Nagad went there where white elephant banks could not: Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya

Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), has said Nagad has set its foot in the areas where big, white elephant banks could not go. 

It can be counted as a huge step for financial inclusion. People, who used to take services from banks, are now availing of your services, he said attending a Facebook live event on Wednesday evening styled on “Innovation for financial inclusion leaves no one behind” organized by Nagad, a mobile financial service arm of the postal division.

Managing Director of Nagad Tanvir A Mishuk took part in the program, which was moderated by Nagad Chief Public Affairs Officer Solaiman Shukhon.

Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya said, previously we used to deposit a cheque at a bank and it would go through a lot of processes. A completely new area of work has been created by the blessings of MFS. Research can be carried out to see the changes that have taken place as a result of this. 

He said digital solutions must be brought in to revive the people. “Digital solutions will work if stakeholders from small and medium entrepreneurs to workers' organizations are involved with it. We need to bring digital solutions for the recovery of the people. The chambers of commerce have to be included. Concerted efforts have to be taken. We have to reach out to the small and medium-sized businesses.”

Putting importance on building a national database, Dr Debapriya said a database was created to help the helpless people during the coronavirus pandemic. Now it needs to be considered whether it can be turned into a national database. In future the database can ease the process of delivering various government supports to the people. 

He added that some issues had come to the fore during the current emergency situation. Some things like teaching online have happened. There needs to be uninterrupted electricity supply and availability of internet for this to become a reality. Besides, poor people should be given smartphones instead of rice and lentils so that they can be part of the financial inclusion.

Speaking at the discussion, Tanvir A Mishuk, managing director of Nagad, said, many developed countries were not able to make the decision that was taken by the Hon'ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh. In the developed countries, only the highest taxpayers have received incentives. We had noticed that the database was not correct when we attempted to disburse the Eid gift of the Hon'ble Prime Minister. But our Prime Minister stands beside the poor in the Covid time.

He said We had noticed that the database was not flawless and that's why we had to verify the numbers with the help of the National Identification cards. Many, including the MFS operators, were annoyed about it in the beginning. But with the support of the mobile operators we were able to disbursed the PM’s Eid gift to 36 lakh people. The rest could not get the support because of information lacking.

Expressing his commitment to standing by the government of Bangladesh, Tanvir A Mishuk said, Nagad has a database of three crore people. Nagad has brought different disruptive innovation in the service delivery process and devoted to bring new innovations. Previously it took seven to ten days to open a financial account and we made it just a dial from any mobile phone. By dialling *167# from any mobile and setting the PIN one can now open an account of Nagad. Many had opposed the innovation but now everyone has accepted it. Maybe, many will follow the method of Nagad and use it in the future.