The Development of Securities Market in Nepal : A Comparative Analysis

This paper analyzes the development of securities market in Nepal from historical and comparative perspectives. It is observed that the financial sector (commercial banks and finance companies) highly dominates the Nepalese securities market in which the corporate equities are the largest market instruments. Measured in terms of market capitalization, total value traded, and turnover ratio in relation to the size of respective economies (seven industrial and six South Asian developing economies), it is found that the Nepalese securities market is very small, highly illiquid, inefficient and underdeveloped compared not only with developed countries but also with most of its South Asian counterparts. The correlation between the major securities market indicators and real GDP growth is consistent with the hypothesis that there exists causal relationship between securities market development and economic growth. The correlation results also reveal the strong complementarity between the growth of banking sector and securities market in Nepal. Moreover, the Gini Coefficient and Herfindahl concentration indices show the highly concentrated market structure implying the lack of competition in the market. Finally, the overall analysis indicates that Nepal has a limited scope of financing choice from bank to market. Due to the inadequate securities market infrastructure and small size of industrial undertakings within a few numbers of public limited companies, the Nepalese financial system is highly dominated by banking sector and is likely to follow the same pattern in the future until the market infrastructures are developed and corporate sector earns sufficient credibility