Last updated: 17 August 2026. Feature availability and hardware charges were checked against Fonepay, NCHL and bank pages on this date — confirm current rates with your own bank before signing anything.
🗂️ सबै fintech guides एकै ठाउँमा: What a Merchant QR Actually Costs in Nepal
Quick answer: A QR payment voice notification in Nepal does not require a device. If you accept QR payments, you can hear every payment announced aloud without buying any hardware. Both major QR networks already ship this free in their merchant apps — Fonepay Business (Notification Settings → Voice Notification) and NEPALPAY Business (Profile → Help and Support → Enable Voice Notification). A dedicated voice box costs Rs 2,200–3,600 to buy, or Rs 1,000 setup plus Rs 12 per day on the rental model — roughly Rs 5,380 in the first year. Turn on the free setting first. Buy hardware only if you hit one of the five specific limits listed below.
Key takeaways
- QR payment voice notification is a free in-app setting on both Nepali QR networks — it is not a hardware-only feature.
- Fonepay launched merchant voice notifications on 2 June 2024, specifically to remove the dependence on SMS confirmations.
- NEPALPAY Business enables it from the Profile screen; NEPALPAY QR is scannable from 56 participating apps, including Alipay+ partners.
- Everest Bank’s soundbox is Rs 1,000 installation + Rs 12 per day, runs on a 4G SIM, and speaks five languages — Nepali, Newari, Maithili, Bhojpuri and English.
- AudiQR, built in Nepal by Yarsa Tech, is Rs 2,200 without GSM or battery backup and Rs 3,600 with both — one-time, not rented.
- A spoken confirmation is also your cheapest defence against the fake payment screenshot trick.
What a QR payment voice notification actually is
When a customer scans your QR and pays, your money reaches your account through the QR network — Fonepay or NEPALPAY — and the network tells your merchant app that the payment landed. A voice notification is simply that alert read aloud: the amount, spoken through your phone’s speaker, the moment the transaction succeeds.
That single change solves the problem every shopkeeper knows. During a rush you cannot unlock your phone, open an app and read a transaction list for every customer. You need to hear “payment received” and keep working. That is the entire job, and it is why the soundbox market exists.
The mistake many merchants in Nepal make is assuming the sound has to come from a device. It does not. The networks put the same capability in the free merchant app first.
Fonepay Business: how to turn on voice notification
Fonepay is a Payment System Operator licensed by Nepal Rastra Bank, and it introduced the voice notification service on 2 June 2024. Fonepay’s own announcement is explicit that the feature exists to end reliance on SMS confirmation, and that it is open to all merchants on the Fonepay network — no tier, no separate subscription.
Steps
- Install Fonepay Business from the Play Store or App Store — or, if you already have it, update to the latest version. Older builds do not have the option.
- Log in with your merchant credentials.
- Open Notification Settings.
- Switch Voice Notification on.
- Take one small test payment — Rs 5 from your own phone — and confirm you hear it.
The Fonepay Business app is not only for the sound. It also handles payment details, refunds, static and dynamic QR generation, contactless and customer-presented QR, and full transaction history — the things you would otherwise ask your bank branch for.
NEPALPAY Business: how to turn on voice notification
NEPALPAY QR is NCHL’s national QR scheme, built to the NepalQR standard set by Nepal Rastra Bank, and its whole purpose is interoperability — one sticker on your counter that 56 different banks, wallets and apps can scan, Alipay+ partners included. We explain how that plumbing works in our guide to NCHL.
Steps
- Install NEPALPAY Business and log in.
- Tap Profile.
- Under Help and Support, tap Enable Voice Notification.
- Run a test payment to confirm the audio plays.
Note the difference in menu location — Fonepay puts it under notifications, NEPALPAY under Profile → Help and Support. Merchants who look in the “wrong” place on the other app often conclude the feature does not exist.
| Fonepay Business | NEPALPAY Business | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | Fonepay (PSO licensed by NRB) | NCHL — National Payment Switch |
| Where the setting lives | Notification Settings → Voice Notification | Profile → Help and Support → Enable Voice Notification |
| Cost of the feature | Free, in-app | Free, in-app |
| Also does | Refunds, dynamic/static QR, contactless, transaction history | Payment detail, settlement tracking, daily sales |
| Get the QR from | Your Fonepay member bank/wallet | Your bank, which activates NEPALPAY QR for you |
If you accept both networks — and most counters in Nepal now display both — turn the setting on in both apps. Neither one announces the other’s payments.
What a voice box costs, with real numbers
Now the comparison the sales visit never gives you. There are two commercial models in Nepal, and they are not equally priced.
Rental model — bank soundbox
Everest Bank’s QR Payment Soundbox is Rs 1,000 as a one-time installation fee, then Rs 12 per day. It runs on a 4G-enabled SIM, has its own battery, accepts both Fonepay and Nepal Pay, and speaks Nepali, Newari, Maithili, Bhojpuri and English. You need a current account at the bank.
Rs 12 a day sounds like nothing. Do the arithmetic before you sign:
| Period | Rental at Rs 12/day | Plus Rs 1,000 setup |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month (30 days) | Rs 360 | Rs 1,360 |
| 6 months | Rs 2,160 | Rs 3,160 |
| 1 year | Rs 4,380 | Rs 5,380 |
| 3 years | Rs 13,140 | Rs 14,140 |
Purchase model — buy the device outright
AudiQR, engineered in Nepal by Yarsa Tech, is sold rather than rented: Rs 2,200 for the base unit without GSM or battery backup, and Rs 3,600 for the version with both. That is a single payment. Yarsa is a Pokhara-rooted company — we profiled its founder in our piece on NJ Subedi and Yarsa Labs.
Garima Bikas Bank also offers a Voice Box on the same real-time audio-confirmation idea. Charges vary by bank and by branch, so ask for the tariff in writing.
The comparison that matters
| Option | Year 1 cost | Year 3 cost |
|---|---|---|
| Free app setting | Rs 0 | Rs 0 |
| AudiQR, base unit | Rs 2,200 | Rs 2,200 |
| AudiQR, GSM + battery | Rs 3,600 | Rs 3,600 |
| Bank soundbox on rental | Rs 5,380 | Rs 14,140 |
For a small shop turning over a few thousand rupees a day, Rs 14,140 over three years is real money, and it buys you a sound your phone was already willing to make for free. That is the case for testing the app setting first.
When a voice box IS the right purchase
Being honest about this matters more than being contrarian. The hardware exists because the app genuinely does not cover five situations:
- Staff take payments, not the owner. The merchant app sits on the owner’s phone, and the owner’s phone should not live on the counter with the helper. A box on the wall belongs to the shop, not to a person.
- The shop is loud. A phone speaker in a pocket loses to a grinder, a generator or a busy street. Purpose-built soundboxes are simply louder.
- More than one counter. One phone cannot be at two tills. Two boxes can.
- Local-language announcements. If your customers and staff are more comfortable in Maithili, Bhojpuri or Newari, a device supporting those five languages is doing something the app is not.
- Phone reliability is the weak link. A dying battery, an old handset, aggressive power-saving, or a phone that lives on silent will all cost you a notification. A box with its own SIM and its own battery does not care what your phone is doing.
The sensible sequence is therefore: turn on the free setting today, run it for two weeks, and count the payments you missed. If the answer is zero, you have saved Rs 5,380 in year one. If you missed even a couple of payments in a rush, you now know exactly which of the five problems above you have — and you can buy the right device instead of the one being sold to you.
Make the free setting actually reliable
Most complaints of “the voice notification does not work” are phone configuration, not a broken feature. Before you conclude the app has failed, check all six:
- Notification permission for the merchant app is allowed in your phone settings.
- Battery optimisation is turned off for that app, so Android does not sleep it in the background. This is the single most common cause.
- Media/notification volume is up — not just ringer volume. They are separate sliders.
- Do Not Disturb is off, or the app is on the DND exception list.
- Data or Wi-Fi is actually connected. The alert travels over the internet; no data, no voice.
- The app is updated. The setting does not exist in older builds.
Then test with a real Rs 5 payment from a second phone. Do not test by looking at the screen — put the phone in your pocket, walk away and listen. That is the condition you actually need it to work in.
