27 Feb 2021, Kathmandu
There is no need for cash when buying vegetables and fruit in small shops or riding rickshaws in the markets of the province of Lumbini.
In order to make digital banking available to the general public in the province of Lumbini, the QR (Quick Response) code to help the payment system has been launched. A system has been introduced in that area where consumers can pay from their account to the account of the service provider without any additional charges.
Sudip Phuyal, Director, Nepal Rastra Bank Siddharthnagar Office, inaugurated the payment of QR code in the market for vegetables and fruit and e-rickshaws worked there at the initiative of the Nepal Rastra Bank Siddharthnagar Office.
Inauguration of the QR payment system provided by Nabil Bank at Mayadevi Vegetable and Fruit Bazaar, BP Road, Ward No. 8, Siddharthnagar Municipality, Director Phuyal said that Nepal Rastra Bank has launched a campaign to make the digital payment system available to the public in Nepal. He also appealed to everyone to take part in it.
Nabil Bank Lumbini State Manager Yagya Prasad Sharma, Branch Manager Lila Prasad Ojha, Assistant Director of Nepal Rastra Bank Siddharth Nagar Office Ramesh Kumar Neupane, Chairman of the Market Committee Som Bahadur Pandey, and local business journalists were present on the occasion. There are more than 350 shops in the permanent vegetable market on the BP Path of Siddharthnagar in the daily wholesale and retail trade.
The e-rickshaws run in the Siddharthnagar Civic Area was inaugurated in the program held this week by Sudip Poomal, Director of Payment for QR Code.
Hari Bahadur Nepali, president of the e-rickshaw driver association, said that the e-rickshaws operated in Bhairahawa would be gradually taught how to use the QR code. More than two hundred e-rickshaw drivers have joined and operate in the Siddharthnagar area.
You may like this: Use of QR code in e-rickshaws of Rupandehi
Interact with banks to extend payment from QR code system
The Interaction Program was coordinated with the State Managers of Banijya Banks, Development Banks, and Chief Executive Officers of MFIs in Lumbini with the goal of promoting digital banking in Lumbini and effectively serving target groups through the successful implementation of programs run by the Federal Government and State Financial Institutions.
The Nepal Rastra Bank Siddharthnagar Office has arranged an engagement program with state managers of Banijya banks, development banks, and chief executive officers of microfinance institutions in the state, encouraging all banks and financial institutions to carry out such programs in the state and also to concentrate on investment.
Speaking on the occasion, Sudip Phuyal, Director, Nepal Rastra Bank, Siddharth Nagar Office, said that the half-yearly review of monetary policy highlighted the use of the QR code payment system to facilitate digital banking. He said the banks should pay careful attention to implementation.
He also requested everyone to aid in import substitution by the production by concentrating on the growth of the agricultural livestock sector by investing in the dairy and meat production projects under the federal government’s livestock development project and the free loan facilitation and interest support program of the Lumbini state government.
Nepal Live Stock Project Organizing Head Dr. Purushottam Tripathi claimed that 50 percent of the amount needed for the operation of the project by cooperatives, groups, or individuals producing meat and milk should be invested by the businessmen concerned and 20 percent by a bank loan.
On the occasion, Lumbini State Coordinator of the Nepal Bankers Association and a State Manager of the Nepal Investment Bank Ram Raj Upadhyaya said that the banks are ready to make such programs effective under the auspices of the Central Bank. Prem Bahadur Pathak, Chief Executive Officer of Unnati Sahakarya MFI, said on the occasion that the MFI network extends to villages and small entrepreneurs.
NRB has launched a campaign to extend and publicize the payment system to small traders through QR codes. Under the federal government, the Nepal Livestock Sector Project provides 50 percent of funding for meat and milk production projects.