PRIME Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday formally launched Raast person-to-person payment system for instant digital transactions, saying it would create ease for the masses and bring them into the fold of formal economy.
Sharing features of Raast, he said it would create ease for the common man, especially those who were afraid of going to banks because now they would be able to transfer money instantly through their mobile phones.
The Raast is rightly considered as the second most innovative plan after the launch of ‘Easypaisa’ service in 2008, which made transfer of funds a simple affair for citizens.
It was because of its instant popularity due to ease of use that Easypaisa was followed by many other players and over-the-counter service was upgraded to mobile wallets.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) deserves credit for taking the process of digital payments to the next step by launching the Raast instant payment system as it enables every citizen to do banking transactions from home or on the move.
What a citizen needs is linking of his/her account number with his mobile number, which will serve as Raast ID for carrying out money transactions.
Subject to expansion of its scope and raising the upper limit of the amount that can be transacted through Raast, the initiative has the potential to bring about a revolution in digital banking as it would promote cashless transactions, e-commerce and IT related exports.
One can visualize the benefits of the system by the fact that a person will not be required to visit a bank branch for transfer of funds and this would also lessen the burden of work on bank staff.
Presently, payments to a business outlet can be made through credit card but now a customer would be able to make payments for purchases through push of a button in his/her mobile phone, obviating the need to take risks of carrying cash to markets and bazaars.
This is also a huge step towards digitization of the economy as all transactions would be recorded.
In view of the obvious benefits, we hope people would welcome the advice of the State Bank Governor Dr Reza Baqir to use the new system for their payments as banks would not charge any fee for the service.
It was also refreshing to hear from the Governor that the Central Bank would issue five licenses for establishment of digital banks besides initiating a process for opening of bank accounts remotely with the collaboration of NADRA.
