According to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Pokhara has 41 branches of 27 commercial banks. Likewise, 15 development banks have opened 37 branches in Pokhara and 22 financial institutions are based in Pokhara.
Rapid urbanization, improvement in tourism industry and growing realty business are the other factors that have lately pushed the number of financial institutions in Pokhara upwards.
Nepal Rastra Bank estimates that 40 percent of around Rs 200 billion remittance that the country earns annually goes to the Western Development Region. The region is home to many Indian Army and British Gurkha personnel and hence draws a significant amount as remittance and pension from them.
Though remittance income was expected to fall due to global financial meltdown this year, the increase in salary and pension of Indian Army personnel and ex-Gurkhas made significant contribution to remittance growth.
The financial institutions in Pokhara have annual transaction of about Rs 33 billion. In fiscal year 2008/09, financial institutions in Pokhara collected as much as Rs 31 billion as deposits. Interestingly, the increment in the number of financial institutions has not made adverse impact on deposits collection in any bank in Pokhara.
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