eSewa’s Downfall and the rise of Bank apps

eSewa’s Downfall and the rise of Bank apps

eSewa is one of the most prominent online business payment service in Nepal, with around 60 lakhs (6 Million) users. But is it performing well?

Based on my personal experience with eSewa over 4 years now, I have come to realize that it is not a reliable online payment service. Its server takes a long time to load and process data. Information that should be instantly displayed takes a lot of refreshing to be visible and be updated.

The payments from eSewa have a higher chance of *not* being fulfilled immediately in real time. Every time I use eSewa, it has taken me and others in my close circle almost hours for the transaction to be completed. Amount that is transferred to and from the bank is never received on time. eSewa claims to be a digital wallet, but does not assist in making live transactions with ease.

The reward points keep changing and the reward received upon transactions made are also decreasing on an irregular basis.

On the other hand, alternative digital wallet services in Nepal such as Khalti, IME Pay, and most of all, the apps of Banks themselves are massively improving.

With the rise in mobile applications in use by the commercial banks themselves, it has now become redundant to rely on digital wallet applications like eSewa that are unreliable. If we were to deposit money in our bank account, then we can easily use it with ease in the market. And the deposited money will generate interests that will encourage further savings. However, such a thing cannot be said for digital wallet services. No matter how much amount is stored, it will not generate any % of money.

What I’ve personally experienced is that a lot of businesses are opting to use Khalti app for the transactions. Some businesses have gone so far as to *only* have transactions conducted via Khalti and no other application, including bank apps. For example, currently Mero TV does not accept payment from any other payment applications other than Khalti for subscribers to renew their TV subscription.

I believe that with the rise of Bank applications, digital wallet services will likely go out of business soon, as everyone would simply prefer to use their personal bank account for payments. So, unless these services upgrade themselves as a legal bank and continue to offer additional services that are missing in other apps, only then can they stay in the market for a foreseeable future.


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