Pakistan's National policy on e-commerce being developed
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KARACHI: (APP) The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Ministry of Commerce are developing a national policy on e-Commerce to attract foreign investment for establishing a desired digital market in the country.
The policy will support and work towards building desired ecosystem for E-Commerce market and also to encourage local trade and foreign investments in the country.
This was stated by the Governor of SBP, Ashraf Mahmood Wathra, Governor, at the 10th Jazzcash International Mobile Conference in Pakistan held on Thursday, the organizers of the event said in a statement.
It was pointed out that the one-day conference was organized by Total Communications with the support of SBP and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Governor said he has been part of the conference on regular basis for the last four years, as "participating at this conference or at IMF and World Bank remains equal for me."
He said the central bank was aware that the high cost on e-Payment was "due to risk associated with online payments, but we are also mindful that new mechanism for proactive fraud detection are being developed to safeguard the merchants, consumers and their banks from losses."
Keeping in view the development, he urged upon banks and payment schemes to rationalize the cost of transactions on e-Payment to further boost mobile and e-Commerce in Pakistan.
He said the central bank has allowed the entry of non-banks - Payment System Operators and Service Providers (PSO/PSPs) - into the domain of payment services through intensive regulations in 2014.
However, "their effectiveness remains yet to be seen," he said.
He noted that the number of m-wallet accounts stood at more than 16 million in the country. However, majority of these wallets were still inactive.
Even though, branchless banking industry has seen acceleration and basic financial services can now be accessed in remotest parts of the country through agent network of around 350,000, he said.
"A total of 110 million transactions worth around Rs 520 billion were carried out during quarter of July-September 2016," he said.
Dr. Syed Ismail Shah, Chairman, PTA, said in a video message that the regulator would soon launch more services in Pakistan like Uber and Careem, the Apps to call cabs at your door.
He urged upon the industry players of e-commerce to join hands for strengthening digital market instead of trying to dominate each other. He also urged upon them to keep investing in technology and big data houses to keep up with the world.
Nadeem Hussain, Founder & Coach, Planet N Group of Companies, said Pakistan was evolving through digital revolution, which directly contributed towards economic growth of the country.
The revolution has allowed people to open basic bank account via using mobile phones literally in one minute and purchase half a dozen oranges against digital cash.
"The time is not far when a woman in a remote area would have access to main markets for her products through six clicks only," he said.
He said 8-10 entities were establishing big data houses in Pakistan that would pace up the revolution. However, challenge remained with the industry players as how to get activated the dormant m-wallet accounts.
Ghazanfar Azzam, President & CEO, Mobilink Microfinance Bank, said that the number of active m-wallet accounts stood at two million only.
