What is eSewa?
eSewa is a mobile money account. It is a digital wallet & payment getway in Nepal. Customers can pay, send and receive money from their mobile phone and internet, instantly.
It is in operation since 2009 and has recently got license by Nepal Rastra Bank as Payment Service Provider.
Customers can register and get mobile money account instantly, cash-in to their wallet from Agents and partner banks and start making payments. Customers can recharge their mobile, pay internet bills, EMI, buy airlines ticket, school fees, etc. from their mobile.
Similarly, merchants, service providers can receive payments for goods and services in their wallet instantly. This enables hassle-free, secure and immediate payments from customers.
eSewa App is available for both iOS and Android devices and its primary web portal is www.esewa.com.np.
About F1Soft Group
F1Soft International is a software development company that focus in the development and implementation of internet banking to financial institutions in Nepal and overseas. It is a pioneer in the Fintech (Technologies in Financial Industry) industry. Similarly, it has also introduced SMS Banking, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking and other transactional banking solutions in Nepal. Currently, more than 90% of the Financial Institutions have implemented solutions provided by F1Soft. F1soft Group now has 3 other companies under its group: eSewa, Fonepay P. Ltd., Dharma TechNet, Shiran Technologies.
Birth
In the early 2000s, globally businesses were going online. While the digital revolution was just around the corner, it had a very low impact in Nepal. There were few alternate payment channels offered by Banks like Debit Cards and Credit Cards. When we launched SMS banking back in 2006, it was well received by customers in the market. As the mobile phone was getting popular and more affordable, we used SMS as the primary channel to notify and alert customers about banking transactions. This immediately created an atmosphere of trust and security among customers. We added more features and transactional services later in 2007. It was also well received by banked customers.
However, realizing that less than 20% of the population had bank accounts and these services could do so much more. So, we planned to introduce a mobile wallet in Nepal. This also coincided with the global business trend and need of payment gateway for the growth of digital commerce. eSewa has played a vital role to grow the e-commerce businesses in Nepal by providing secure online payment mechanism.
Eventually, we realized the need for the payment gateway and developed a web and mobile based application, ‘eSewa’.
Growth
Though most of the banks and financial institutions were facilitating their customers with mobile and internet banking services, most of the users could not get benefits as there was a huge mass of the unbanked population. Realizing the need to furnish unbanked users, F1Soft developed standalone digital payment platform under brand ‘eSewa’. Within a very short period of its inception, it became so popular among stakeholders that F1Soft’s management decided to develop it as a separate wing under their ownership. Starting with few services like airtime top-up and pinless recharge in the past, it has covered major industries ranging from fast food chains to international airlines.
Future
Our vision is to cover every payment sector continuously accomplishing our mission to create a cashless economy. We want to create a cashless economy in coming days. In future. Also, we will cover each and every industry of Nepal with our revolutionary payment platform. It will help in the growth and development of economy enhancing financial mobility. We will be acting as the backbone of the economy of Nepal, which is our future and we are into it.
Source: https://blog.esewa.com.np/about-eSewa