KATHMANDU: The government along with banks and financial institutions (BFIs) and other entities has been encouraging people to make use of digital payment platforms keeping in the mind the risk of coronavirus infection spreading through currency notes. And this Dashain there has been an increment in transactions through digital wallets.
Contrary to the previous years, many people this Dashain preferred digital transactions rather than using cash. The payment service providers, who had been since the past few years promoting mobile wallet service to offer dakshina during Dashain, witnessed significant growth in e-transactions this Dashain due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Even commercial banks have started promoting the concept of offering dakshina through mobile phones. Many banks also announced cashback and discount schemes for customers making transactions through mobile apps. Since both BFIs and payment providers have promoted mobile payment service, transactions made through cash have come down while transactions through mobile banking have increased.
Mobile wallet companies have reported that the use of digital dakshina increased during Dashain this year.
The number of transactions through e-Sewa during the five days of Dashain crossed 1.1 million that were worth more than Rs 1.69 billion. Similarly, the company recorded transactions of more than Rs 7.6 million on Bijaya Dashami under its scheme called ‘Digital Dakshina’. Besides this, users also transferred money from eSewa to their bank accounts.
The company said that although the number and amount of transactions slightly decreased due to the festive holiday, the trend of e-transactions has increased in comparison to the earlier Dashain.
Another digital wallet company, Khalti, also recorded transactions of around Rs 75.5 million in the five-day period from Phulpati to Ekadashi of Dashain. According to Amit Agrawal, director of Khalti, it recorded daily transactions of around Rs 15.5 million. He said that before Dashain the company used to witness only around 3,000 transactions.
Agrawal informed that customers transferred money either from one Khaltiaccount to another or to bank accounts, which also included digital dakshina.
Nepal Clearing House Ltd also witnessed transactions of Rs 840 million in the five days during Dashain. The company’s CEO, Neelesh Man Singh Pradhan, said a total of 75,000 transactions were made during the five-day period. He informed that a total of Rs 8.1 million was transferred through 3,000 transactions during the period under the ‘Dashain Dakshina’ scheme.
According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), a total of Rs 58.94 billion was transferred through the digital medium of which Rs 17.15 billion was transferred through mobile wallet services in the last four months since the lockdown in April.
In April, NRB had increased the limit of e-payments made through digital wallets along with mobile and internet banking. It had set an upper limit for transferring funds through the wallet by amending the Unified Directive 2019.
It had set a transaction limit of Rs 25,000 per day and Rs 100,000 per month for wallet service from agents or sub-agents. It also set a limit of Rs 25,000 per transaction, Rs 100,000 per day and Rs 500,000 per month when making payments from a bank account to a wallet, from a wallet to a bank account or from one wallet to another.