Scribd
Upload
39 views7 pages

Perks of Digital Transactions: S U N D A Y, " M A y 5, 2 0 1 9 "

Digital payment platforms like bKash and credit cards provide significant benefits to many Bangladeshis. They allow people to send money to family in remote areas instantly, make payments even without cash, and purchase large items through installment plans. While credit cards can lead to debt if misused, they are useful for online shopping and paying for trips in advance. Over 229 million Bangladeshis now use mobile financial services regularly for various transactions.

Uploaded by

Khan Mohhammad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
39 views7 pages

Perks of Digital Transactions: S U N D A Y, " M A y 5, 2 0 1 9 "

Digital payment platforms like bKash and credit cards provide significant benefits to many Bangladeshis. They allow people to send money to family in remote areas instantly, make payments even without cash, and purchase large items through installment plans. While credit cards can lead to debt if misused, they are useful for online shopping and paying for trips in advance. Over 229 million Bangladeshis now use mobile financial services regularly for various transactions.

Uploaded by

Khan Mohhammad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

e-Paper | Advertisement | Contact | ����� ��স্করণ

Sunday, "May 5, 2019"

Home Supplements Cashless Throughout The Year

12:00 AM, August 12, 2018 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:09 PM, August 12, 2018

Perks of digital transactions

Zina Tasreen

Technology is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts after the gift of life, eminent
American physicist Freeman Dyson once said -- and looking at the great
convenience that the digital payment system provides, one can see why such a
grand proclamation was made. TOP
Like every morning, Muhammad Zahidul Islam, a journalist, set off for his
assignment. Upon arriving at the venue, as he was about to pay his taxi driver, he
discovered that he had left his wallet behind at home.

In simpler times, one would think that the only two options for Islam would be to
plead the taxi driver to collect the fare from his home later in the day or go back
to grab his wallet and miss the event for which he came in the first place.

But thanks to the advent of digital payment he had another option: pay the driver
through the mobile financial service platform. The taxi driver had a bKash
account and so did Islam with sufficient balance on it and a potentially tricky
situation was averted -- without breaking a sweat.

Then there is the story of Arzina Akhtar Brishti, the sole breadwinner of a family
of three -- but based some 260 kilometres away. The 23-year-old works as a maid
in a house in Dhaka while her physically challenged parents live in a remote
village in Rangpur.

Previously, she would take leave every 5-6 months and make the arduous journey
back to her village to hand over her earnings to her parents to get by for the next
few months. Or, if she could find someone going to her village, she would give
her salary to them to take to her parents.

Both the options were unreliable for her parents: they never knew when the next
round of funds would come.

But thanks to MFS, they no longer need to play a guessing game and endeavour to
make the amount last longer: now, at the end of every month Brishti sends her
salaries to her parents, who get the amounts within minutes.

Brishti's and Islam's are not isolated cases; like them 229 lakh others are
employing the platform on a regular basis to remit salaries to rural areas, make
payments to merchants, settle dues, clear utility bills and make online purchases.

Introduced in 2011, the platform has 229.09 million active accounts as of May,
after a purge in the latter half of 2017 following central bank instructions.
TOP
Some 59.8 lakh transactions taking place every day on average, as per latest data
from the central bank, which is of the month of May.

A total of Tk 32,822.83 crore was transacted through the platform in May, up


25.42 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.

Currently, there are 19 MFS licence holders and all except one are offering the
service. Dutch-Bangla Bank's Rocket and Brac Bank's subsidiary bKash together
have 99 percent market share of the MFS market.

The clear market leader is bKash, which caught the attention of global tech giant
Alibaba. In April, Alipay, mobile and online payment arm of Alibaba, bought 20
percent stakes in bKash -- a deal that could turn out to be a gamechanger for the
MFS sector in Bangladesh.

By all margins, the platform is slowly but surely growing in popularity, but to
accelerate the process, particularly in urban centres, the MFS players,
particularly bKash, are providing up to 25 percent cashback offers for purchases
at point-of-sale terminals and through e-commerce sites.

Opening an MFS account is free and uncomplicated: a mobile phone number, a


copy of the national ID card and one passport-sized photo are all that are needed.

Because it does not necessitate a bank account, MFS has been a godsend for those
in remote areas, where bank branches are few and far between, allowing them to
get formal banking benefits.

In the same manner, credit card has been a blessing for those with limited
savings and frequent foreign travellers.

Take the case of Abrar Hossain, a private sector employee, who fancied getting a
state-of-the-art television but his monthly salary did not afford him the luxury of
such a splurge in one go.

But thanks to the equated monthly instalment (EMI) facility that comes with
credit cards, he was able to make the purchase.

TOP
He had to pay one-third of the television price upfront; the remaining amount
was to be paid in monthly instalments over a six-month period -- and
arrangement that did not strain his limited income.

Thanks to the Bangladesh Bank's tripling of the limit for international online
purchases to $300 per transaction in 2016, planning for a foreign trip has become
exponentially convenient if one has a credit card.

Not only does one need not travel with a wad of foreign currency, one can also
pay for accommodation in advance and take advantage of cheaper rates and buy
entry tickets to tourist attractions beforehand and avoid the long queues.

While it is undeniable that anyone who has a credit card risks running up too
much debt -- a millstone that might take several years and lots of sacrifice to get
rid off -- if used wisely the benefits can outweigh the downsides.

Related Topics

e-wallet Online Money Transactions in Bangladesh

RELATED
STORIES

japan-electronic- Tech-savvy Japan now a laggard in E-payments

Stay updated on the go with The Daily Star Android & iOS News App. Click
here to download it for your device.

The Daily Star Breaking news alert on your phone


Grameenphone:
Type START <space> BR and send SMS it to 22222
Robi:
Type START <space> BR and send SMS it to 2222
Banglalink:
Type START <space> BR and send SMS it to 2225
TOP
Find more information on SMS subscription
LEAVE YOUR COMMENT POLICY
COMMENTS

TOP
NEWS

Puzzle of 5 floors

Water vessel services resume

A sigh of relief

Five cooling foods to rehydrate your skin in summer

Trump says still confident in Kim after N Korea test launch

‘Robber’ killed in Chattogram ‘gunfight’

VIEW MORE

MORE FROM CASHLESS THROUGHOUT THE


YEAR

TOP
Towards a cash-lite Bangladesh

LATEST FROM STAR


LIVE

Granthakutir, home for young learners

TOP
Fight for a better future

TOP

You might also like