Digital wallets have become a default choice for users in Nepal. The ease of payment on mobile, quick transactions, and diverse payment options have made mobile owners some of the most popular apps these days. So, here we list the top digital wallets in Nepal with their details about top features and services.
But before that, let’s start with some premises on digital wallets. Digital payment is the latest innovation in the field of Information and Technology. Online payment through the wallet is a global trend and Nepal cannot remain unaffected by it. The idea of online payment emanates from the ability to pay for goods or services on the go. You don’t have to carry cash or bother with changes, or anything.
Although Nepal is still miles behind in creating a cashless society, there has been an effort made by the government and private sector to achieve this foot. Now, there are many mobile wallet platforms in Nepal.
In Nepal, the concept of digital payment service providers started with the introduction of a credit card by Nabil Bank in 1990. Kumari Bank was the initiator of online banking in Nepal. Although it took some time for such services to be part of people’s lives, digital payment services are now popular among Nepali users.
Table of contents
What is a digital wallet?
To put it simply, a digital wallet or an e-wallet is an electronic purse. It’s available as a mobile app that lets users make payments to merchants for their purchase of goods or services in the markets.
And thanks to the growing internet access percentage in Nepal, more users are transacting via digital wallets. The benefits are obvious too. You don’t need to bother about carrying physical notes or coins in your pocket or purse if you have a digital wallet on your smartphone.
Likewise, cashback offers, and “points” you get for making certain payments through these apps make the user experience more enjoyable and exciting. Digital wallets are provided by payment service providers (PSPs) which are licensed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).
And since the cross-border Nepal-India payment began, online mobile payment has gotten another milestone push. Digital payment especially, via mobile wallets is the real deal in the market.
Just have an internet connection and you can scan a QR or send money to the merchants at the store, cinema, restaurant, gym, or what else.
It gets even better with ideas such as a cashless economy, contactless, and faceless payment. Digital payment is the latest innovation in the field of Information and Technology. Online payment through the wallet is a global trend and Nepal is not exempt from it.
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A brief history of Mobile wallets/digital service providers in Nepal
The concept of digital/mobile wallets started concretely in 2009 after the launch of eSewa by F1 Soft International. The introduction of eSewa revolutionized the concept of digital payment in Nepal. Since then Nepal has seen different digital payment service providers. Since eSewa, other payment systems like Khalti, IME Pay, QPay, iPay, etc. have launched their services.
Digital payment services are mostly used for utility payments (electricity and water bills), mobile top-ups, airline ticketing, movie ticketing, and transactions.
Online digital payment services have eased the lives of people as people don’t have to queue up for hours to pay bills. You are just one tap away from recharging your mobile balance and buying a ticket for your favorite movie. You can get different offers for using their services including cashback when you use these apps for any purchase.
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Top digital wallets in Nepal | Latest 2024 update
7. iPay Nepal
IPay is a service from muncha.com merchandise which is a popular eCommerce platform in Nepal. Muncha.com works as an intermediary between shoppers and merchants for online shopping. You can get the app for both Android and iOS.
You can open the account on the app and load your profile. However, for now, you can load accounts from the web only. The fund can be used for payment on the go.
Best Features
To its credit, the app has maintained two layers of security for transactions where you are required to input the transaction password.
The app requires your email ID for signup and you need to enter your email ID every time you log in. You can download the app from either the Play Store or iOS store.
Although it was launched a long time ago, it has not been able to lure more users to use it. The reason for this is that it has partnerships with fewer banks and has a limitation when it comes to mobile top-ups, airline ticketing, utility payment, and other services.
6. Namaste Pay
Namaste Pay is another fast-growing mobile payment app in Nepal. It was launched in September 2021 as a joint venture between Nepal Telecom (NTC) and Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) and is operated by Nepal Digital Payments Company Ltd. (NDPC).
Like other digital wallets, Namaste Pay allows utility payments such as internet, water, and electricity bill payments, fund transfers, etc.
