What
The long-awaited ‘Namaste Pay Mobile wallet ‘Namaste Pay‘ will be launched from Tuesday. Operated by Nepal Digital Payment Company with the joint investment of Nepal Telecom and Nepal Banijya Bank, this Namaste Pele is going to bring the facility of transferring without internet for the first time in Nepal.
Now Namaste Pay users can exchange money using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) i.e. code number provided by the company even when the internet is not available. This means that now when we give any data pack of Nepal Telecom, we take Star 1415 hash, similarly, when sending money from Namaste Pay, it can be sent using the same code. Namaste Pay will be the first company to send money through USSD technology to mobile wallets operating in Nepal. It is believed that this facility will be very useful for consumers who do not have internet facilities or do not have access to the internet in rural areas.
How
Branches of commercial banks are also located in remote parts of the country. Similarly, the customers of Nepal Telecom have also spread to remote areas of the country. There is no internet facility in such places. There is no quality internet facility where the app runs. The company believes that it will be very useful to send money from USSD even in such places.
Another feature of this app is ‘Wallet to Wallet Fund Transfer’. Also, it has a micro-credit facility. Hello, Pay can also be sent to the bank and from the bank to the wallet. You do not have to load money from the bank linked to this app. You can also transfer money directly from the bank connected to this app.
Hello Pay is getting ready to start commercially later this month. According to a company official, the test will be held internally for a week before that. Preparations have been made to test it internally from Tuesday, September 8. The trial period will be the use of the app between the staff of Nepal Telecom and the staff of Commercial Bank.
The Function
This test will make it easier to fix any problems with the app. An internal test is being carried out as it will be easier to correct even if it is damaged while testing things like fund transfer among friends of the company. Despite the fierce competition in the market, the government is confident that it will make rapid progress as it has two old and large government customers. Nepal Telecom has about 15 million customers while commercial banks have 3.5 million customers. He estimates that about one million of these customers will be duplicates.
The company is expected to attract older generation customers. Most of the customers with commercial bank accounts come from the older generation. The paid-up capital of Nepal Digital Payments is Rs. 400 million. The company has 61 percent investment from Nepal Telecom and 39 percent from Rastriya Banijya Bank. Namaste Pay was approved by the National Bank on March 19.
In terms of paid-up capital, Namaste Pay is the largest of the 28 payment service providers approved by Nepal Rastra Bank.
Nepal Telecom is known to start the internal testing of its digital payment service: Namaste Pay from Tuesday, Bhadra 22. Earlier they had started the preliminary testing from Baishakh 19, 2078. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, on the occasion of 4th National ICT Day, announced the initiation of testing of the app via a virtual program. One of the great features of the Digital payment mobile money service is the ability to perform transfers, payments without the internet.
Namaste Pay is the mobile money service set up by Nepal Telecom and Rashtriya Banijya Bank (RBB) with an authorized capital of Rs. 1 billion. This government-run digital payment app is on the verge of becoming the mobile wallet with the largest paid-up capital of Rs. 400 million.
Actually, they intended to officially launch the app firstly within Jestha and then on the ICT day but due to no readiness, the plan changed. The payment service had to go through several services, banks integration, and rigorous testing to make it officially available for the public. Now they are performing the test among their internal employees.
Although it was planned to launch within Jestha (that did not happen), Namaste Pay could now be launched any time soon.
Namaste Pay: both an online and offline mobile wallet
Namaste Pay is not only the first government-run payment service provider (PSP), but also, the first offline mobile wallet. It means the user need not have an internet connection to make digital payments.
Up until now, there were only online digital payment platforms for the users to make transactions. It required smartphones and an internet connection. With the use of Namaste Pay, NT users with feature phones can make offline transactions anytime and anyplace.
The payment system will use the mobile number as a digital wallet. The mobile balance can be used as a transaction fund to pay bills like electricity bills, water bills, etc.
However, the mobile money service fund will be stored in a different account than the recharge balance. This feature helps to skip the taxes included in the service charges. Such an option makes mobile money service cheaper and easier.
For this purpose, the company is preparing to use the USSD channel. Then, by typing the USSD code, the users can make offline transactions. This option is much secure than SMS too.
For online users, a wallet will also be available. Rashtriya Banijya Bank will act as a settlement bank for payment services. As per the info, all mobile numbers in Nepal can do the payment from Namastepay using both online and offline means.
Largest paid-up capital of Rs. 400 million
The Nepal Digital Payment Company is so far the largest in terms of paid-up capital. Among the 27 PSPs approved by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) in March, Namaste Pay has the largest paid-up capital.
According to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) provision, the digital payment companies should make a paid-up capital of at least Rs. 10 million. As per the details released by Nepal Rastra Bank, the paid-up capital of Namaste Pay is Rs. 400 million.
After Namaste Pay, the companies with the highest paid-up capital are IME Pay and Prabhu Pay. Their paid-up capital is Rs 100 million. Similarly, eSewa has a paid-up capital of Rs. 50 million.
About The Author
