Tk10,000crore can be saved if all transactions go cashless: Nagad MD

Tanvir A Mishuk, founder and managing director of Nagad Limited, on Tuesday, said every year at least Tk 10,000 crore can be saved if all transactions go cashless moving away from cash usage.

He came up with the statement while addressing a discussion titled “Towards Cashless Transaction System” at the Jatiya Sangsad Oath Room organised by the Parliament Secretariat for the members of parliament.

Moderated by Senior Secretary to the Parliament Secretariat KM Abdus Salam, Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury attended the function as the chief guest. A good number of MPs took part in the discussion, said a press statement.

During the discussion, the parliament speaker and a few MPs asked Tanvir A Mishuk about the evolution of Bangladesh’s financial industry and its future journey.

Tanvir A Mishuk in his speech said, “The government needs to spend Tk 500 crore every year only on printing cash. Besides. According to a Bangladesh Bank study in 2019, the country needs about Tk 9,000 crore to manage and supply cash.”

“There is no alternative to digital or smart transactions in building a smart Bangladesh. So, we have to go in this direction,” he noted.

Addressing the members of Parliament, Tanvir A Mishuk said, “If you give me a particular area or region of the country and provide the necessary support, I will make that area a model of cashless transactions,” “I feel that would be an unimaginable task,” he also said.

Noting that Bangladesh’s GDP has tripled over the last 14 years just because of adopting the Digital Bangladesh Vision, Tanvir A Mishuk, said, “If we go ahead with our vision of becoming a developed country through the establishment of Smart Bangladesh, it will not take much time for our economy to reach a trillion-dollar milestone.”

He pointed out that to break the mobile money market monopoly, Nagad was launched in 2019 by the hands of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Since then, Nagad has digitalised the disbursement system of one after another government allowance over the last four years.

As a result, the government’s costs of stipend disbursements have dropped to a great extent while saving time. Transparency has also been ensured as allowances now go to real beneficiaries, he added.

Tanvir A Mishuk said in the same way, Nagad has also created a buzz by paying education stipends to 1.5 crore primary school children through mobile phones.

Moreover, stipends under the Prime Minister’s Educational Assistance Trust, social security allowances and at least ten other ministries’ allowances and government assistance are also reaching the beneficiaries through Nagad, said Tanvir A Mishuk.

Commenting that the government’s initiative to establish a digital bank is very timely, he said if the digital bank is established, all banking facilities will be at our fingertips. Farmers will no longer have to resort to Dadon [a non-institutional financing way, built upon a verbal contract between farmers and money lenders] for only Tk 10,000 to buy fertilisers. They will be able to take loans using mobile phones and repay in the same way with the money earned through the sales of their crops.

Similarly, big transactions like export-import payments will also be done through mobile phones 24/7, he also said.

In another session of the same event, State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak spoke about the journey of Smart Bangladesh. Dr Moajjem Golam Hossain, a key-expert of the European Union’s Government Financial Management Division of Bangladesh, gave the welcome speech.

This time, on behalf of Jatiya Sangsad, a discussion was organised on eight issues for the members of Parliament, with the participation of experts from respective sectors.