India and Nepal are among the leaders globally when it comes to digital payments, but a lot more needs to be done in the sector, industry leaders said at NDTV's Anviksha event.
Held in Kathmandu, The NDTV Anviksha: Ideas Across Borders event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs and other leading figures from Nepal and India. One of the discussion panels centred on how India-Nepal digital payments could change cross-border business.
Dr Bal Krishna Bal, Associate Dean, School of Engineering, Kathmandu University, said that the cross-border UPI-NPI facility payment facility was a welcoming step in terms of advancing digital payment infrastructure. He cited the need for more developments in interoperable payments, identity connectivity, and digital public infrastructure.
"Payment is one part, but we need to have this identity verification and exchange of documents. So that the whole ecosystem basically gets a complete cycle," he said.
He called for a "complete integration" between all three components - payments, identity verification and exchange of documents.
Shared Framework Needed For Digital Payments
Semanta Dahal, advocate and partner at Abhinawa Law Chambers, highlighted that in cross-border payment facilities like the one between India and Nepal, multiple players are involved, so any potential disputes pose "significant multi-jurisdictional and multi-institutional challenges". He recommended setting up a "regulator-to-regulator" agreement for resolving such disputes.
#NDTVWorldAnviksha | Beyond UPI: How India-Nepal Digital Payments Could Transform Cross-Border Business
— NDTV (@ndtv) August 27, 2026
On the panel with @manogyaloiwal: Dr. Bal Krishna Bal, Semanta Dahal, Surakchya Adhikari, and Paras Kunwar#NDTVAnviksha #IdeasAcrossBorders #IndiaNepalDialogue pic.twitter.com/3OW0gh9p2z
'B2B Transactions Need More Attention'
Surakchya Adhikari, Project Lead and Chief Operating Officer, Thulo.com, said that person-to-person digital payment transactions are proceeding, but the same cannot be said for business-to-business (B2B) cross-border payments. This hampers companies and e-commerce ventures.
Talking about Nepal's Gen-Z population, Adhikari said that the generation is looking for jobs and opportunities. "They've been seeing people doing amazing things in the outer world, India and other countries. So they want to do the same and they think it's possible. But when they hit the ground, they realise there are so many challenges and that frustrates them," she added.
She explained that digital payments can help the youth achieve a lot, but challenges, such as difficulty in making payments for digital marketing to technology giants like Meta, remain.
Dr Bal said that digital payment would create some opportunities for startups and AI based services, leading to more jobs for the youth.
FonePay COO Paras Kunwar said that digital payments also move data, giving businesses signals about sales trends, consumer behaviours, and much more.
He added that these insights can be used by entrepreneurs to create solutions that can benefit customers across both countries.
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