How did Nirmal Pradhan, the King of the Nepali Stock Market, Acquire So Many Shares?

Nirmal Pradhan, known as the king of the Nepali stock market, was born in Tanahun in 2011. He is recognized as one of Nepal's major investors. Pradhan, who studied in Tanahun until grade 7 and completed his high school in Chitwan and higher education in Kathmandu, has also invested in the film industry. Starting with the purchase of 500 shares, Pradhan entered Nepal's stock market in 2056 B.S. and now owns millions of shares. Journalist Dipesh Ghimire had a conversation with him for Yoho Television, and we present his words here today.

Pradhan said, "I don't consider myself the king of the stock market, nor did I ever claim that title for myself. Around the year 2055-2056 B.S., I felt the urge to invest in the stock market, which marked my entry into this field, a significant milestone for me. My initial foray was through the IPO of NIC Bank, for which I applied for 100,000 shares each in the name of seven family members, resulting in an allotment of 250 shares each for my son and wife. At that time, there was a bullish trend, but I was unaware of what a bull market really meant. The IPO that I bought for around NPR 100 opened in the secondary market at around NPR 400, which astonished me. Seeing the profit made without much effort, I realized that the stock market was indeed the place to invest. This experience left me astounded.

Back in 2055-2056 B.S., I didn't have much money, maybe around 4-5 crore NPR. Influenced by the profit from NIC, I decided to invest all that money in the stock market. Within about 45 days, the market experienced a significant downturn. It was then that I realized the market's volatility. At 45 years old, I had lost all the cash I had earned in my life, which was a major setback for me. That loss made me regret entering the market without proper knowledge. However, I resolved that if I could lose so much in this field, I could also earn it back. This resolution became a turning point in my stock market journey.

I conducted extensive research to decide which bank's shares to buy, eventually choosing Everest Bank. Its shares had dropped to NPR 325 at the time. My goal was to purchase 1 million shares of Everest Bank. I then started taking loans, even though I had lost millions in the stock market, I came from a wealthy family in Bandipur with substantial property in Kathmandu and Chitwan. I began taking share loans by mortgaging my land. At one point, I had taken up to 300 crore NPR in share loans, a record at that time, with all the paperwork still in my possession. I had taken loans from every bank in Nepal, with banks even inviting me to borrow up to 90% of the value.

I bought Everest Bank shares at NPR 325, Standard Chartered Bank shares at NPR 460, Nabil Bank shares at NPR 465, and Bangladesh Bank shares at NPR 430. Many companies I invested in turned profitable. For instance, I bought 300,000 shares of Butwal Power in an auction at NPR 135 each, which later reached NPR 2200 per share. Every share I bought increased manifold, eventually growing my portfolio to 16 billion NPR.

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