Latest news with #NepalRastraBank
Time Business News
2 days ago
- Business
- Time Business News
One Year On, Indians Pay Freely in Nepal While Nepalese Are Still Denied QR Access in India
New Delhi– Despite India and Nepal signing a memorandum of understanding over a year ago to enable cross-border digital payments, a one-sided implementation has persisted. Indian visitors in Nepal have been using UPI-enabled apps to pay via QR codes since mid-2023, but Nepali citizens are still unable to use the same facility while in India. Nepali officials attribute the delay to reluctance on the Indian side, despite Nepal's technical readiness and successful test runs. Nepal Rastra Bank has already approved the initiative, and trials like the one conducted by Nabil Bank in Mumbai last year have proven functional. Yet, the official rollout for Nepalis in India—initially scheduled for early 2025—remains stalled with no clear timeline. According to Nepali officials privacy to the matter, the official launch of QR-code-based payments in India has been delayed due to reluctance on the Indian side. One key challenge lies in the difference in transaction models between the two countries. In India, QR-based payments are typically free for users, whereas in Nepal, Indian users are charged a minimal 1.95% merchant fee per transaction. To make the system viable in India for Nepalis, commissions would need to be paid to Nepali banks, which currently lacks a sustainable framework. In March 2025, officials announced that a pilot phase allowing Nepalis to scan and pay in India would begin within two months. However, there has been no visible progress, raising concerns about commitment to cross-border digital inclusivity. The original agreement, signed on June 1, 2023, between Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL) and India's NPCI International Payments Limited, was intended to ease transactions for tourists, businesses, and students. But while the vision was bilateral, the execution so far remains largely one-directional. As bilateral tourism and trade grow, the inability of Nepalis to make seamless payments in India—while Indians enjoy full access in Nepal—raises questions about parity and reciprocity in digital finance cooperation between the two neighbours. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
The Star
19-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Nepal's IT firms allowed to invest overseas
KATHMANDU, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's information technology (IT) firms can now invest abroad for the first time as the central bank has fixed the maximum amount for overseas investments. The Nepal Rastra Bank on Wednesday evening set norms, standards and limits on overseas investments for IT firms as per a law amendment in January relaxing the ban. The maximum amount was set at 1 million U.S. dollars for one company, or an amount equivalent to 50 percent of the average foreign currency earnings by the company from IT service exports over the past three fiscal years, whichever is lower. The move is aimed at facilitating global expansion for Nepalese IT businesses, noted the bank.
The Star
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Japan, Eastern Europe emerge as new labor destinations for Nepalis
KATHMANDU, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan and Eastern European countries have emerged as new lucrative destinations for Nepalis seeking employment abroad in recent years, the Nepal Rastra Bank said on Tuesday. Traditionally, neighboring India is the largest labor destination for Nepalis, and in the last two decades, Gulf nations and Malaysia have become key destinations for Nepali migrant workers. The trend now appears to be shifting as the number of Nepalis going to Japan and some Eastern European countries for employment has been rising rapidly, the central bank said in a report. It noted that Nepalis receiving the government's permit to go to Japan for work nearly doubled to 15,247 during the first 10 months of the current 2024-25 fiscal year that began in mid-July 2024. In 2019, Nepal and Japan signed a labor agreement, formally paving the way for "specified and skilled" workers to go to Japan. "Japan needs foreign workers because of demography and we have a lot of aspiring workers who want to go there for relatively higher earnings compared to Gulf nations and Malaysia," Upendra Raj Poudel, director of Nepal's Department of Foreign Employment, told Xinhua. Romania has emerged as another new lucrative destination for Nepali migrant workers, with 18,711 Nepalis permitted to go there during the first 10 months of 2024-25, up from 8,802 during the same period of last fiscal year, according to the bank. Nepal and Romania signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the fields of labor and social protection in October 2023. Likewise, a sizable number of Nepalis have received approval to go to Cyprus and Malta for employment. Nepal has also been sending a good number of workers to South Korea since 2008. Currently, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait are the top four destinations for Nepali migrant workers, according to the central bank.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Nepal picks new central bank chief after long discord in ruling coalition
KATHMANDU, May 21 (Reuters) - Nepal has named economist Biswo Nath Poudel as its new central bank governor, a minister said on Wednesday, ending a long-running discord between allies of the Himalayan nation's ruling coalition over the choice. Nepal's cabinet appointed the 49-year-old Poudel as the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) late on Tuesday, Prithvi Subba Gurung, minister of communications and information technology, told Reuters. Poudel, a former economic adviser at the International Labour Organization (ILO), replaces Maha Prasad Adhikari, who retired at the end of his five-year term on April 7. The central bank chief's position was vacant for over 40 days as allies in Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli's ruling coalition failed to reach an agreement over a candidate. Poudel is considered close to the centrist Nepali Congress party, the biggest constituent in the ruling coalition, which threatened to walk out of the government over the disagreement over the candidate, according to local media reports. Poudel faces an immediate challenge of improving the health of the banking sector, analysts said. "Quality of banking assets have substantially eroded which must be corrected immediately," said Rameshwar Khanal, a former finance secretary. "Borrowers have misused loans and commercial banks need to be supervised better," Khanal added. Poudel also faces the challenge of taking the country out of the "grey list" of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global anti-money laundering watchdog.
