“Digital Wallets in Nepal 2020 On the basis of User Ratings”
What is a Digital Wallet?
Digital Wallet is the online payment gateway through which you can pay online to various merchants. Digital Wallet, the name itself says a digital holder that stores the amount of money to pay for your various services online.
It’s actually the gateway to a cashless economy. Kumari Bank was the one who initiated online banking and it took some time to be a part of people’s lives. And now its similar case in this digital wallet.
History of Digital Wallet Services in Nepal
The concept of mobile /digital wallets was started by F1 Soft International launching the eSewa. After the introduction of eSewa Nepal was in a complete revolution in the world of digitalization.
Since then to date, there are many more digital wallets introduced in Nepal. Every digital wallet is unique in its own way and full of services.
Why Digital Wallets in Nepal?
Digital wallets are mostly used for payment services like Utility bill payment, Mobile Top-up(recharge), school college fee payments, airline ticket bookings, bank to bank money transactions, and many more.
Digital wallets have eased the life of people in Nepal in so many different ways. People these days don’t have to queue in lines for hours and hours to pay bills, everything can be done within a few clicks from their own homes.
Top 7 Digital Wallets in Nepal – 2020
Khalti
Khalti is one of the fastest-growing digital wallets in the list. Launched in 2017, till date 2020 it has gained popularity among thousands of users. It was developed by the Sparrow Pay Pvt Ltd.
Today, Khalti is the most popular wallet in terms of its user experience and a good UI.
It has the highest user ratings i.e 4.6 in Google Play store. Once people are used to it they have actually used the Khalti wallet frequently. Khalti has truly maintained accountability and sustainability in this digital market.
The services provided by the Khalti in multiple platforms like IOS, Android and Web versions are equally smooth. Khalti, the name itself sounds perfect, isn’t it??
Let’s talk about its services; Utility bill payment like electricity bill payment, top-up, khanepani, Tv subscription payment, Internet, Antivirus, Insurance, and the list goes on. Mostly it’s popular for hotel booking and now OYO booking.
Also Read: How to load funds on Khalti digital wallet using ATM cards?
You can have two versions of the Khalti Digital wallet i.e Merchant wallets and Normal consumers Wallet.[Difference in UI according to the registered system.]
Talking about security, Khalti is secure. You can protect your wallet with 4 digit MPIN while signing in and even MPIN during every transaction. But it lacks fingerprint security.
Khalti is best for its reward points and cashback. Khalti points and its quick redemption is the reason behind its huge popularity.
Download Khalti: Android | IOS
IME Pay
IME Pay is the product of the IME Remittance, one of the leading remittance companies in Nepal. Although IME Pay is new in the Nepalese fintech market it has competed the Khalti with 500k+ downloads and 4.4 user ratings.
This fast growth of the IME Pay is due to its impressive marketing campaigns. From sponsoring the biggest reality show Nepal Lok Star to its big advertisements boards all around, it has come to the competition.
As mentioned earlier about the remittance company, IME Pay is more about a mobile remittance and less about the digital wallet. IME Pay super wallet also includes most of the wallet services like utility payments, recharges and so on. Like other wallets, you also get a cashback and offers.
IME Pay is most popular for flight booking as it provides the highest cashback in it. You can book movie tickets, flights, Chandragiri cable car tickets and so on. More on to this you can pay on the petrol pumps using IME Par and get Rs.2 Cashback.
Talking about UI, its simple and productive with limited icons and important ones at the display. There’s a Scan and Pay feature at the center and the app is getting better day by day.
Download IME Pay: Android | IOS
eSewa
As already mentioned eSewa is the first digital wallet in Nepal developed by F1 Soft Technology.
It is the most popular digital wallet in Nepal 2020 among a lot of Nepalese over a million downloads on Google Play Store.
Since 2009 eSewa is providing services like Utility bill payments including electricity bill payment, top-up, khanepani, Tv subscription payment, internet, antivirus, insurance, and the list goes on. Oh-so many services I wonder what to list out, so you can check it yourself in-app.
It is licensed by Nepal Rastra Bank a long ago. The multitude of services is the reason behind its success and huge popularity.
