How do people in Nepal pay online?
Wallets and mobile banking carry most digital payments. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) counted 27.4 million wallets and 30.2 million mobile banking users in mid-June 2026. In the month from mid-May to mid-June 2026, wallets handled 50.8 million transactions worth NPR 52,377 million, mobile banking 77.3 million transactions and QR-based payments 63.6 million. DataReportal counts 16.6 million internet users in late 2025, 56.0% of the population.
eSewa and Khalti are among the wallets on NRB’s list of licensed payment service providers. Esewa Ltd. runs eSewa and IME Khalti Ltd. runs Khalti, alongside other licensed wallets such as CellPay, MyPay and Namaste Pay. Fonepay Payment Service Ltd. is a licensed payment system operator, and NRB’s 2024/25 oversight report inspected it with Khalti, eSewa and other providers.
Bank transfers come through connectIPS and other fast payment rails. NRB’s Faster Payment Systems figure, which includes connectIPS on mobile, web and gateway, Fonepay interbank transfers and similar services, reached 19.8 million transactions in the month to mid-June 2026. connectIPS had 1.58 million users.
Cards are a smaller online channel. Nepal had 13.99 million debit cards and 334,613 credit cards in mid-June 2026, and online card payments were 284,860 transactions worth NPR 1,661 million that month. Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay International are licensed payment system operators. Google Pay is available for online payments, but Nepal is not on Apple’s list of Apple Pay countries.
What rules shape online payments in Nepal?
Online sellers must register. Parliament passed the E-Commerce Act in March 2025, making registration mandatory for doing business online. Running an electronic business without a platform, without listing or without disclosing details of goods and services can be fined NPR 20,000 to 50,000.
Foreign digital services pay a digital service tax. The Digital Service Tax Act released by the Inland Revenue Department in August 2024 sets a 2% tax on the value of digital service transactions by non-residents, with an exemption for transactions up to NPR 3 million a year.
Payments run through licensed providers. Wallets and payment operators are licensed by NRB, and its 2024/25 oversight report found weak compliance and governance at several providers. Cross-border QR payments reached 993,582 transactions worth NPR 2.86 billion in that year, most of them between Nepal and India.
How would Omno route payments in Nepal?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, amount and customer group. In Nepal:
- Wallet pay-ins for eSewa and Khalti would go to providers that support them, with the hosted checkout sending the shopper to approve in the wallet and the order pending until the provider confirms.
- Bank transfers through connectIPS or QR could be offered by a local provider, with the result confirmed by the provider’s notification.
- Card pay-ins would follow rules by BIN, currency and amount, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for wallets first. Nepal has 27.4 million wallets and recorded 50.8 million wallet transactions in a single month, against about 285,000 online card payments.
Plan for a local presence or partner. Wallets and connectIPS are domestic rails, so a foreign merchant would usually need a provider licensed in Nepal to offer them.
Plan for registration and tax. Domestic sellers need e-commerce registration under the 2025 Act, and foreign digital service providers should check the 2% digital service tax above NPR 3 million a year.