Transactions through the mobile financial services reached a fresh record of Tk 71,246.9 crore in May due to addition transactions during Eid-ul-Fitr, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims, and restrictions on public movement amid the Covid outbreak.
Bangladesh Bank data showed that the transaction volume in May is 12.3 per cent or Tk 7,805.7 crore higher than the Tk 63,441.2 crore in transactions in April 2021.
The transaction volume in April was the second highest transaction. The third highest transaction volume, Tk 63,000 crore, through MFS took place in July 2020 during Eid-ul-Azha.
‘The Eid festival played a key role in the surge of online transactions in the month of May, and definitely the movement restrictions for Covid also played a huge role here,’ Nagad managing director Tanvir A Mishuk told New Age.
‘People were more inclined nowadays to online shopping and other purchases after the Covid pandemic,’ he said.
Tanvir said, ‘During the month of Eid we witnessed increased transactions by our customers and businesses.’
The transaction volume reached a record high in May mainly due the Eid festival, said Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, head of corporate communications of bKash, the country’s leading MFS operator.
People nowadays use MFS to send money to their family members and relatives before Eid, he said.
Apart from the Eid-centric transactions, the government’s payments and private organisations’ salary disbursement online also increased after the outbreak of coronavirus, Shamsuddin said.
Daily average transactions though bKash was above Tk 2,000 crore with the number of transactions through its platform reaching above one crore in May, taking its monthly transactions to above Tk 60,000 crore and around 30 crore transactions.
The total number of transactions through all the MFS licensees of the central bank was 34.67 crore in May, the BB data showed.
Though the MFS of Nagad constitutes a notable portion of MFS transactions, the BB is yet to include the MFS operator’s transaction data in its report.
The MFS operator also observed a significant surge in transactions through its platform in May.
Transactions through Nagad reached to around Tk 20,000 crore in May.
The BB data showed that shipping spending through MFS reached Tk 3,650.5 crore, salary disbursement stood at Tk 2,786 crore, the government’s payments stood at Tk 1,309.2 crore and utility bill payment reached Tk 1,107 crore, among others.
The number of subscribers of the MFS operators reached 9.81 crore at the end of the month.
Source: https://www.newagebd.net/article/143108/mfs-transactions-reach-fresh-record-of-tk-71247cr-in-may