Kathmandu, April 6

After the government decided to impose a countrywide lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus, digital wallets have become the best option for people to top-up the balance in their mobile phones.

As per service providers, use of digital wallets has increased significantly by four to five times mostly for top-up purpose.

The country has been in a lockdown for the last 12 days and today it has been extended by another one week. In such a situation, people are unable to go outside to purchase recharge cards and even the related authorities are unable to supply recharge cards in the market.

Hence, digital wallet has become the best option for mobile topup, said Amit Agrawal, co-founder of Khalti, a digital wallet.

“Digital wallet transaction for mobile top-up has increased by 200 to 300 per cent during the lockdown period,” he said. “People are downloading digital wallet for such utility purposes.”

Likewise, people are also using digital wallet for payment of cable television and internet bills.

As per Agrawal, subscription of Khalti digital wallet has been increasing by four to five times each day at the moment. Moreover, Khalti has also partnered with online stores for digital payment service, due to which the app is being promoted among digital wallet users. He said the lockdown has also helped create awareness among people regarding the significance of digital wallet to go cashless.

Arun Phuyal, manager of eSewa, said that the trust in digital wallets among Nepalis is growing.

“We are witnessing a significant increase in digital payments since beginning of the lockdown.

Banks and other government and private sector offices are all encouraging online payment to maintain social distance,” he said. “We believe this has somewhat helped build trust among consumers on digital payment.”

As per Phuyal, the new registration rate of eSewa has increased significantly during the lockdown period. “We have found people are recommending their friends and family to use eSewa for digital payments.

Moreover, we are also providing referral bonus of Rs 80 for users who have referred other customers to use our service,” he added.

According to him, during the lockdown period, most of the people have used eSewa to topup their mobile balance, pay internet and cable TV bills, make bank deposits and send funds to family and friends.

Meanwhile, the transaction of CellPay has also increased by 40 per cent during the lockdown period and it is mostly for top-up, utility bill payment, merchant payment and fund transfer, said Pawan Pradhan, managing director of Cellcom.

As most of the people have gone home, digital payment has become an option for fund transfer as well. “Customer subscription of CellPay during the lockdown has risen by 50 per cent,” he added.

However, other major digital transactions have been halted due to the lockdown.

“All the transactions for airline, bus, movies, hotels and restaurants have halted,” Khalti Co-founder Agrawal said. “Payments for electricity, water service, ride-share, insurance and schools have also been halted.

Maybe people are waiting for the government to waive charges for electricity and water in this critical situation,” he added.

Meanwhile, some internet service providers have also provided internet service even after the subscription time has expired as people are unable to go outside and pay. “The major part of the digital transaction has been somehow affected due to the lockdown. Yet, people are becoming more aware, which could be beneficial in the coming days,” he added.

Amid the increasing threat of coronavirus, the government has also recommended citizens to go cashless and use digital platforms for financial transactions.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 07, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.