December 13: Nepal’s first digital payment gateway, eSewa Fonepay Pvt Ltd, has entered into a strategic partnership alliance with UnionPay International (UPI), a subsidiary of China's national bankcard association UnionPay, which enjoys partnerships with over 300 organizations globally and has enabled card acceptance in over 170 countries.

Issuing a press statement, eSewa said it has signed an agreement with UPI to launch a QR code-based mobile payment solution in Nepal. According to the agreement, customers of UnionPay in Nepal as well as abroad can make mobile payments using QR codes at various merchant outlets in the country.

Shuan Philip Ghaidan, product director of UnionPay International (UPI) and Biswas Dhakal, chairman and president of F1Soft, the parent company of eSewa Fonepay, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations amid a function held in the capital on December 11.

According to the statement, QR payment is a frictionless mobile payment method which is an alternative to costly electronic fund transfers such as card payments at point of sale using payment terminals.