F1Soft is a real creator in the Nepalese Fintech. eSewa is a product of F1Soft. Talking more, eSewa also provides cashback and reward points that can be redeemed and get the gift vouchers.
eSewa has more users due to its easiness in loading funds. Transfering funds is super easy with dozens of banks and finances and it’s free of charge.
eSewa these days is popular for its Scan and Pay feature. Most of the small shops, groceries, hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets had this eSewa QR code service.
PrabhuPay
PrabhuPay, as the name implies, is a subsidary product of Prabhu Group. Prabhu Group is one of the well-established corporations in Nepal. PrabhuPay is one of the products gaining 100 K+ users download in the Google Play store.
Talking about its services, it provides mobile top-ups, electricity bills, insurance premiums, internet, TV, newspaper subscriptions, etc.
Moreover, it’s popular for its recent feature for hospital bill payment and initial ticket subscription for Civil Service Hospital, Siddhi Memorial Hospital, Biratnagar Aspataal and some more. We are really thankful for Prabhu Pay for this initiation. Looking forward to more additional hospitals and such features.
As it’s new its services are increasing slowly, but the available services are really smooth and trustworthy. UI is simply designed and easy to use. Security-wise there’s a PIN and a fingerprint verification as well.
Download PrabhuPay: Android | IOS
EnetPay
Enet pay is the child of E-Net payment Private Limited. It is also one of the payment service provider licensed by NRB. There are more than 50,000 plus downloads in the Google Play store.
They have partnered with lots of banks like Kathmandu Limited, Sanima Bank, Siddhartha Bank, Sunrise Bank, Lumbini Bikash Bank Limited, Global IME Bank, Janata Bank, Kumari Bank, Machhapuchchhre Bank, Mega Bank, Nabil Bank, NCC Bank, Nepal Bank, NIC Asia Bank, Nepal Investment Bank, NMB Bank, and Prabhu Bank.
Similarly, like the other wallets, it provides services like top-up, utility bill payment like electricity and water, airline and bus ticketing and also remittance.
This application actually needs lots of improvement in UI, services and more payment options.
QPay Nepal
QPay Nepal is also one of the digital wallets in Nepal who are in the race of digitalization.
It is actually focusing to provide the services in stores for goods purchased around the country. Focusing on a wider spread than the more services.
QPay is a three-tier hierarchical service provider i.e customer-merchant and service provider.
They have a different application for customers as well as merchants. There is lot of restrictions on the customer application.
You must be thinking about why QPay. Right ?? Actually Qpay users can pay to all SCT or UnionPay accepting merchants all across the country. There are 20 thousand accepting merchants nationwide.
Like other wallets, it provides basic utility bill payments, mobile top-ups, internet subscription, tv subscription, flight booking, electricity, and khanepani payment.
Download QPay Nepal : Android : IOS
IPay
I-Pay Nepal is actually a product of Muncha.com which started back its services in 2018. It has about 5,000+ downloads only and least in comparison to other digital services.
I-Pay works as an intermediary between merchant and shopper for purchase of merchandise online.
It provides more services like Utility bill payment (telephone, internet, electricity, etc.), Mobile phone recharge, Flight booking (for domestic airlines), Ticket purchase (movie, bus, manakamana darshan).
It is associated with less number of banks like NIC Asia, Prabhu Bank, Global IME Bank, Janata bank, etc.
The app was lately updated on 11 Oct 2018, on Android and doesn’t seem to progress at all.
Digital Wallets User Ratings and Downloads
| S.N | Digital Wallet | User Rating | User Downloads |
| 1 | Khalti | 4.6 | 500K+ Downloads |
| 2 | IME Pay | 4.4 | 500K+ Downloads |
| 3 | eSewa | 4.3 | 1M+ Downloads |
| 4 | Prabhu Pay | 4.2 | 100K+ Downloads |
| 5 | EnetPay | 3.6 | 50K+ Downloads |
| 6 | QPay Nepal | 3.4 | 50K+ Downloads |
| 7 | I-Pay Nepal | 3.2 | 5K+ Downloads |
These all are the top 7 digital wallets in Nepal that have their own unique features and growing day by day. There are many more emerging apps in Nepal such as Cell Pay, CG Pay, Paywell Nepal, and DigiPay . Many more to come in this e-payment market. It seems growing rapidly and lets hope for the best to come and excited for a digital Nepal.
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Also Read : How to recharge your mobile phone online using digital wallets?
