Purchases through mobile financial services (MFS) increased significantly in December as people are getting more prone to using digital means for availing necessities.

Merchant payments, which include all types of purchases using MFS including that from e-commerce, shot up 62 per cent year-on-year in December to Tk 3,462 crore.

This was 13.5 per cent higher from that in November 2021, according to Bangladesh Bank's latest data.

The number of transactions was 1.26 crore for merchant payments in December, up from 1.18 crore a month earlier. The number of transactions was 1.04 crore in December 2020.

"We have noticed that people are gradually becoming dependent on mobile financial services because of the comfort and convenience for merchant and bill payments," said Tanvir A Mishuk, managing director of Nagad, which added 3.4 crore customers in 2021.

"Payment through mobile phones is also becoming a part of the digital life and helping people upgrade on digital spaces. Certainly, Covid-19 has played a massive role in habituating citizens using this kind of payment facility," he said.

"We are quite sure that this trend will help us establish a cashless society in Bangladesh and push forward the country to become a developed nation," he added.

"Due to the increasing convenience of digital transactions, there is a rising trend of digital payments," said Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, head of corporate communication at bKash, the top MFS provider in Bangladesh.

Besides regular transactions, including person-to-person money transfer, mobile airtime recharge, bank-to-bKash money transfer and utility bill payments, merchant payment is gaining momentum significantly in the MFS sector, he said.

To popularise it even more, bKash is promoting the digital payment service through various offers, which is reflected in the overall transaction amount of December 2021, he added.

E-COMMERCE PURCHASES THROUGH CARDS RECOVER SLOWLY

Card-based e-commerce transactions also increased 38 per cent year-on-year in December to Tk 825 crore. Compared to that of November 2021, it was a rise of 3 per cent.

The transactions registered an all-time high of Tk 1,277 crore in June last year. It was Tk 1,184 crore in May.

After it emerged that some e-commerce platforms had collectively racked up thousands of crores of taka in dues to both customers and merchants by asking for advance payments but not delivering the products on time, buyers ended up going back to the tried and tested cash on delivery system.

Subsequently, in July, customers spent Tk 740 crore on products and services online by using cards, which was 42 per cent less than the all-time high.

However, now it has started to rebound with slight increases every month since August, excluding October.