In the narrow lanes of Karwan Bazar, grocers often keep two prices in their heads for a sack of lentils.
One is the price on the chalkboard. The other begins the moment a customer pulls out cash instead of a phone. Cash is immediate, beyond tracking, familiar and leaves little trail. Digital payments promise speed and convenience, but they also leave a record.
For decades, the cash price has usually won.
Bangladesh Bank is betting that equation can change.
The instrument of that bet is a small black-and-white square now appearing on shop counters from Dhaka’s New Market to tea stalls in Sunamganj. Bangla QR, the central bank’s interoperable payment standard, allows customers to pay through any participating bank app or mobile financial service using a single QR code, regardless of who issued it.
For the central bank, however, the initiative is about much more than replacing multiple proprietary QR networks with one interoperable standard. It is an attempt to build a common payment language for one of South Asia’s most cash-dependent economies while gradually bringing millions of cash transactions that still take place beyond banks’ visibility into the formal financial system.
Since 1 July, merchants have been required to display Bangla QR under the “One Country, One QR” initiative. Officials want digital channels to carry 80 per cent of the country’s transactions within the next decade, a transformation that would reshape how consumers pay, merchants receive money and businesses participate in the formal financial system.
Whether that ambition becomes reality depends less on the technology itself than on whether millions of merchants and consumers decide to change long-established payment habits.
A fast start, a bigger ambition
The early momentum suggests the infrastructure is gaining ground.
Within the first 48 hours after the nationwide mandate took effect, Bangla QR processed 77,165 transactions worth Tk22.02 crore, according to Bangladesh Bank.
The platform had already established a sizeable footprint before becoming mandatory. By the end of 2025, the interoperable network connected 46 banks, seven mobile financial service operators, four payment service providers and 9.63 lakh merchants, processing nearly 66 lakh transactions worth more than Tk2,700 crore during the year, according to the central bank’s Payment Systems Report 2025.
Unlike previous payment systems tied to individual providers, Bangla QR removes fragmentation. Customers no longer need to ask whether a shop accepts a particular bank or mobile wallet. One QR code can receive payments from all participating platforms, simplifying transactions for both consumers and merchants.
By the end of July, nearly 18 lakh merchants had joined the Bangla QR network, while daily transactions had climbed to around two lakh from roughly 20,000 a year earlier. Central bank officials describe the figures as only the beginning.
Banks are already building specialised services around that common infrastructure, extending QR payments into education, healthcare, charities, transport, retail businesses and government services.
The strategy extends beyond technology. Banks have deployed branches to onboard merchants and are expanding QR acceptance across neighbourhood markets, pharmacies, grocery shops, tea stalls and roadside businesses. The broader objective is to bring cash-heavy segments of the economy onto a common payment rail for the first time.
The cash habit dies slowly
Technology alone, however, cannot replace decades of reliance on cash.
Cash still accounts for 67.2 per cent of Bangladesh’s transactions, according to central bank data, despite years of rapid growth in mobile financial services.
That dependence carries a considerable economic cost. Bangladesh spends an estimated Tk20,000 crore to Tk22,000 crore each year printing, transporting and managing banknotes, while cash transactions leave much of the economy outside the formal financial system.
Economists say building a truly cashless economy will remain difficult unless the country’s vast informal sector, where a large share of transactions still takes place outside banks’ ledgers, is gradually brought into formal financial channels.
Bankers share a similar assessment, arguing that the next challenge is no longer developing payment technology but making digital transactions part of everyday commercial behaviour, particularly among small businesses that continue to rely almost entirely on cash.
Another constraint is access to technology. Smartphone ownership continues to grow, but penetration remains far from universal, particularly among lower-income groups and in rural areas where feature phones are still common. Until smartphones and affordable internet become more widespread, a significant portion of consumers will remain outside the digital payment ecosystem.
