Daily transaction on Nagad surges past Tk200 cr

The digital financial service of Bangladesh Postal Department has recently crossed a major milestone as its daily transaction went past Tk200 crore, Managing Director of Nagad Tanvir A Mishuk said at a ceremony on Thursday.

The government had set a target for Nagad to reach the Tk200 crore daily transaction mark by January next year. 

The country's fastest-growing digital financial carrier and second-largest MFS has achieved the target much ahead of the deadline, a press release from Nagad says.

Earlier in January this year, Nagad crossed the milestone of a daily transaction of Tk100 crore.

Tanvir A Mishuk attributed the rapid advancement of Nagad to the introduction of state-of-the-art technological innovations and customer-friendly services. 

"We are working towards the goal of making all conventional services available on Nagad under the slogan of 'Everything will be through Nagad'. And for that, we are working every day in the hope of achieving the impossible,” he said, adding that opening a Nagad account is just a dial away, and anyone can open the account by simply dialing *167# from their mobile phones. 

“It was not possible anywhere else in the world, but Nagad has made it possible. There was a time when a lot had to be done to open an account. In just one and a half years of inception, Nagad has reached the milestone of Tk200 crore. It is a great pleasure for us,” he further said.

Since its inception, Nagad has been playing an important role in the socio-economic development of the country and in the progress of the digital financial services sector. 

In less than two years, 12,000 merchants have been added to Nagad network. Nagad is facilitating transactions on about 350 e-commerce platforms. It is now the MFS operator of choice to make the payment for digital shopping, the press release claims.

Paying the bills for all services, including electricity, water, gas and telephone can now be paid through Nagad without any additional cost. 

Paying the bills of more than 200 broadband internet companies and purchasing mobile airtime and various packages from Nagad is also possible.

Various financial activities of the Bangladesh government, especially the distribution of stipends for primary school students, various government grants and allowances will go through Nagad. 

As a result, the beneficiaries will receive the benefits as none can take any portion of their money. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina provided financial assistance through digital channels to 50 lakh families who lost their jobs due to the lockdown. 

Of them, 17 lakh were distributed through Nagad. On the 90th birthday of Bangamata Fazilatunnisa Mujib, the Prime Minister also chose only Nagad to distribute allowances among distressed women.

Nagad has put in place a system so that people can transfer money from VISA and MasterCard to their Nagad wallet while sitting at home during the pandemic. 

Nagad press release claimed that no other operator came forward to digitalise the Covid-19 test fee payment process. Only Nagad launched this service. 

Now, everyone can pay the fees from their homes and at the booth. In addition, the salaries and allowances of more than two lakh garment workers were distributed through Nagad during the pandemic.