Cut in postal money transfer charge likely

FT ONLINE

The government is considering lowering service charge for sending money through postal department significantly, a finance division official said.

The state entity charges senders more than privately-run mobile money transfer ecosystem, he added.

It runs 'Electronic Money Transfer Service (EMTS)', commonly known as mobile money order service. To this end, postal department has already sent a proposal to the finance ministry.

A meeting will be held anytime soon to find a way out, the official said.

The department is finding ways to restore the facility that the people used as a means of secured money transfer, according to a senior postal official.

A move is underway to lower money transfer charge to almost 50 per cent, he mentioned.

An official said the sorry state of electronic money order service which turned out to be a major generator of revenue exchequer.

But the service has faced stiff competition for the private-sector mobile payment system, he said.

"We're trying to revive our past glory of money order. Finally, we will be able to reach our goal," he added.

"We hope the government's income will increase by 100 per cent from money order service if the proposed charges are implemented."

"We have sent a proposal to the finance ministry early of 2017 in this regard," he mentioned.

Postal department is making profits other than the electronic money order service, the official cited.

As EMTS is available until evening, analysts said, senders mostly use private mobile money transfer services like bKash and Rocket.

Private mobile money transfer service is an easy and fast way to send money to a receiver's mobile phone anytime a day, they said.

The government earned only Tk 13 million from money order-related transactions in fiscal year (FY) 2016-17.

It was Tk 282.30 million in FY 2011-12, a 95.4 per cent decline. The number of money orders was 4.88 million in FY '12. It reduced to 0.58 million in FY '17, it showed.

In the last FY, the department's total income stood at Tk 3.74 billion, a 24 per cent rise compared to the same period a year ago, a high official said.

Sushanto Kumar Mondal, director general of postal department, was not available for comment.