KATHMANDU, Feb. 8 -- The government has stepped up efforts to install a new stock exchange market neglecting its own plan to restructure the existing Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) The government had envisioned the plan to restructure NEPSE about one and a half decades ago.

The government had announced the plan to expedite the process of privatization of NEPSE in the budget speech of the Fiscal Year 2010/11. In 2015, the government commissioned a taskforce to provide suggestions on restructuring NEPSE amid calls for privatization of the only stock exchange platform of Nepal. The consultant advised the government to privatize NEPSE to bring efficiency in the market.

As the privatization process remained disappointingly slow, the Securitie...