Winning merchants may decide the race
If consumers determine how quickly digital payments grow, merchants may ultimately determine whether Bangla QR succeeds.
Bangladesh Bank has capped the merchant discount rate for Bangla QR transactions at 1.15 per cent, including VAT, while no acquiring bank can charge less than 1 per cent. On a Tk1,000 payment, a merchant receives Tk988.50 after charges.
While policymakers view the fee as modest, many shop owners argue that even small deductions matter in businesses operating on thin margins. They warn that absorbing transaction costs could gradually erode profitability, particularly for grocery stores and other low-margin retailers.
The central bank has prohibited merchants from passing those charges directly to customers, leaving traders to absorb the cost themselves.
Some merchant groups also point to earlier attempts to introduce technologies such as Electronic Cash Registers and Electronic Fiscal Devices, arguing that mandatory adoption alone does not guarantee lasting success unless businesses see clear economic benefits.
Bangladesh is not entering unfamiliar territory. India’s Unified Payments Interface processed 228.3 billion transactions worth ₹299.7 lakh crore in 2025 alone, accounting for 85.5 per cent of the country’s digital payment volume, while Pakistan’s Raast handled close to ₹50 trillion through roughly two billion transactions during the same period.
One reason frequently cited for their rapid adoption is pricing. Merchant charges are either zero or heavily subsidised. Consumer advocates argue Bangladesh should consider a similar approach, noting that Thailand’s PromptPay, Singapore’s PayNow and Malaysia’s DuitNow QR also impose little or no cost on many small merchants.
The experience of neighbouring markets suggests transaction costs matter. India’s remarkable expansion of QR-based payments was underpinned by keeping merchant charges at zero for most small-ticket transactions, removing one of the biggest barriers to adoption. Industry participants say Bangladesh may eventually need to move in a similar direction if policymakers want digital payments to compete with the convenience of cash among millions of small merchants.
Beyond the QR sticker
Money is not the only barrier.
Research by MicroSave Consulting found that 64 per cent of retail traders still did not fully understand how interoperable QR payments worked or what benefits they offered. In some cases, bank branches responsible for merchant onboarding were themselves not fully prepared to explain the system.
Industry observers also point to a structural incentive problem. A trader registered as a Bangla QR merchant pays transaction charges on every sale, while the same trader operating as a mobile financial service agent earns commissions on cash transactions, creating conflicting incentives for small businesses.
None of that necessarily undermines Bangla QR’s long-term potential.
Industry estimates suggest a mature digital financial ecosystem could add nearly 1.7 per cent to Bangladesh’s gross domestic product, equivalent to more than $6.2 billion annually, by reducing transaction costs, improving efficiency and expanding financial inclusion.
Banks are already investing heavily in merchant acquisition, QR-based products and customer incentive programmes, viewing Bangla QR as long-term financial infrastructure rather than simply another payment option. Many have assigned branches to onboard hundreds of merchants, with executives visiting neighbourhood markets, roadside stalls and floating traders to expand the QR network one counter at a time.
Back in Karwan Bazar, more QR stickers now hang beside cash drawers than ever before.
The technology is largely in place. The banks are connected. Merchants are joining. The infrastructure continues to expand.
The harder task is changing what happens at the moment of payment. That means making digital transactions not only interoperable but also affordable, widely accessible and simple enough for millions of merchants and consumers to choose over cash.
If consumers find digital payments effortless and merchants find the economics worthwhile, Bangla QR could become more than the country’s common payment language. It could replace fragmented proprietary payment networks with a single interoperable standard while gradually pulling millions of everyday cash transactions—from grocery shops and pharmacies to tea stalls and roadside vendors – onto the digital ledger.
If that happens, the small black-and-white square will not simply rule QR payments. It will begin to rule how Bangladesh pays, connecting banks, mobile wallets, merchants and much of the country’s informal economy through one common payment rail.
If not, the sticker may appear on every counter while cash continues to rule the till.
