Nirdhan Utthan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha

Nirdhan Utthan is a pioneer microfinance institution involved in extending financial services to low income group in Nepal. 

About Nirdhan Utthan

Nirdhan Utthan, “the Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha for upliftment of the poor” is a micro-finance established in November 1998 under Company Act of Nepal 1997 (now Company Act 2006). Nepal Rastra Bank, the Central Bank of Nepal, granted a license in April 1999 to undertake banking activities under the Development Bank Act 1996. It started its formal operation from July 1999. Now, operated under Bank and Financial Institutions Act 2017, Nirdhan Utthan  provides micro-finance services such as Loans, Deposits, Micro-Insurance and Remittance services to low income families of Nepal. NULBSL follows group lending based on Grameen Bank, Bangladesh model as well as group lending based on NULBSL developed Self-Reliant Group model through a network of 181 branch offices spread over all 77 districts of Nepal.

Though, legally established as a company in 1998, the operation of NULBSL is a continuation of micro-finance services provided by NIRDHAN NGO which was providing micro-finance services since March 1993. The story behind the establishment of “NIRDHAN” starts from 1986 when Late Dr. Harihar Dev Pant, then senior officer with the Central Bank of Nepal visited Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. This visit inspired him to launch micro-finance program in Nepal resulting the birth of “NIRDHAN” or “People Without Money” in 1991. NIRDHAN began its micro-finance operations in March 1993.

NIRDHAN, as an NGO had limited resources and capacity to satisfy unmet demand of poor people in different parts of the country. As a result, NULBSL was established and started the operations under then Development Bank Act 1996. In July 1999, NIRDHAN transferred all micro-finance operations to NULBSL. Strategic reasons for promoting NULBSL are:

  • Micro-finance are supervised and regulated by the Central Bank, which will enforce banking standards;
  • A micro-finance can have access to different sources of funding enabling it to satisfy financial need of low income households;
  • A micro-finance can lend to a wider range of clients, including group graduates interested to receive individual loans. Further, it can also accept collateral for potentially larger and diverse loan products.

Apart from Financial Services Nirdhan also offers non financial services to its members. The non-financial activities undertaken by Nirdhan are Financial Literacy Training, Skill Development Training, Entrepreneurship Development Training, Center Chief Workshops, Guardian Workshops and financial support for Critical Illness among member’s household, maternity support for members, financial support during natural calamities and scholarship for member’s children.     

Vision, Mission & Goal

Vision

The vision of Nirdhan Utthan is to be a MFI with a social conscience that enables poor to contribute equally to a prosperous, self-reliant rural society through self-employment and social awareness, and help to reduce poverty in Nepal.

Mission

The mission of Nirdhan Utthan  is to extend financial services and social awareness to the poor in under-served and un-served areas of Nepal in a sustainable manner.

Goal

The primary goals of Nirdhan Utthan are to:

  • Reach a maximum number of poor households with potential and financial viability by adopting proven delivery mechanism.
  • Develop a well-managed institution with high staff morality.
  • Enhance women’s “self-respect” through social awareness, proper use & on-time repayments of loans, regular savings and provision of related micro-finance services.

Operation Area

NULBSL, being a national level microfinance institution, can operate all over the country. Currently, it has covered all 77 districts of Nepal through 181 Branch Offices, 10 Regional Offices and 1 Central Office. Out of 753 Local Bodies, it has reached more than 527 Local Bodies spread over plain Terai, Hill & Mountain regions of Nepal.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors (BoD) of Nirdhan Utthan comprises seven members, two representing individual promoters, two representing institutional promoters, two representing general public and one independent director. The BoD meets at least 12 times a year and takes policy decisions to pursue the objectives of the institute. The Chairperson of the Board is elected by the board members among themselves. The BoD is responsible to the general meeting of shareholders who meet generally once a year in Annual General Meeting (AGM). The composition of BoD is as follows:

Chairperson


Dr. Hari Krishna Pant

Chairperson

Mr. Hari krishna pant

 


Directors


db_sir

Mr. Devendra Bahadur Raut

Director, Representing Promoter Shareholders

 

Director Sir - Top Bahadur Rayamajhi Sir

Mr. Top Bahadur Rayamajhi

Director, Representing Public Shareholders

final_samrita_tiwari

Ms Samrita Tiwari

Director, Representing Public Shareholders

Dy. Santosh K Bhattarai Photo

Mr. Santosh Kumar Bhattarai

Director, Representing Everest Bank Ltd.

IMG_20230713_0001

Mr. Niraj Kumar Basnet Danil

Director, Representing Nabil Bank Ltd.

