PhonePe, a leading digital wallet from India has unveiled the UPI payment in Nepal. This happened at a special event in Kathmandu Nepal with the presence of key stakeholders from PSPs, FonePay, banking representatives, merchants, and more. Here in this piece of news, let’s get into PhonePe UPI payments in Nepal and related info.
PhonePe UPI Payments in Nepal
About the PhonePe UPI event
This grand event witnessed the participants of Diwas Sapkota, CEO of FonePay Network, Anish Tamrakar, Chief Digital Banking Officer of Kumari Bank, Shradha Shrestha, Manager of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Jagdis Khadka, CEO of eSewa and Vivke Rana ICT/MIS Consultant from Asian Development Bank (ADB) from Nepal side. Meanwhile, the Indian side included Ritesh Pai, CEO of International Payments, PhonePe, and other officials.
The program majorly stressed the benefits of cross-country payments in the economy of both neighboring countries. Diwas Sapkota particularly headlined the potential of UPI for Nepal’s digital economy. Further, the panel also discussed the prospects of Nepal’s tourism-based economy and the use of digital payments, utilizing cross-border payments.
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Ritesh Pai on the other hand, showcased a comprehensive overview of PhonePe’s journey. He also mentioned the benefit for Indian tourists to pay conveniently at different tourist spots such as shops, restaurants, hotels, pilgrimage sites, and more.
Some important things about PhonePe UPI Payments in Nepal
- In case you didn’t know, an MoU was signed between India’s NPCI and Nepal’s largest PSO, FonePay for cross-border payments integration a year ago. And the service has been active for some months already.
- As of now, only PhonePe users can make payments in FonePay QR networks in Nepal, using UPI.
- UPI payments only work on PAN-registered business QR based on the FonePay network in Nepal. Means, that you cannot accept such payments in your personal bank account or digital wallet’s QR.
- In order to make such payments, an Indian citizen must be present in Nepal.
- Only Indian citizens can pay in Nepal. It will still take some time for Nepalese citizens to be able to pay in India using Nepali wallets and mobile banking apps in India.\
Also Check: Fonepay partner GLN for Nepal-South Korea cross-border payment
About PhonePe, UPI, and FonePay
Although sounding similar, PhonePe and FonePay are actually different. PhonePe is a widely known digital wallet that allows digital transactions by using UPI, just like eSewa in Nepal using the FonePay network. Launched in August 2016, the app has already gained a whopping 520 million plus users in just 7 years. Plus, its payment network is acceptable to over 38 million merchants in India.
On the other hand, UPI stands for Unified Payments Interface which brings the banking and digital wallets under one umbrella of payment service. It is basically a Payment Service Operator backed up by Reserve Bank of India. Every major bank and wallet in India uses UPI as a medium for transferring money.
Meanwhile, FonePay is a Nepalese Payment Service Operator (PSO) that facilitates digital payments by providing its payment network to Payment Service Providers (PSPs) like eSewa, Khalti, IME Pay, and mobile banking apps. It is a part of F1soft Group which boasts the largest QR network in Nepal and also hosts multiple banking and finance company apps.
Have a Read: Nepal Rastra Bank Calls for Digital Wallets Merger
PhonePe UPI Payments in Nepal Conclusion
The beginning of UPI payments in Nepal through PhonePe is a matter of rejoice for both Nepal and India. Nepalese businessmen can now easily accept payments from Indian tourists without having to fear about counterfeit Indian currencies (IC). Also, the hassle of exchanging IC is also gone with this digital payments era. On the same boat, Indian travelers are also free of carrying huge amount of cash and do convenient payment across the widely available FonePay QR network in Nepal.