Best Features
Namaste Pay is Nepal’s first digital wallet that provides offline payment service. So, if you don’t have an internet connection, you can still make payment offline via mobile balance.
The payment platform uses two accounts for mobile numbers, one for the digital wallet for online payment and the other for mobile balance for offline transactions. You can also pay for goods and services using USSD codes.
Split bill is another unique feature in the app that lets multiple users split the payment at, for instance, a restaurant. Remittance payment as well as booking tickets to Manakamana cable car is also available on the platform.
It’s Nepal’s largest mobile wallet in terms of paid-up capital which stands at Rs 400 million.
5. Hamro Pay
Hamro Pay is an in-app digital wallet service brought by Hamro Patro Inc. Launched in early 2023, Hamro Pay has quickly become a popular digital wallet.
Like other digital wallets, it also lets users make utility payments, transfer funds, etc.
Best Features
Most uniquely though, Hamro Pay lets inter-wallet fund transfer. It’s a unique service not available on other mobile payment gateways except for Moru Digital Wallet. There also is a split bill payment feature allowing multiple users to split the bill and pay individually such as for restaurants, or other rejoices.
Additionally, Hamro Pay doesn’t require a separate download. The service is embedded into the Hamro Patro Super app so, it’s accessible from within the Hamro Patro app. Therefore, it makes for another solid convenience.
It has also introduced the Koili Audio QR system for payment notification which cuts down time for both customers and merchants waiting for confirmation on their phones. Credit goes to the minds of the company’s founder Shankar Uprety and his team for making Hamro Pay already one of the most used digital wallets in Nepal in 2024.
4. Prabhu Pay
Prabhu Pay is also one of the latest digital wallet payment providers in Nepal and is owned by Prabhu Group. Having a bank of its own, PrabhuPay allows us to make fund transfers to wallets from 20 different banks.
The top-ups for mobile, bill payments of electricity, water, internet, travel/movie tickets, and more can be done from the PrabhuPay wallet. PrabhuPay says they have multiple layers of security to make the payment securely safe.
Best Features
The best part is you can also move the money from any of the platforms in the Prabhu Pay Ecosystem to another.
You can add several kinds of debit/credit cards in the app, from a simple registration in the app. You can also earn 1 bonus point after payment of Rs 100 on bill payment.
Since there are many digital payment providers operating already in the market, the survival of the fittest theory will come into play very soon.
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3. IME Pay
IME is a popular remittance service provider in the country. They are now offering their users a better one in all digital wallets. IME Pay is one of those emerging digital payment service providers in Nepal that has been popular in recent years.
It offers a wide range of payment gateway for its users. The services available from this app include airline ticketing, bus ticketing, utility payment, remittance, ISB payment, Telephone bill payment, etc.
Best Features
The digital wallet is also giving you tickets for the Chandragiri Hills Cable car. You can enjoy your digital life that is hassle-free with no queue and no penalty for delay. You can simply do your work sitting at home or even when you are on the go.
The users can use IME Pay for remittance service where the sender and receiver can use this wallet to send and receive money. There is very little option for loading the wallet using online banking. Once they get more banks on board with them this app has the potential to grow further.
If you are planning to use this digital wallet as an agent of IME Pay, you can download the IME Pay agent app. This will be helpful for agents as they can utilize all the facilities from their mobile devices. The agent app is also available in the Android app store for free download.
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2. Khalti Digital Wallet
Product of Janaki Technologies, Khalti is a top digital wallet in Nepal and will remain extremely pivotal in 2024 as well. The service was launched only in 2017 but has evolved prominently with a popular lineup of services.
Initially, it was available only for Android and web platforms. Now you can get this wallet for iOS devices as well.
Best Features
It has been providing services for DTH payment, ISP payment and other popular merchant payments. You can get tickets for movies in almost all popular movie hall chains. It has extended its services to pay the water bill in places outside Kathmandu as well.
The reason for its growing popularity has been the added services in almost every field possible. In some cases of airline ticketing, you can get more bonuses than its competitors.
