April 15: Payments through QR Code have been increasing in the country, according to the Current Economic and Financial report released by the Nepal Rastra Bank recently. The report states that payments via QR code have increased by 48.94 percent in a month.

In the period between mid-February to mid-March, transactions worth Rs 2.5 billion were done through QR Code while there were transactions worth Rs 1.71 billion between mid-January to mid-February.

Number-wise, there were 635,732 transactions in between mid-February and mid-March while the period of mid-January to mid-February recorded 535,000 transactions through QR code.

Lately, transactions done via digital platform like connectIPS, mobile wallet, mobile banking and internet banking are on the rise. According to the central bank, transactions worth Rs 250 billion were done via connectIPS, mobile banking, internet banking, QR scan and mobile wallet in between mid-February and mid-March alone. In the month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), transactions done through these platforms have increased by 8.17 billion compared to the previous month.

Internet banking accounted for transaction worth Rs 8.8 billion in the review period and  mobile wallet contributed to transaction worth Rs 10.18 billion. In the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February), transactions worth Rs 9.94 billion were done via mobile wallet.

Meanwhile, the volume of transaction done via ecommerce sites has declined in the month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March) compared to the previous month. In the month of mid Jan/mid Feb, transaction worth Rs 932 billion were done while in the month of mid Feb/mid March, transaction worth Rs 904 million were done via ecommerce sites.