nada’s auto show cannot be touched by any other exhibition. Nada Auto Show is nada.

Nada Auto Show has a higher number of EVs or fuel vehicles?

The country has 72 per cent EVs. Nada also has a majority of EVs. However, there are many brands of ice. You will also be able to see that here. Ice, hybrid PHEV can all be seen in NADA.

How is the auto business running in Nepal lately?

Corona brought the auto entrepreneurs to the ground. NADA is trying very hard to stop it. It’s time to wake up. In the last one year, I have seen a ray-like sunlight.

This is a ray of hope. In the coming days, this ray of hope will definitely rise like the sun.

Is it that the ray of hope you are talking about now, is it that the ray of hope has been clouded by creating confusion about taxes when the budget for the current financial year comes? Businessmen have booked a lot of cars due to rumors of increasing taxes. How will that affect business?

No one was as happy as me in the budget presented by the government for the current fiscal year. The way I welcomed this budget, no one has welcomed it till date. It’s been a decade since I joined NADA in some way or the other. There has been no such budget in a decade.

It’s an unforgettable budget for me. It was hoped that the monetary policy would also help accordingly. But that didn’t happen. But I don’t give up. Of course, it is well covered in the first quarterly review. Governor of The Rastra Bank. Bishwanath Poudel has assured that various other issues could not come up due to priority and it would be included.

The bank’s interest rate is at a low point now, has it had a good impact on the business power?

Interest rates are high now. When the loan to value is there, the interest rate definitely kicks in. For now, it would have been easier to get the loan than the interest rate. From 80 per cent loan, it has been reduced to 60 per cent. That’s the problem.

You have said to take the auto show to a new era of technology and mobility, how is this possible?

I want to imagine that don’t think about this day, you are sitting in a car. There is no driver in front. How would it feel if that era came to Nepal? Nada is moving towards that.

Let’s add one thing to your point, about 113 years ago, the first vehicle was brought to Nepal, now the flying car brought to be kept in nada’s exhibition should also be carried?

Now it has become a laughing stock. Some have even made it a joke. I don’t aim anywhere, but no one can stop or avoid a disaster. You can also ask why you have to bring flying things? There is a need for policy rules for flying things. What it is like for now is an unmanned aerial vehicle. Running it is remote. For that, policy rules are needed. The policy is made after NADA’s performance. You may see it flying around us in the future.

However, the road was damaged due to the disaster. We were about to bring it in the car. I have to make the auto show grand. I have to make the auto show a success. It had to be brought. I have brought it to show that I am Nepali.

Auto dialogue on infrastructure at the auto show?

We are talking to the concerned bodies at different times regarding the road. So is our geography. What happened after the flood washed away Kerung, otherwise how well it came into operation there? It has been 20-22 days since there was a problem at tatopani border.

We waited for some time, as the problem could not be solved, we brought the flycar with a flycar to fulfill our purpose anyway. But the good thing is that something is happening in Nepal after the slow development. The NADA Auto Show will discuss some issue or the other for six days. We will discuss various important issues.

Lately, there have been complaints that dealers have started shutting down more. Is it possible for the dealers to shut down now?

This is a question that carries the essence of NADA. We say that the automobile business will cover the whole. But it is very difficult to see their problems even when they are included. My advice to this government is that on the one hand, we are saying that we will retain human resources. If that was to be retained, the rules had to be relaxed a bit, the business had to be encouraged.

What is that?

We have to increase the loan-to-value ratio in the business environment. If that happens, the cars will sell more. After the sale of the vehicles, the dealers of the vehicle can benefit from it. The sold vehicle will be serviced later. You can also benefit from various after-sales from the service. This problem started after the corona epidemic. A dealer is a network for a car dealer. If the network breaks down, there is a problem.

Will it harm the state as well?

Of course it will. We are also lobbying on this issue.

This will be of great help to this, which is due to the monetary policy of the Rastra Bank. We have also told the Finance Ministry. Everyone benefits when the business is running. It seems that this should be resolved in the first quarter review of monetary policy.

What is your message to the nada auto show comers?

Nada is a grand festival rather than the consumer coming to NADA or what the audience should understand. I don’t divide the class for those who come to the festival. I call upon everyone from young children to the elderly to come to watch the auto show. There is a flying car in the show, it can be seen and touched.