September 23: The volume of electronic transaction has been increasing in the country. This is mainly due to growing attraction of the public towards cashless transaction and service expansion of the banks. Of late, the total volume of electronic transactions in Nepal stands over Rs 5600 billion per month.

According to Nepal Rastra Bank’s data, the number of people using electronic means of transaction is growing along with the volume of transaction.

As per the latest data of the central bank, electronic transactions worth Rs 5688.82 billion took place in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of the current fiscal year. The amount is 57 percent more than the volume of transaction in the corresponding period of last fiscal year when electronic transactions worth Rs 3612.8 billion took place.

However, the volume of electronic transaction in the review month (mid-July to mid-August) was a little less than that a month ago (mid-June to mid-July) when the total transactions through electronic medium stood at Rs 6227.64 billion.

It is said that the volume of electronic transactions increased in mid-June to mid-July as the companies were under pressure to close their accounts at the end of the last fiscal year.

Executive Director of the Payments System Department of Nepal Rastra Bank Guru Prasad Poudel says that the volume of electronic transaction has increased in recent days due to the policy adopted by the central bank as well as the growing attraction among the public towards cashless transaction.

He said that the volume of electronic transactions increased significantly after the onset of Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Poudel, the volume of electronic transactions prior to the pandemic stood at around Rs 1200 billion to Rs 1300 billion.

The central bank informed that besides banks and financial institutions, various other payments service providers offer electronic transaction in Nepal.