The Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association- BMCA has demanded that the mobile banking service or MFS charge per thousand should be fixed in the upcoming budget of 2021-2022 financial year as less than 10 Taka.
The organization made the demand at a press conference titled 'Customers Expectations in Mobile Banking Services in 2021-2022 Budget' at Sagar-Runi Auditorium of Dhaka Reporters' Unity on Thursday. At the same time, the organization presented 11 point demands at the press conference.Mohiuddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Subscribers Association, said in the press conference that MFS, a mobile banking service, is playing a pioneering role in keeping the country's economy afloat in the wake of the Corona pandemic. The daily turnover of this service is around Taka 2,200 crore. 65 percent of the capacity of this service is not being used yet. If the full capacity of this service is used, the daily transaction will exceed 10 thousand crore Taka.“If we focus on mobile banking services in the budget of the coming 2021-2022 financial year, the government will be able to collect a huge amount of revenue in this sector. Participation in GDP also will increase significantly”, he added.He further opined, "If the proper use of this service is increased and security is ensured, not only the GDP growth will increase but also the employment will increase." The main obstacle to the progress of this service is its high service charge. After the start of the second wave of the covid, Bangladesh Bank released Send Money free of charge, but it was seen that an operator released Send Money at only 5 numbers, but in many other cases, the cost of Send Money has increased from 5 to 10 taka. We are drawing the attention of Bangladesh Bank in this regard.The demands made at the press conference are as follows:1. The current service charge should be reduced to one figure per thousand including VAT and taxes.2. The current tax rate should be reduced to 10 percent instead of 15 percent.3. Send money charge to all operators to bring down to zero (0). 4. Even after completion of daily transactions, the operators have around 700 crore taka with them which they invest in the call money market, but the customers do not get the dividend of that investment. Although Bangladesh Bank has instructions to pay profit on the customer's savings. Although one or two companies provide a small profit, we want the forthcoming budget to clearly define these investments and customer dividends.5. Operators need to reduce corporate taxes. We think it is very important to reduce the corporate tax in order to create competition in the market.6. The country's top operator does not inform the customer about the amount of any service charge including VAT, even though it is supposed to inform the customer with each transaction. In case of non-compliance with such instructions, the organization can be punished and the affected customer can be given proper compensation, we think it is important to have such instructions in the upcoming budget.7. The budget should clearly state who are the investors of MFS service providers and the amount of investment.8. The inter-transaction charge should be brought down to zero (0).9. All service providers need to ensure full security in customer money transactions. In the budget, we expect the service provider to take responsibility for failing to provide security.10. This service needs to be used as a mobile wallet to increase the scope of MFS service.
At present, the market share of an operator in MFS services is over 70 percent. Like Grameenphone, that company needs to be declared as a Significant Market Power or Significant Market Capable Operator (SMP Operator). Customers will benefit even more if this happens.
At the press conference former senior vice-president of Texas Bar Association Advocate Rashedul Hasan, General Secretary of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association Advocate Abu Bakar Siddique, Income Tax Advocate Advocate Shaheda Begum, legal expert Dr. Alhaj Sharif Saki, Central Member of Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association Sabbir Ahmed Hazra, Member Secretary of General Civil Society Kabir Ahmed and others were present.Tags:Mobile Phone Subscribers Association
