NEPALPAY QR

Overview

NEPALPAY QR is Nepal's national interoperable QR-payment scheme, launched 11 March 2022 by Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL) as an implementation of the NepalQR standardisation framework published by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) in February 2021 [1, 2, [np-cro]]. The standard is built on EMVCo standards version 4.3 — a textbook EMVCo-compliant national QR. NEPALPAY QR works as an independent QR scheme allowing QR interoperability at both merchant level and network level — meaning any participating bank/PSP customer can pay any participating merchant regardless of issuer.

At launch, mobile-banking apps of Himalayan Bank Ltd, Sanima Bank Ltd, Samriddhi Finance Ltd, and connectIPS mobile app were enabled to scan and pay with NEPALPAY QR. Within a week, the BFIs and PSP had acquired close to 5,000 merchants — substantial early adoption. The structural significance: Nepal's QR-payment landscape was previously fragmented across closed-loop wallets (eSewa, Khalti, IME Pay, Namaste Pay — 27 licensed digital wallets per recent reports). NEPALPAY QR provides the unifying interoperable layer. October 2022, Smart QR + NEPALPAY QR announced network-level QR interoperability — extending the unification across competitor schemes. Recent: Sri Lanka × Nepal cross-border digital-payment connectivity launched, integrating NEPALPAY QR with lankaqr for cross-border tourism payments.

History

Background — Nepalese payment landscape NP:

• Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) — central bank.
• NCHL (Nepal Clearing House Limited) — interbank clearing operator.
• 27 licensed digital wallets: eSewa (largest), Khalti, IME Pay, Namaste Pay, others.
• Fragmented closed-loop QR landscape pre-2022.

February 2021 — NRB issues NepalQR standardisation framework [2]:

• Foundation document.
• Based on EMVCo standards version 4.3.
• Aimed at interoperability + standardisation.

11 March 2022 — NEPALPAY QR officially launches [1]:

• NCHL implementation of NepalQR standard.
• Initial participants: Himalayan Bank, Sanima Bank, Samriddhi Finance, connectIPS.

Within week of launch: ~5,000 merchants acquired [2]:

• Rapid early adoption.

October 2022 — Smart QR + NEPALPAY QR network-level interop [smart-qr]:

• Cross-scheme interoperability extension.

Recent — Sri Lanka × Nepal cross-border QR connectivity [newswire]:

• NEPALPAY QR ↔ lankaqr integration.
• Strengthens regional financial integration.

FY2021-22 → FY2023-24 average QR-payment volume growth: +230 %/year NP:

• Extraordinary growth trajectory.

Technical specification

NEPALPAY QR is NCHL-operated EMVCo-4.3-compliant national QR scheme [1, 2]:

Layer	Description
Standards body	Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
Operator	Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL)
Specification	EMVCo standards version 4.3
Standard published	February 2021
Implementation launch	11 March 2022
Currency	NPR (Nepalese rupee)
Interoperability scope	Merchant level + network level
Cross-scheme interop	Smart QR (Oct 2022)
Cross-border	Sri Lanka (lankaqr)
Underlying interbank rail	NCHL connectIPS rails

EMVCo 4.3 alignment [2]:

• Standard interoperable QR design.
• Compatible with regional + global QR ecosystems.

Network-level interop with Smart QR [smart-qr]:

• Cross-scheme connectivity extending beyond initial NEPALPAY QR participants.

Use cases

Merchant QR payments [1]: Cardinal use — any participating bank/wallet customer pays any participating merchant.

Cross-bank / cross-wallet [2]: Interoperable across schemes.

Cross-border tourist payments (Sri Lanka) [newswire]: NEPALPAY QR ↔ LankaQR integration.

Bill payment [1]: Utilities + government via connected wallets.

P2P transfers (via underlying rails) [1]: Indirect via connectIPS.

Implementations & ecosystem

Standards body: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Operator: Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL).

Initial participants (launch):

• Himalayan Bank Ltd.
• Sanima Bank Ltd.
• Samriddhi Finance Ltd.
• connectIPS mobile app.

Subsequent: Most major Nepalese BFIs + 27 licensed digital wallets via interop.

Cross-scheme partner: Smart QR (Oct 2022).

Cross-border partner: lankaqr (Sri Lanka via LankaPay).

Major Nepalese digital wallets NP: eSewa (largest), Khalti, IME Pay, Namaste Pay, 23 others.

Fun facts

• EMVCo 4.3 from launch: One of the more recent EMVCo specification versions globally — Nepal benefited from later standardisation maturity.
• 5,000 merchants in 1 week: Among the faster initial-week-merchant-acquisition rates for any national QR launch.
• 230 % average annual growth: FY2021-22 → FY2023-24 — Nepal QR-payment growth extraordinary.
• 27 licensed wallets in small Nepal: One of the highest digital-wallet-licence counts globally for a market of Nepal's size (~30M population).
• Sri Lanka × Nepal cross-border: Regional South-Asian cross-border QR connectivity expansion.
• Connectivity with BHIM-UPI (India) — Nepal-India cross-border integration has been progressively expanded given strong Nepal-India economic ties.
• Network-level interop with Smart QR (Oct 2022): Cross-scheme cooperation rare among national QR products.
• Tourism-payment focus: Nepal's tourism economy (Himalayas, Lumbini, Kathmandu Valley) drives cross-border QR-acceptance value.

Comparison

Feature	NEPALPAY QR (NP)	bhutan-qr (BT)	lankaqr (LK)	bangla-qr (BD)	upi-qr (IN)
Standards body	NRB	RMA	CBSL	Bangladesh Bank	NPCI/RBI
Operator	NCHL	RMA	LankaPay	various	NPCI
Specification	EMVCo 4.3	UPI-aligned	EMVCo	EMVCo MPM	NPCI proprietary
Cross-border partners	Sri Lanka + India (BHIM-UPI)	India BHIM-UPI	India + Alipay+	Limited	Multiple (SG, AE, etc.)
Launch	Mar 2022	2020	Oct 2020	Mar 2019	2016

Status

Active, growing rapidly [1, 2, [np-cro]]:

• NCHL operator since 11 March 2022.
• EMVCo 4.3-compliant.
• Merchant + network-level interop.
• Smart QR cross-scheme (Oct 2022).
• Sri Lanka cross-border integration.
• +230 % annual growth.

Sources

• 1 NEPALPAY QR — NCHL
• 2 NEPALPAY QR interoperable — NCHL
• [np-cro] reports/countries/NP-nepal.md

Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):

• NP — NP-nepal.md