Indian Ambassador to Kathmandu  Naveen Srivastava has said the digital payment gateway between India and Nepal is expected to start in the first phase from the end of February 2024.

Ambassador Naveen Srivastava made the announcement referring to the agreement between NPCI and NCHL, which was signed during the visit of Nepali PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal to India earlier this year, reported ANI.

"Fintech is a revolution that is happening all across the world and particularly in India. You might have heard about Unified Payment Interface (UPI), how India to date is the leading country in the world in terms of digital payments and it beats other countries by far. This fintech revolution provides an avenue for further collaboration between India and Nepal," Srivastava was quoted as saying by ANI.

He added, "We've already undertaken this journey, the Ru-pay card was launched last year in Nepal and ambassador (Manjeev Singh) Puri was instrumental in initiating that process. We taking it further taking support of Governor (Maha Prasad) Adhikari and the Finance Minister earlier this year when PM Prachanda visited India NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) and Nepal Clearing House (Limited) and signed an MoU to start and implement digital cross border payment."

He made the comments while addressing the inaugural session of Nepal BFSI (Banking, Financial Service and Insurance Summit) organized by the India-Nepal Center of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI).