October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. Such offers have been brought forward by banks, financial institutions, payment service providers as well as remittance companies. Especially banks have announced discount offers in association with different business organizations.

Nabil Bank has brought the “Dashain Dhamaka Offer” under which, cashback has been arranged for online payment for shopping at BigMart, Daraz and Kirana. Customers can get 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 300 for online payment to BigMart. Similarly, Daraz has offered a 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 500 for online shopping every Friday.

Sanima Bank has announced the “Dashain Dhamaka” plan. The bank informed that this plan has been brought to give discounts while shopping via online portal Daraz. Customers can get a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,000 while shopping with their debit cards and a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,500 while shopping with their credit card.

On the occasion of Dashain, Rastriya Banijya Bank has broughtcash offers for transactions through Point of Sale (POS) machines. The offer brought by the bank gives cashback on card swiped for every transaction worth Rs 1,000 or more via the POS machine. The bank introduced such an offer in order to encourage electronic transactions during this festive season. This scheme includes a maximum discount of 5 percent or cashback of Rs 500 for card swiped 3 to 5 times, maximum discount of 10 percent or cashback of Rs 750 for card swiped 6 to 10 times. For card swiped for 11 to 15 times, customers can get a maximum discount of 15 percent or a refund for purchases equal to an amount less than Rs 1,000.

NIC Asia Bank has launched “NIC Asia Viber Quiz Buzz”, in which Viber users can participate daily and win attractive gifts on a daily and weekly basis. The scheme, which started on September 20, will be valid till October 27. According to the company, one person who participates in Quiz Buzz daily and gives the correct answer can win an attractive smartwatch on a weekly basis and four people can win a mobile topup of Rs 500 every day.

Similarly, Kumari Bank has entered into an agreement with Daraz for giving special discounts to customers making purchases using the bank’s debit and credit cards.

Muktinath Development Bank has brought a discount offer to Visa Debit Card and Mobile Banking users at the Agantuk Resort in Dhulikhel. There, customers will be given special discounts on accommodation and food. Also, the bank has introduced the facility of using the ATM card to withdraw money free of cost from the ATM machines of any other bank affiliated to the Visa network across Nepal as well.

Other banks and financial institutions have come up with various offers on the occasion of Dashain. Bankers say that the festive offers have helped their business grow.

In the same way, Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), a payment service provider, has made it possible to load funds into the mobile wallet free of cost through the Connect IPS mobile app. The company informed that there would be no charges applied for transferring funds through Connect IPS and Connect IPS fund transfer through mobile banking of banks and financial institutions. This offer started on October 6 and will continue till November 11.

E-sewa has also brought various offers targeting the Dashain and Tihar festivals. The offer, which started from Ghatasthapana, will run till November 11. During this period, money can be transferred from e-Sewa to any bank account free of cost. It has also been informed that one person would get a scooter in the bumper offer. Similarly, one winner will receive an attractive gift and cashback of up to 10 percent or Rs 50 on mobile recharge per week.

IME Pay, promoted by IME Digital Solutions Limited, has introduced the “Dashain ko Jhatka” plan. Under this plan, customers can  receive up to 50 percent cashback on purchase of air tickets from IME Pay Wallet. Other payment service providers have also come up with various offers targeting Dashain.

Remittance companies have not fallen behind in launching various Dashian schemes. IME has brought a “Double ko Double ko Double Offer”. The offer which started on September 17 would be valid till November 12. Under the offer, prizes can be won up to eight times the amount sent from abroad. In addition, the company has said that two people would be rewarded twice the amount sent each week and four times the amount sent each month. Similarly, if remittance is received in IME-Pay, an arrangement has been made to get an additional bonus of Rs 200.

Likewise, Kumari Capital has come up with a plan “Utsav Lai Mahautsav Banaune”. Such a scheme has been introduced with the objective of increasing the access to beneficiary accounts. In this scheme, a free beneficiary account can be opened under the government's “One Nepali: One Demat Account” campaign.

Prabhu Capital has also come up with a “Double Dhamaka” offer in this festive season. Under this scheme, Demat accounts can be opened for Re 1 only. Prabhu Capital informed that free expert training related to stock market will also be provided. Out of the daily Demat account opened in Prabhu Capital, 10 lucky customers will be selected as winners under this scheme. The list of daily winners will be made public a day later through Prabhu Capital's Facebook page and Viber Community. After the selected customers open their accounts, 25 percent TDS would be deducted at Rs 199 and the remaining amount would be returned to the customer's wallet, according to the company.