September 28: E-commerce businesses are becoming more appealing with the digitization of payment methods. In the process of paying for the purchase and sales of goods and services through electronic means, 168,627 transactions were made in the month of Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August) alone. According to Nepal Rastra Bank, these transactions amounted to around Rs 1.20 billion.

This is the first time that the central bank has published such data. Among all the electronic payment methods, most of the transactions have been made through digital wallets. In the review month alone, 10,100,077 transactions worth Rs 7,000,057,000 was done.

The Payments System Department of Nepal Rastra Bank says that the data also included all the payments made through debit cards, credit cards, and pin cards for E-commerce.

According to the department, payments are mostly made through the card’s number when the price to be paid is already predetermined. Bhuwan Kandel, the executive director of the department, says that the data made public is based on the transactions made through banks and financial institutions that provide the electronic payments and e-commerce facilities as well as payment service providers like Esewa, Khalti, IME Pay, Phone Pay, and payment gateways like Nepal Clearing House.

According to Kandel, the data was made public because e-commerce is being prioritized currently as new electronic payment technologies and devices are being added to the market. “We have issued many circulars in order to promote e-commerce during the current crisis  caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, we have also been keeping a watch at the new as well the most frequently used electronic payment methods. We can generate information about how much appeal each electronic payment method has in the eye of the public from this,” he said.

Ecommerce companies like Daraz, Sastodeal, UG Bazaar, etc have been providing online delivery services for daily necessities, clothes and electrical appliances. Metro vegetables has been doing the same for fruits and vegetables, and Foodmandu, Foodmario and Bhoj Deal have been providing online delivery services for food. Similarly, Tootle, Pathao and Sarathi have been providing services through online payments.