Abstract
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the role of private finance in shaping social class in Kathmandu. Over the past thirty years, Nepal has developed a robust financial sector, and its services have become vital for residents dealing with rising cost of living. However, in a city where informal income has long been the standard, private banks are making loans dependent on "modern" forms of income, that is, income which has been clearly documented and formally registered This paper argues that this financialization of income has created a new dimension to class politics in Kathmandu, wherein wealth must be bureaucratically legible to be recognized, where private banks attempt to monopolize this process of recognition, and where families search for new ways to maneuver around these requirements.