Both SWIFT inflow and outflow have increased by 22.83% and 46.76%
Cross-border payments are booming. The trend of payments is increasing annually when compared to the past five years. This is according to the payment system data of the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA).
The report states that International Payment Gateway (IPG) recorded almost 13,291 transactions with a value of Nu 321.47mn, last year. The IPG is a platform to acquire card payments made in USD and INR.
There were a total of USD 998 transactions of value USD 716,504 and INR 543 transactions of value 7.32mn transacted in the third quarter of 2022.
During the third quarter of 2022, around six merchants registered in the International Payment Gateway Platform in BoBL, and nine merchants registered in the International Payment Gateway Platform in BNBL.
The total IPG merchant stands at 290 for BoBL and 276 for BNBL. The IPG transactions saw a decrease of 29.89% by volume but an increase of 1064.25% by value as compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In terms of INR, both the volume and value have increased by 459.79% and 6902.46% respectively as compared to the same quarter the previous year. In terms of USD, the volume has decreased slightly by 52.50% but the value has increased by 1035.09%.
Similarly, SWIFT recorded a total of 11,751 transactions, which is an increase of 22.83% in SWIFT inflow and an increase of 46.76% in SWIFT outflow as compared to the same quarter in 2021.
The highest transacted currency is US Dollar with 8,296 transactions followed by Australian Dollar with 2,192 transactions and EURO with 656 transactions.
However, the payment transaction was made through various payment channels operated by the RMA and the six banks at the domestic, regional (India), and international (COTI) levels from July to September last year.
A total of 6,999 transactions of INR 26.47mn were transacted followed by 11,745 were transacted in SWIFT and 1,541 transactions in IPG worth of Nu 8.04mn, last year.
Similarly, domestic payments saw an overall increase of 37.53% by volume and 2.02% by value and regional payments saw an overall increase of 222.62% by volume and 199.97% by value.
This increase is mainly attributed because of the increase in RuPay issuing transactions. The Rupay during the year 2022 in the third quarter stood at INR 26.47mn and in 2021 in the third quarter the RuPay transaction stood at INR7.35mn.
While there was no RuPay acquiring transactions recorded in the third quarter of 2022 and in 2021 the RuPay acquiring transaction recorded 371 transactions worth INR 1.47mn.
According to the RMA, during the third quarter of last year, no transactions have been recorded as the service has been suspended after the notification issued by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) requiring all member bank’s card infrastructure to be Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) compliant. The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DIT) is closely working with commercial banks on such.
The RuPay acquisition allows Indian nationals to withdraw cash and make payments through all the ATM and PoS terminals in Bhutan
Meanwhile, domestic payments recorded a total of 61.44mn transactions comprising intra and interbank domestic transactions worth Nu 210.14bn during the third quarter last year with an increase of 37.53% by volume and 2.02% by value as compared to the third quarter of the year 2021.
The increase in both the volume and value of the domestic payments in the third quarter last year is attributed mainly to an increase in the transactions of PoS, wallets, and QR code payments.
Similarly, the PoS transactions saw an increase of 160% by volume and 1157.80% by value amounting to Nu. 19.80mn and the wallet transaction saw an increase of 149.83%by volume and 104.52% by value amounting to Nu 254.34mn followed by QR Code payments saw an increase of 97.955 by volume and 86.585 by value amounting to Nu 8.65bn.
Meanwhile, regional payments include RuPay card transactions through the ATM and PoS terminal in India and Bhutan, which, during the third quarter of last year, a total of 6,988 regional payments amounting to Nu 26.47mn were transacted while there were no acquiring transactions recorded.
Sherab Dorji from Thimphu