 

Krishna Pradhan

Mr. Krishna Kumar Pradhan

Director, Independent

Management Team

Nirdhan Utthan is headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who works as Executive Chief of the institute. The CEO sets vision and strategies and reviews operations carefully. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) supervises the departmental activities and works in closely with Assistant General Manager. NULBSL has nine departments at its Central Office, which includes: Human Resources Management Department,  General Administration Department, Operation Department, Internal Audit Department, Planning, Monitoring and Research Department, Accounts and Fund Management Department, Training and Development Department, Information and Technology Department and Loan Recovery Department. The executives are as follows:

 

Executive Level


Mukesh Dahal Photo

Mr. Mukesh Dahal

Acting Chief Executive Officer

 

 

narayan1

Mr. Narayan Bahadur Karki

Assistant General Manager
Recovery, Account & IT Department


Managerial Level


Gokarna Prasad Upadhayay

Mr. Gokarna Prasad Upadhaya

Chief Manager
Operation & Planning Department

narayann1

Mr. Narayan Prasad Neupane

Chief Manager
Human Resource & General Service Department

laxmi_pant_kafle

Mr. Laxmi Pati Kafle

Senior Manager
Internal Audit Department

JagyaPant

Mr. Jagya Prasad Panta

Senior Manager
Training Department

 

NarayanPanthi

Mr. Narayan Prasad Panthi

Senior Manager
General Service Department

PuskarSubedi

Mr. Puskar Raj Subedi

Manager
Account & Fund Management Department

LaxmanNeupane

Mr. Laxman Neupane

Manager
Planning & Monitoring Department

Mr. Gagan Ghimire

Senior Consultant
Information Technology Department

Information & Compliance


JagyaPant

Mr. Jagya Prasad Panta

Company Secretary/ Information Officer

IMG_20230816_0003

Mr. Jitaram Gautam

Compliance Officer

Target Clients

Nirdhan Utthan recruits new clients who fit the following targeting criteria for its group based financial services:

  • Own less than 0.25 hectares of irrigated land or less than 0.5 hectares of un-irrigated land per five-person family.
  • House must not have cement walls or concrete ceiling (pucca house).
  • Permanent resident of bank’s working area.
  • No family members employed in the formal sector

Strategic Alliances

Nirdhan Utthan has established strategic alliances with the following international and national organizations:

  • Grameen Trust, Bangladesh
  • Credit & Saving for Hard-core Poor in Asia & Pacific (CASHPOR), a Philippines based Network
  • Save The Children Federation-USA working closely with Nirdhan/NULBSL since July 1997
  • PLAN International began working with Nirdhan/NULBSL in October 1998. The partnership continues in capacity building and outreach expansion areas Centre for Micro-Finance (CMF), Nepal
  • The Micro-finance Association of Nepal (MIFAN)
  • The Rural Micro-Finance Development Centre (RMDC), a wholesale lending institution promoted by the Asian Development Bank
  • Nirdhan Utthan Bank contributes to the Micro Banking Bulletin and participant in The MIX (microfinance information exchange)
  • The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) began to work in April 2001 to strengthen internal capacity and systems of Nirdhan Utthan Bank
  • The International Labor Organization (ILO) and NULBSL had worked jointly for providing microfinance services to ex-Kamaiyas (bonded labor) in Banke and Dang districts
  • Mercy Corps and Nirdhan Utthan  had worked together for “Access to finance in the remote eastern hills of Nepal” and “Global food crisis response project in farwestern part of Nepal”
  • UNDP/UNCDF supported Enhancing Access to Financial Services Project (EAFSP) implemented by Nepal Rastra Bank (Central Bank) to enhance financial services in hilly and remote terrain area
  • USAID supported Nepal Economics Agriculture and Tade Activities (NEAT) project
  • Good Return/World Education Project
  • The World Bank Supported AGRIFIN project
  • KIVA
  • The Department for International Development (DFID) funded Sustainable Access to Finance And Livelihoods (SAFAL) Project of MERCY-CORPS
  • The Department for International Development (DFID) funded Sustainable Access to Finance And Livelihoods (SAFAL) Project of Blue Berry Hill Charitable Trust (BHCT)/Sambridh Pahad.

 

Currently, Nirdhan Utthan  is working together with following national and international organizations:

  • SAKCHYAM (A DFID Project)
  • International Finance Cooperation (IFC)
  • Whole Planet Foundation (WPF)

Equity & Funding

The authorized capital of Nirdhan Utthan is Rs. 2 Billion. As of January, 2020 the paid-up capital is Rs. 1.5 Billion. The distribution of shares is as follows:

ShareholdersAmount% of Total paid-up Equity
NIRDHAN (The mother NGO) 244,826,900 20.40%
Himalayan Bank Limited (A Commercial Bank) 134,679,100
11.22%
Nabil Bank Limited (A Commercial Bank) 166,140,300
13.85%
Everest Bank Limited (A Commercial Bank) 134,679,100
11.22%
Grameen Trust Bangladesh 18,664,000
1.56%
Private Sector Individuals 94,111,200 7.84%
International Finance Corporation (IFC) 90,523,200 7.54%
Nepal Life Insurance Company Limited 24,000,000
2.00%
General public including clients and staffs 292,376,200 24.37%
Total 1,200,000,000 100%

The NIRDHAN, Himalayan Bank Limited, Nabil Bank Limited, Everest Bank Limited, Grameen Trust Bangladesh, Nepal Life Insurance Company Limited and private sector individuals are promoters of NULBSL. 51% shareholding of the institute is owned by the Promoter Shareholders while 49% is owned by Public Shareholders.

The source of fund of Nirdhan Utthan is shareholder’s equity, client saving and deposit and borrowing from commercial banks and financial institutions.

Nirdhan Brochure

Download our latest Brochure here.

Nirdhan Brief Profile (English)

Nirdhan Brochure (Nepali)

Nirdhan Brochure (English)

Former Chairman-CEO

Former Chairman                                                                  Former CEO