Fifty year old businessman Pashupati Murarka was unanimously elected as the new president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) — largest private sector umbrella body of Nepal.

Muraka took a charge of new President on Friday in FNCCI. A special AGM of FNCCI on Friday morning declared Murarka as a president.

Murarka is second businessman from Marwari community to lead the FNCCI. Earlier, industrialist Binod Kumar Chaudhary elected as a president of FNCCI.

Murarka served several positions in FNCC. He was elected as an executive member for two terms and vice president for one term in the past. He was also elected as the senior vice president last year in the Pradeep Jung Pandey-led executive committee. With Pandey’s arrest on a 30-year old corruption charge on March 18, the post of the president remained vacant and a special general meeting elected his unanimously.

The decision to unanimously select a president at FNCCI was possible as two other candidates — Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar and Bhawani Rana — withdrew their candidacies.

A prominent business person of the country, Murarka has business interests in cement, rod and paint industries. He is also involved in the trading business and the financial sector.

After being elected as the new FNCCI chief, Murarka informed that his first priority would be to lobby for a ‘two-pillar’ economy (public and private) as the fundamental economic principle in the new constitution — the first draft of the constitution has incorporated ‘three-pillar’ economy (public, private and co-operative).

Similarly, Bhawani Rana was unanimously elected as the senior vice president of FNCCI by the executive committee. The post had remained vacant after Murarka was promoted as the officiating president. Rana is a tourism entrepreneur and has been actively involved in the chamber movement for a decade. She has already served as the vice president. In the last election, she was defeated by Murarka for the post of the senior vice president.