Mohammad Badrul Ahsan :
Popular online money transfer agency PayPal is all set to sign a MoU with state-owned Sonali Bank, clearing the decks for its debut in Bangladesh raised hope of a big boost of freelancing business in the country, insiders said.
Freelancers as well as the industry insiders have long been pushing the government to pursue the online money transfer giant ‘PayPal’ to work in Bangladesh.
But due to some technical and infrastructural drawback, the government could not manage the online giant to operate in Bangladesh which were long been hindering actual growth of freelancing business of the country.
Director-in-charge of the state-owned Sonali Bank, Md Abdur Rob told The New Nation recently that PayPal had responded with positive indications to a proposal made by the bank to sign an MoU.
“We hope the service will start in Bangladesh from next month”, he added.
The recent much waited announcement by the money transfer giant of signing deal with a state-owned bank has raised hope of better business among the freelancers.
“We are very happy to know that ‘PayPall is going to operate in the country. Operation of ‘PayPall’ will help us remit foreign currencies through legal channel and the practice would also help avoid hassle in receiving our payments from abroad,” Anwarul Azim, a freelancer told the New Nation on Tuesday.
He also said, “Absence of any legal channel to receive payment from abroad long been hindering our expected growth.”
President of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), Mustafa Jabbar expressing his satisfaction over the prospective operation of PayPall said,
“It is a big achievement of the country as the authority have succeeded to convince the online giant to operate in Bangladesh. It will pave the way to boost export earning from software sector,” he added.
The BASIS president, however, also said, ” As the income of freelancer’s do not enter into the country through legal channel, their income also dose not hit the record as export earning. After starting operation of PayPall, country’s export income from the sector will see a big jump.”
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Zunaid Ahmed Palak told The New Nation that under the leadership and overall guidance of ICT adviser to the government, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, we have made much progress on our commitment to bring PayPal services to the people of Bangladesh.
“We do hope that very soon we shall be able to present the service to freelancers and others.”
During last year’s US tour, Palak visited the PayPal head office and met its vice-president. At that time, he had said that discussions revolved round meeting infrastructural needs to ensure that Bangladesh could be put on their list.
PayPal is an e-commerce organisation through which money can be transferred through the internet using an electronic bank credit or debit card, PayPal cheques or by using virtual cash from Pay Pal accounts.
The government has been trying to introduce the service in Bangladesh since 2011.
