Today in this article we will have a look at the online payment services in Nepal. But before beginning let us understand what online payment actually is? Online Payment basically means to exchange money electronically. This might involves internet, devices for making or receiving payments and so on. Today online payment is replacing the traditional system even in the developing countries like Nepal. for example, nowadays, we don't need to reach telephone office to pay for bill, or go to electricity office to pay electricity bill even the water supply system has started online payment services. Although, developed countries has already reached the milestone in digital payment, still the developing countries like Nepal are way behind. We still needs a lot of improvement to reach a new landmark.
There are lots of advantages in online payment. First of all lot of valuable time will be saved because we don't need to reach destination office and wait in queue for payment . Moreover online payment makes life easy and we don't have to carry money in cash and have a fear of theft. Similarly, from government point of view the online payment makes payment transparent so that they can keep track of illegal income. However, online payment may also have some disadvantages because as online payment is increasing, this also increases the security risk. for example due to small mistakes or negligence hackers could steel information to access the payment account and steel money. so user must be aware about this.
To begin, let's start with the banking history in Nepal. The history of banking in Nepal started in 1937 AD with the establishment of Nepal Bank Limited as the first commercial bank of Nepal. Banknotes in Nepal was not introduced up until mid 1940. In 1945 the earliest bank notes were issued by the treasury "Sadar Muluki Khana". These notes were signed by "Khajanchi" the head of the treasury who also was a high Hindu priest. Only after the establishment of Nepal Rastra Bank as the Central Bank Of Nepal in 1956, the banknotes were issued by Central Bank with the signature of the governor of the central bank. Till 1980's Agriculture Development Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank were also established. In 1984 the first private bank of Nepal Nabil Bank was established which was the start of the private banking industry. Soon foreign banks were also established. The first credit card was introduced by Nabil Bank in 1990 and the first ATM was introduced by Himalayan Bank in 1995.
Kumari bank started internet banking. It started its internet banking in 2002. and after 2 years in 2004 Laxmi Bank started mobile(SMS) banking . Today almost all of the commercial banks are providing internet and mobile banking facilities thus resulting in mobile transactions. The most credit for online payment goes to F1 Soft . It was "FonePay" a product of F1 Soft that brought revolution in early 2000s. It not only provided SMS service but also enabled people to receive remittance through mobile. Another company "HelloPaisa " founded in 2009 helped bank clients in paying bills, sending/receiving money within nepal.
Fonepay is a Product of F1 Soft Private Limited. with fonepay, you can use your smartphone to make instant payment online or in shops directly from your bank account. All you need is your bank's official mobile banking app. The member's bank as of today are : Agriculture Development Bank, Bank Of Kathmandu, Citizens bank, Civil Bank, Garima Bikash Bank, Global IME Bank, Janata Bank, Jyoti Bikas Bank, Kamana Sewa Bikas Bank, Kumari Bank Limited, Laxmi Bank, Machhapuchhre Bank Limited, Mahalaxmi Bikas Bank, Mega Bank Limited, Muktinath Bikas Bank Limited, Nabil Bank, Nawakantipur Cooperative, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Nepal Bank Limited, NIC Asia, NMB Bank, NMC, OM Development Bank Limited, Prabhu Bank, Prime Bank Limited, Purnima Bikas Bank Limited, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Shangrila Development Bank, Sanima Bank, Nepal SBI Bank Limited, Siddhartha Bank, Srijana Finance Limited and Sunrise Bank Limited. This means if you are using any of these banks official apps , you are using fonepay network. The figure below are the screenshot of the official mobile apps of Siddhartha Bank and Nabil Bank .
Fonepay Provides various services for Online Transactions ranging from water, electricity, DTH, ISP , Airlines, School, Travel and Tours, Insurance, Capital and Many More.
Esewa is the most used Online payment Service Provider in Nepal. It was also developed by F1 Soft. With e-sewa you can perform fund transfer , Buy Cinema Tickets, Perform Online Businesses, Utility Bills(e.g: Telephone Bills, Electricity Bills, Drinking water bills , NewsPaper Subscription e.t.c) , Recharge and TopUps, Online Studies (like midas,loksewanepal are accepting esewa payment) , Airplanes tickets , Hotels, Insurances and many more. For more information please visit https://esewa.com.np .
Khalti is another popular Payment Service Provider in Nepal. It was launched in January 2017 and is growing popularity in a rapid way. It is operated and owned by Sparrow Pay Private Limited. It's parent company is Janaki Technology which has been in the Software Industry since 2010. Khalti also provides great range of Payment Services like Utility Payment, Hotel Bookings, Movie and Domestic flight tickets, Recharge Cards, Topup and many more. For more information please visit: https://khalti.com/ .
IMEPay is another popular Payment Service Providers in Nepal. Before IMEPay, IME was the most popular remitance company in the country. Using IME Pay you can perform various online transactions. IME Pay allows you to perform Mobile Recharge, Landline Payment, Electricity Bill Payment, Water Payment, TV Payment, Internet Payment, EMI Payment and so on. Besides, you can buy Ticket for Movies and Airlines. One of the unique feature of IME Payment is that the ticket for Chandragiri can only be paid using IMEPay and not by other service providers. For more information please visit http://www.imepay.com.np/ .
Beside these there are various other payment service providers in Nepal like IPay, QPay, Enet Payment , Sahakari Pay e.t.c.
Thankyou for reading this article. Please let us know what you think about online payment in nepal in the comment section below.
