Debentures & Fixed Income

Century Bank Debenture Coupon and Maturity

By Sandeep Kumar Chaudhary · July 6, 2026 · 5 min read · 1012 words

Corporate debentures are the fixed-income backbone of Nepal's capital market. Nepal's Capitals tracks 82 SEBON-approved debenture issues straight from the regulator's Public Issues data - here is what that dataset shows.

The debenture market in numbers

• 82 debenture issues tracked.
• 54 distinct issuers (mostly commercial banks and development banks).
• Coupon rates ranging from 4% to 12% per annum.
• Total registered issue size of about Rs 225.57 arba (Rs 22557.0 crore).

What is a debenture?

A debenture is a loan you make to a company - usually a bank - in return for a fixed rate of interest (the coupon) paid on a set schedule, with your principal returned at maturity. Unlike shares, a debenture doesn't give you ownership or a share of profits; it gives you a contractual claim to interest and principal, which makes it lower-risk and lower-return than equity. In Nepal, banks issue debentures partly to meet capital and regulatory requirements, and retail investors can apply for them through public issues.

How debentures compare to a fixed deposit

• Coupon: debenture rates are fixed for the full tenor, while FD rates can be revised at renewal.
• Liquidity: many debentures are listed on NEPSE, so you can sell before maturity in the secondary market; an FD is locked with penalties for early withdrawal.
• Tax: interest from both is taxable in Nepal; check the current withholding rate before you invest.
• Safety: a bank debenture is an unsecured claim on the issuer, whereas a deposit may carry deposit-insurance cover up to a limit.

How to buy a debenture in Nepal

1. Watch for a public debenture issue announced by SEBON and the issuing bank.
2. Apply during the issue window through ASBA/C-ASBA at your bank, using your demat/BOID.
3. On allotment, the debentures credit to your demat account and you receive the coupon on the stated payment dates.
4. To exit early, sell the listed debenture on NEPSE - the price will move with prevailing interest rates.

Issues by fiscal year

• FY 2081/82: 9 issues.
• FY 2080/81: 4 issues.
• FY 2079/80: 12 issues.
• FY 2078/79: 10 issues.
• FY 2077/78: 23 issues.
• FY 2019/20: 12 issues.

Where this sits in Nepal's fund market

Nepal's mutual fund industry has grown to 58 schemes run by 19 licensed fund houses, split between 44 closed-end funds that trade on NEPSE and 14 open-end funds bought and sold at NAV. For ordinary savers, a mutual fund is the simplest way into the share market: a professional manager pools money from thousands of investors and spreads it across dozens of listed companies, so you get diversification and expertise without picking stocks yourself. Across the closed-end schemes the average unit currently trades at -4.49% to NAV, and 29 of them sit at a discount - a reminder that even inside one asset class the numbers vary widely, which is exactly why comparing the underlying data matters.

The key terms, explained

If you are new to Nepali mutual funds, these are the words that do most of the work in this article:

• NAV (net asset value): the per-unit book value of a fund - the total worth of everything it owns minus what it owes, divided by units outstanding. Each fund house publishes it in a monthly report.
• LTP (last traded price): the price a listed, closed-end scheme last changed hands at on the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE).
• Premium / discount to NAV: the gap between market price and NAV. Trading below NAV is a discount (you buy assets for less than book value); trading above is a premium.
• Distributable dividend: the share of realised gains and income a scheme is legally allowed to pay out to unit-holders.
• Closed-end vs open-end: a closed-end fund raises a fixed pool, lists on NEPSE and matures on a set date; an open-end fund issues and redeems units on demand at NAV, with no maturity.
• AUM / paid-up size: how much money the scheme manages - a rough gauge of its scale and liquidity, quoted in crore and arba (1 arba = 100 crore = Rs 1 billion).

How to start investing in Nepali mutual funds

Getting started is more straightforward than most first-time investors expect. The practical path looks like this:

1. Open a demat account and BOID through any depository participant (a bank or broker), then register on MeroShare - this is your gateway to holding and applying for securities online.
2. Link a bank account for ASBA/C-ASBA so you can apply for new fund offerings and debenture issues directly from your bank.
3. Decide your style: buy a listed closed-end scheme any trading day on NEPSE through your broker's TMS, apply for an open-end scheme at NAV, or subscribe to a systematic plan (SIP) that invests a fixed amount every month.
4. Mind the costs and tax: factor in brokerage, and remember that dividends and capital gains are taxable in Nepal - check the current rates before you invest.

A mutual fund suits investors who want exposure to the share market without the time or expertise to pick individual stocks. Start with an amount you can leave invested, compare a handful of schemes on the numbers, and review your holdings each time the AMCs publish fresh monthly reports.

Disclaimer. This article is informational and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Every figure is sourced from primary AMC disclosures and SEBON filings and is recomputed each trading day. Confirm the latest numbers before acting.