The security angle nobody mentions
There is a second reason to want an audible confirmation, and it is not convenience. The most common counter fraud in Nepal right now is the fake payment screenshot — a customer shows a “successful payment” screen, walks out, and the money never arrives. Screenshots are trivial to fake. A screen you are shown proves nothing.
A voice confirmation flips who holds the proof. You are no longer trusting the customer’s screen; you are trusting your own network’s announcement. The rule for your staff should be one line: no sound, no goods.
This is free to implement and it works the same whether the sound comes from the app or a box. If you or your staff need more grounding on how digital-payment fraud is run in Nepal, our write-up of the SMC app case is worth twenty minutes of a staff meeting.
Before you spend anything, check your QR costs too
Voice notification is one line item. While you are looking at it, look at the rest of what your QR arrangement charges you — merchant QR pricing in Nepal is not uniform, and plenty of merchants are paying for things they were never told were optional. Our guide to what a merchant QR actually costs in Nepal breaks that down, and if your payments are large or you are running payouts as well as collections, CORPORATEPAY is worth understanding.
🤝 Voice notification on भएन? हामी setting मिलाइदिन्छौं
Fonepay Business वा NEPALPAY Business मा voice notification, battery setting, वा QR को खर्च हेर्नुपर्यो भने — Digital Solution को team सँग सिधै कुरा गर्नुहोस्। Box किन्नुअघि एकपटक सोध्नुहोस्।
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to buy a voice box to hear QR payment notifications in Nepal?
No. Both Fonepay Business and NEPALPAY Business include voice notification as a free in-app setting. A voice box is optional hardware that solves specific problems — loud shops, multiple counters, staff-operated tills — not a requirement for hearing your payments.
How do I turn on voice notification in Fonepay Business?
Update to the latest version of the Fonepay Business app, log in, open Notification Settings, and switch Voice Notification on. Fonepay made this available to all merchants on its network from 2 June 2024.
How do I enable voice notification in the NEPALPAY Business app?
Log in, tap Profile, then under Help and Support tap Enable Voice Notification. You will then get an audio alert on every successful NEPALPAY QR transaction.
Is the QR payment voice notification free in Nepal?
The in-app feature is free on both networks. Hardware is what costs money: roughly Rs 2,200 to Rs 3,600 to buy a device outright, or about Rs 1,000 setup plus Rs 12 per day on a bank rental — around Rs 5,380 in the first year.
Why is my voice notification not playing?
In almost every case it is phone configuration: notification permission denied, battery optimisation putting the app to sleep, media volume down, Do Not Disturb on, no internet, or an app version too old to have the setting. Work through those six before assuming the service has failed.
Can one app announce payments from both Fonepay and NEPALPAY?
No. Each merchant app announces only its own network’s transactions. If your counter displays both QR codes, install both apps and turn the setting on in each.
Which languages does a soundbox speak?
It depends on the device. Everest Bank’s soundbox supports five — Nepali, Newari, Maithili, Bhojpuri and English. If local-language announcements matter to your staff or customers, confirm the language list before buying.
The bottom line
A QR payment voice notification in Nepal is a setting, not a purchase. Fonepay Business and NEPALPAY Business both hand it to you free, and it takes under two minutes to switch on. Do that today, run your shop on it for a fortnight, and let your own missed-payment count decide whether hardware is worth Rs 5,380 a year. Most small counters will find it is not — and the ones that genuinely need a box will know exactly why, which is a much better position to negotiate from than saying yes to the first sales visit.
Digital Solution disclaimer: Digital Solution Pvt. Ltd. is an independent private company and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting on behalf of Fonepay, Nepal Clearing House Limited, Yarsa Tech, Everest Bank, Garima Bikas Bank or Nepal Rastra Bank. Charges, features and availability shown here were checked on 17 August 2026 and can change without notice. Confirm current pricing and terms directly with your own bank or the service provider before making a purchase or signing a rental agreement.
Rabin Paudel
Rabin Paudel is the Founder of Digital Solution, a Content Creator, and an AI Trainer. He shares practical and easy-to-understand content on Artificial Intelligence, Digital Literacy, Online Services, FinTech, and Technology. His mission is to make technology simple, accessible, and useful for everyone.
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