Startups & tech
Technology companies and digital money.
Nepal has 30m mobile banking users but only about 335,000 credit cards
Credit card lending grew 29% last year to Rs 8bn, yet remains a sliver of bank loans. A virtual card that works on QR codes is growing faster than plastic ever did.
Nepal's ATMs and card machines lose ground as QR payments reach 72m a month
Central bank data show QR payments up 77% in a year while ATM withdrawals, debit card use and card-terminal payments all fell. The country now has fewer cash machines than a year ago.
Rajendra Khetan sold the beer and bought the payments rails
After an arbitration with Carlsberg set a $744m price on his family's stake, the chairman of one of Nepal's oldest business houses is buying into Laxmi Sunrise Bank and Fonepay, the switch behind most of the country's QR payments.
Nepal's startups grow up under a thicket of new rules
A change at the top of eSewa, fare caps for ride-hailing apps and a troubled state loan scheme show how the state is catching up with the digital economy.
Nepal's IT exports near $1bn, but the official books record a fraction
Software firms and freelancers now earn more abroad than many of the country's goods exporters, yet most of the money arrives labelled as remittance.
Indian visitors pay by phone in Nepal; Nepalis in India still cannot
QR codes have become Nepal's most-used digital payment, and Indian tourists are using them everywhere from temples to tills, but the reverse link remains unfinished.