ADB Urges Nepal and India to Resolve Digital Payment Hurdles

The Asian Development Bank released a report identifying the digital payment corridor between Nepal and India as a major untapped opportunity to improve trade, tourism, and remittance flows. While Indian travelers have used QR codes to pay merchants in Nepal since March 2024, with daily transactions reaching 2,000 by early 2025, reciprocal QR payments for Nepalis visiting India remain pending.

This gap is caused by unresolved commission structures, as QR payments are free in India but carry a 1.95 percent charge in Nepal. To address immediate needs, Nepali Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar inaugurated a cross-border online fund transfer service in early June for workers in both nations.

The report recommends that Nepal adopt a UPI-like architecture and strengthen its payment infrastructure and regulatory alignment. This follows 2024 regulatory agreements between the Nepal Rastra Bank and the Reserve Bank of India to integrate the National Payments Interface with India's Unified Payments Interface.