Nagad now destined to be privatised

Now the much-hyped Nagad is destined to be privatised as part of government plan to bring more competition in the mobile financial services (MFS) sector.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Ahsan H. Mansur disclosed Wednesday the decision made by the post-uprising government, after years of contentions surrounding the state-sector MFS outfit.

"Keeping the broader objective in mind," the central bank governor said, "an advertisement inviting bids from potential investors to operate the MFS here will probably be issued within a week."

The BB governor shared the information while speaking as the chief guest at 'The Cashless Bangladesh Summit 2025', jointly organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) and Mastercard at a Dhaka hotel.

He explains reasons for the divestment. Nagad will have to be taken out of the control of the country's postal department because it "does not have the capacity to operate the highly technology-driven mobile-financial service".

"We need a technology company that has to be brought in as the major shareholder of Nagad," he told the meet.

Mr. Mansur, an eminent economist who took charge of the central bank's leadership soon after the changeover in state power following last year's mass uprising, lamented: it is unfortunate that the MFS sector is dominated by only a large company. So, the country needs to make the MFS market more competitive by creating investment opportunities.

As a matter of fact, the governor said, the government has decided to privatise Nagad bringing in strategic investors who will keep putting in their investment in phases in a targeted way that bKash has been doing over the years.

"We hope we can revive Nagad as a worthy competitor in the sector," says the custodian of the banking regulator.

Talking about the growing reliance on cash, the governor said the cost of printing cash is enhanced by 10 per cent or around Tk 20 billion each year.

"If such trend continues, how can this be a digital economy? We need to intensify our efforts on digital transactions to become a cashless society," he added.

The summit brought together stakeholders from the banking and fintech companies, regulatory bodies, and policymakers to discuss the prospects, challenges, and necessary steps for building a cashless economy.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Division secretary Shish Haider Chowdhury, finance division secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Md. Abdur Rahman Khan and Chairman of the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) Mashrur Arefin, among others, also spoke at the summit meet.

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