Kathmandu, November 30

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has proposed the threshold for digital payments under card facilities, electronic wallet and mobile banking, and is seeking inputs from stakeholders before issuing a directive to the service providers.

The Payment System Department under the central bank has proposed that credit card users be allowed to withdraw cash only up to 20 per cent of the credit limit. Currently, banks are allowing cash withdrawal of up to 90 per cent. As per the proposed rules, credit card users, who have utilised the cash withdrawal facility, cannot withdraw cash again until after the payback period of the withdrawal facility, despite making deposits.

The central bank has proposed that the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) be allowed to issue pre-paid card facility of up to Rs 100,000 at one time, and users of pre-paid card may withdraw Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 in one transaction and up to Rs 25,000 per month. Likewise, debit card users can withdraw minimum of Rs 500 to maximum of Rs 25,000 in one-time transaction and up to Rs 100,000 in a day. The same facility will be applied for debit card users even if the issuer and acquirer institutions vary and applicable charges should be made public efficiently.

Similarly, NRB has also proposed payment threshold for mobile payment, under which users can make payment of up to Rs 5,000 in one transaction and daily and monthly payment limit would be fixed at Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000, respectively.

Under internet banking payment facility, users will be able to make payment of up to Rs 100,000 in a day but no more than Rs 500,000 in a month, as per the proposed rules. However, the threshold for transfer of funds to the bank accounts through the use of internet banking has been proposed at Rs 100,000 in one time and up to Rs 10 million in a month.

Agent and sub-agents would be allowed to deposit up to Rs 5,000 in one transaction, up to Rs 15,000 in day and up to Rs 25,000 in a month in the wallets operated by the electronic payment service providers. And same would be applied in case of payment as well, according to the proposed rules. The rules have also proposed to allow wallet-to-wallet transfer of funds and also through bank accounts to wallets. An amount ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 5,000 would be allowed to be transferred wallet-to-wallet in one transaction and up to Rs 15,000 in a day. Likewise, for the payment purpose, Rs 50,000 could be transferred in one transaction and that must be paid for another party on the same day of the transfer.

Wallet service provider would not be able to hold more than Rs 25,000 as deposit. By utilising the facility provided by the service providers, users would be able to pay the bill of public utilities for up to Rs 15,000 a day and Rs 25,000 in a month, as per the proposed rules.

Likewise, payment service provider could make payment of up to Rs 100,000 for remittance recipients in the country. If they have to make payments of more than the given threshold, they would have to do so through a bank account. Remittance companies operating wallets following the approval from the central bank can take deposits of up to Rs 10,000 per month from the remitters for the utilities payment, as per the proposed rules.

Payment service providers would have to follow the know-your-customer (KYC) rules of central bank for clients who conduct transactions of above Rs 5,000 per month from the wallet operated by service providers.