Kathmandu, July 28: Nepal’s digital payment ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with the latest data showing growing public confidence in cashless transactions. A sharp rise in transactions through ConnectIPS and corporate digital payment platforms signals the country’s accelerating shift towards a digital economy.
According to Nilesh Man Singh Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer of the Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), Nepal’s payment system is rapidly moving away from traditional methods and embracing digital platforms.
NCHL data show that during the fiscal year 2025/26, its clearing and settlement systems processed more than 238.18 million transactions worth over Rs 210.18 trillion. In the previous fiscal year, the systems handled 211.22 million transactions amounting to Rs 186.02 trillion.
Pradhan said large value payments that were once primarily made through cheques are increasingly shifting to real time digital payment systems.
Under the NCHL ECC cheque clearing system, 14.81 million transactions worth Rs 78.73 trillion were processed during the last fiscal year. A year earlier, the system handled 14.89 million transactions valued at Rs 76.84 trillion.
Meanwhile, transactions through the NCHL IPS platform rose significantly. During the last fiscal year, the platform processed 36.62 million transactions worth Rs 34.92 trillion, up from 30.65 million transactions valued at Rs 29.37 trillion in the previous year.
Retail Payment System (RPS), which powers ConnectIPS, recorded the strongest growth. It processed 144.72 million transactions worth Rs 93.28 trillion during the fiscal year, surpassing cheque-based transactions in terms of transaction value. In the previous fiscal year, RPS handled 112.36 million transactions worth Rs 75.53 trillion.
However, transactions made through EFT cards declined in both volume and value. During the last fiscal year, 42.01 million card transactions worth Rs 3.25 trillion were recorded, compared with 53.32 million transactions worth Rs 4.28 trillion a year earlier.
EFT cards include payment cards such as Visa, Mastercard and UnionPay used for purchases and other retail transactions.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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