It is easy to load your Khalti wallet using different bank accounts. The popularity graph for this digital payment provider has gone up massively and it continues to grow in recent times.
Even more so, after the Khalti and Fonepay payment partnership, the former has seen enormous benefits thanks to the latter’s strong merchant network across Nepal.
Khalti boasts 3.5 million users, 60,000 merchants, and over 70,000 agents. It has partnerships with over 50 banks, and thousands of cooperatives to let users make digital payments with its wallet app.
1. eSewa
Even in 2024, the undisputedly best digital mobile wallet in Nepal in 2024 should be eSewa. Their range of services, ubiquitous presence in the market, and number of the user base hints at that.
F1Soft, its parent company has made eSewa available across Nepal. The app provides services such as utility payment, government revenue payment, flight and bust ticket booking, insurance payment, etc.
Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal provided eSewa with a mobile money license in 2017. Since then, the company has only chartered higher territories. Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, eSewa has become the most prominent digital payment solution for most smartphone users.
Their range of services has grown so big that they can not worry about anyone to catch them up so easily. There is a facility for airline ticketing not only for domestic but for international as well.
Best Features
ESewa has also teamed up with popular online shopping sites to make life easy for their customers.
In terms of user experience, the eSewa mobile app has an easy user interface. Creating and operating an account is easy. The eSewa Cash Points (cash IN agents) also come in handy to get vital assistance in regards to loading funds (Cash In) even without mobile banking or internet banking.
You can also load the wallet easily using banks, eSewa dealers, and eSewa directly. The company has started its own online shopping store called eSewa Pasal. Additionally, eSewa allows loans up to Rs 2 lakh without documents.
You can use the remittance service of Western Union from eSewa. They have partnered with this popular remittance service. The quality of service and satisfied customers are the main reasons to make eSewa top the list.
As of now in 2024, eSewa has over 8 million registered users and boasts a strong network of over 2.50 lakh agents. It also has cooperation with 49+ banks, 45 microfinances, and more than 3.50 lakh merchants.
Top Digital Wallets in Nepal in Summary | 2024 Latest
Here are the top digital wallets in Nepal in summary:
| Rank | Top digital wallets in Nepal |
| 1 | eSewa |
| 2 | Khalti |
| 3 | IME Pay |
| 4 | Prabhu Pay |
| 5 | Hamro Pay |
| 6 | Namaste Pay |
| 7 | iPay Nepal |
Some other mobile wallet service providers
Apart from the digital wallets mentioned in the list, there are many other digital wallet service providers in Nepal like DigiPay, QPay, Pay Well Nepal, and more. Another payment provider named CellPay has also been launched with the investment of IMS (Samsung distributor). A bunch of new digital payment platforms are also being launched including that from CG as well.
These days mobile wallets are increasing in numbers day by day providing the same kind of services. So, we can say that mobile wallets are mushrooming in Nepal with not-so-differentiations. Due to this, none of them can sustain well in the highly competitive market. So, either merging or doing differently will give them a competitive advantage over others.
There is also a role for the government to regulate and encourage such payments. The government can also work for a single payment platform, run by the Nepal Rastra Bank to enable payments from the wallet directly without the need to load funds.
NRB had already set a limit on digital payments in Nepal. The payment amount has been increased which is encouraging for the digital payments industry in Nepal.
You can also use mobile apps from different banks that are providing services similar to these digital wallets.
The recent trend shows the competition among these digital payment players lies in their wide reach, and availability in shops (online/offline). So, these mobile wallet providers are increasing their availability in more merchants with the easiest QR code payment option.
In the present context, it has been very convenient to have digital/mobile wallets doing almost all the work that paper money does.
It all started with eSewa, however, today Nepal’s market has some tough competitors who can challenge to thrive and give better services. We can say that in the coming decade, Nepal will be much closer to a paperless economy.
Tell us what you think of the best digital wallets in Nepal in 2024 in Nepal. Which one do you use, let’s have a survey.
