Kunal Kayal has been unanimously elected as the new president of the Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI). Kayal, who was serving as an office-bearer of the organization, was elected unopposed after Executive Committee member Karan Kumar Chaudhary withdrew his candidacy on Wednesday.

Chaudhary withdrew his nomination ahead of the scheduled NICCI election, stating that he had agreed to move forward through consensus. The chamber’s general convention is scheduled to be held on Ashwin 29, while Wednesday was the final deadline for candidates to withdraw their nominations.

Kayal will succeed current NICCI President Sunil KC. The chamber’s executive structure consists of a president, two vice presidents, a general secretary, a treasurer and 11 executive committee members.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, Kayal is a director at Keyal Group, a diversified industrial and trading conglomerate in Nepal. The group has business interests in manufacturing, construction materials, hydropower, solar energy, real estate, banking and insurance, tourism, healthcare and other services. Kayal also serves as the Honorary Consul of Jordan to Nepal.

The Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established to promote trade, investment and economic cooperation between Nepal and India. It was initially formed through an ad-hoc committee in 1993 and formally registered with the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, on September 6, 1994.

NICCI currently has around 150 members representing different sectors of the business community. As a bi-national chamber, it works with government and private-sector institutions in Nepal and India to facilitate business connections, provide market information and support dialogue on bilateral trade, investment and economic cooperation.