Nagad, the fastest-growing mobile financial service of this kind in the world, has surpassed the 40 million users' landmark, recently. The digital financial arm of Bangladesh postal department has gone past Tk 4.0 billion mark of the daily transaction, says a press release.
Such a spectacular success by a government service in just two years of its launching has created a buzz in the industry. Nagad has earned kudos by digitising the disbursement of various government allowances, stipends and financial assistance during the coronavirus pandemic.
Digitisation has made it easy to deliver the benefit to the beneficiaries, ensured transparency, and saved the government money.
Nagad crossed the landmark of 10 million (one crore) customers just 10 months after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the service on March 26, 2019.
It took six months to reach the next 10 million subscribers and another seven months needed to raise the number of users from 20 million to 30 million. It took less than two months to add the last 10 million customers.
Anyone can connect to Nagad any time by simply dialing *167# from any mobile phone, which also facilitated the account opening process. The fastest account-opening system rolled out in partnership with mobile phone operators is the first of its kind globally.
Earlier, Nagad created a buzz after pioneering e-KYC (know your customers) in the country's financial sector for customer registration. Following in the footstep of Nagad, many financial institutions have now introduced e-KYC in customer registration.
Thanks to all of the innovative services, the volume of transactions on Nagad has been increasing as expected from the very beginning. It crossed Tk 10 billion mark in January 2020.
At one of the events at the time, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, information and communication technology adviser to the Primer, set a target of Tk 2.0 billion in daily transaction volume within the next one year.
However, daily transaction volume doubled in December of the same year. The daily transaction crossed Tk 3.0 billion in March, and in one month, it crossed Tk 4.0 billion last week.
Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar described the rapid advancement of Nagad as a successful combination of technological innovation and the introduction of customer-friendly services. He said, "Nagad's success had become inevitable after it set an excellent example by ensuring the freedom of financial transactions for customers at a nominal price. I have been watching the progress of Nagad from the beginning. The example Nagad has set in delivering services from the center to the remotest parts of the country through mobile phones is, in fact, one of the best examples of the government's digitisation process. I believe Nagad will become the number one mobile financial service in the country in a very short time."
Md Siraz Uddin, director general of Bangladesh Postal Department, congratulated all of the employees and customers of Nagad for the excellent achievement of Nagad. He said, "Nagad has revolutionised the mobile financial service in Bangladesh. The rapid expansion of the government service has made me more confident than ever that Nagad will remain as an important part of the government's Vision for Change."
Commenting on the achievement, Tanvir A Mishuk, managing director and co-founder of Nagad, said: "We are working with the slogan of 'Everything possible with Nagad' to make all traditional services available on Nagad. We are trying to do the impossible possible every day. Opening an account by dialing *167# is not possible anywhere else in the world, but Nagad has made it possible. But there was a time when a lot of things had to be done to open an account. It is a time of great joy for us to have reached the milestone of Tk 4.0 billion transaction in just two years of inception. It came as we have continued our innovative efforts."
From the very beginning, Nagad has ensured send money free fix the lowest cash-out charge (Tk 9.99 per thousand) in Bangladesh have created a buzz in the sector. Moreover, currently 12,000 merchants on boarded on Nagad's network with 500 e-commerce platforms. The bills of all utility, including electricity, water, gas, and broadband internet can be paid through Nagad without any additional cost. It's easy to recharge mobile balance and buy various packages from Nagad.
There has been a radical change in the allowance distribution system of the government after Nagad disbursed the Eid gift from the Prime Minister last year among the people who lost jobs because of the Covid-19. The social safety net allowance and the stipend of students to the mobile wallets of 10 million mothers also distributed through Nagad. Nagad will disburse 45 per cent of the Prime Minister's Eid gift this time as well.
The introduction of this innovative system has ensured transparency in one hand, reduce beneficiaries' harassment and also reduced the cost efficiency for the government.
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