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When walking around the streets of Kathmandu, you will notice stickers with quick response (QR) codes at stores and restaurants. People can pay businesses by scanning these ubiquitous QR codes with one of the many financial services apps available on their smartphones.
This system, set up a few years ago, saw widespread use by businesses and consumers in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social distancing meant that people wanted contactless modes of payment. Today, one can use QR codes to make purchases at a large grocery store in Nepal or buy something from a local handcart vendor.
Three thousand miles away, digital innovations are also sweeping across the Maldives: Odiapp, a simple yet powerful application allows people to buy tickets online for transportation on boats that connect the country's hundreds of islands together. Odiapp helps citizens plan trips better and reduce travel costs, while also helping transportation providers plan schedules and routes efficiently, reducing both fuel consumption and emissions. - blog.wb.org/blogs
A version of this article appears in the print on June 21, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
