21st October 2025, Kathmandu
The air in Kathmandu, and indeed across Nepal, is thick with the excitement of the festive season. As families prepare for the grand celebrations of Dashain and Tihar, a significant economic upswing is underway, traditionally marked by a surge in consumer spending.
Nabil’s Festive Shopping Rewards
This year, however, the spending is increasingly digital, and at the forefront of this transformation is Nabil Bank Limited in partnership with Visa.
Their recent festive promotion is not just an offer of rewards but a powerful catalyst pushing card-based transactions, be it debit, credit, or prepai,d further into the mainstream of Nepal’s vibrant digital economy.
The announcement from Nabil Bank and Visa of a festive promotion that allows cardholders to win shopping vouchers worth up to NPR 250,000 has immediately captured the attention of Nepal’s consumers. This substantial incentive is strategically timed to coincide with the peak spending period, motivating cardholders to make their purchases digitally, whether shopping in local stores or conducting transactions online, domestically or internationally. By aiming to recognize the Top 113 spenders, the campaign creates a compelling competitive edge, encouraging higher engagement and greater reliance on card usage throughout the entire festive window, which is valid until October 31, 2025.
The Campaign: A Digital Bridge for Festive Spending
The genius of the Nabil Bank and Visa campaign lies in its broad structure. By encompassing all Nabil Visa card types, debit, credit, and prepaid and extending its reach to cover both in-store (POS) and online (e-commerce) transactions, as well as international spending, the promotion directly tackles several key areas of consumer commerce.
This multi-channel approach highlights the versatility and security of card payments, positioning them as the preferred mode of transaction for all festive purchases.
This campaign acts as an accelerator for the broader goal of a ‘cashless’ society, an objective that is strongly supported by financial regulators like the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). By offering a lucrative reward structure, the bank directly influences consumer behavior, nudging them away from traditional cash transactions.
The success of similar past festive campaigns, which have previously recognized top Visa spenders, sometimes even awarding international travel packages, underscores the immediate and tangible impact these promotions have on transaction volumes. These short-term campaigns build long-term habits, leading to a sustained increase in digital literacy and adoption long after the festival season concludes.
Moreover, the inclusion of international spending in the promotion is particularly noteworthy. It addresses the growing trend of Nepalese consumers making online purchases from abroad or using their cards while traveling. This feature promotes the responsible use of regulated foreign currency cards, providing a safe and incentivized channel for cardholders with international travel or shopping needs.
Digital Payments in Nepal: The Card vs. QR Code Dynamic
While the Nabil-Visa campaign focuses on card usage, it exists within a dynamic and competitive digital payments landscape in Nepal. In recent years, the market has witnessed a phenomenal surge in the adoption of mobile banking and QR code payments.
Data from the central bank and industry reports show that mobile banking and QR-based transactions have grown dramatically, with QR code payments, in particular, seeing an average annual increase of over 200 percent in both volume and value in recent fiscal years.
QR payments are immensely popular among smaller merchants and for daily micro-transactions due to their speed, convenience, and low overhead costs. They have become the de facto payment method in many urban areas, appealing to a younger, smartphone-savvy demographic. Reports indicate that QR payments have even started to overtake debit and credit cards in terms of sheer transaction volume in certain segments.
However, card-based transactions, which Nabil Bank is promoting, still maintain a critical position. Debit, credit, and prepaid cards are essential for:
Large-Value Transactions: For significant purchases like consumer electronics, jewelry, or international travel, the higher transaction limits and built-in security protocols of bank cards remain the preferred choice.
Credit Facilities: The entire concept of deferred payment and credit, which is central to a mature digital economy, is driven by credit cards.
E-commerce and International Acceptance: Globally, Visa and Mastercard remain the gold standard for online shopping and international transactions, a domain where local QR codes have limited reach, despite efforts towards cross-border integration like the UPI service with India.
Merchant Settlement: While QR payment settlement times are improving, the formal, integrated nature of card transactions through POS terminals and payment gateways provides a robust infrastructure for high-volume retail.
Therefore, the Nabil Bank and Visa promotion is an effort to re-emphasize and boost the card segment, ensuring that a balanced and robust digital payment ecosystem develops. It is a necessary strategic move to promote the use of full-featured financial instruments, such as credit and debit cards, which offer enhanced credit control and are foundational to modern banking and e-commerce development in the country.
Economic Impact and Future Outlook
The festive promotions initiated by banks like Nabil and global partners like Visa have a direct and measurable positive impact on the national economy. The festive season itself is responsible for an estimated 40 to 70 percent of Nepal’s annual market activities, making it a crucial period for retail and economic revival. By facilitating digital payments, these campaigns contribute to:
Increased Transparency: Electronic transactions leave a verifiable audit trail, which helps formalize the economy and supports the government’s efforts to control tax evasion.
Boosting E-commerce: Attractive schemes for online card use spur growth in Nepal’s nascent e-commerce sector, encouraging both buyers and sellers to adopt digital storefronts and payment gateways.
Financial Inclusion: By making digital banking accessible and rewarding, promotions help integrate a wider segment of the population into the formal financial system, especially as card services extend to semi-urban and rural areas through bank branches and ATMs.
In conclusion, the Nabil Bank and Visa festive shopping campaign is much more than a seasonal giveaway. It is a calculated push to solidify the role of card-based payments as a modern, secure, and rewarding way to transact in Nepal.
Amidst the rising tide of QR payments, this promotion ensures that the foundational pillars of the digital payment infrastructure, debit, credit, and prepaid cards, remain robust, competitive, and highly appealing to the consumer during the country’s most significant spending season. This continuous innovation and incentivization are essential for realizing the vision of a truly digital Nepal.
For More: Nabil’s Festive Shopping Rewards