LankaPay processes Rs. 34 trillion in transactions
The Morning: Sri Lanka’s payment network LankaPay processed Rs. 34 trillion worth in transactions in 2024, CEO Channa De Silva told media recently.
“If you look at the numbers last year, we did Rs. 34 trillion worth of transactions within the year,” De Silva said.
Earlier in June, Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) Board Member Chandima Cooray said that Sri Lanka’s overall existing $ 3.5 billion worth digital payments economy had the potential to reach $ 15 billion in 2030.
Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya told Parliament in February that the Sri Lankan Government made a total of Rs. 1.78 trillion in digital payments in 2024, up by 114% from the payments made in 2023, totalling to Rs. 828 billion.
De Silva added that there exists a misconception with regards to the adoption of digital payments, and volumes were significantly high.
“We did Rs. 17 trillion worth of transactions in real-time transactions last year, which is more than 50% of GDP,” he added.
“I think with the adoption of digital payments, it’s a misconception that adoption has not happened. So adoption is there, especially among the corporates, and probably the urban segment.”
He explained that the issues pertaining to adoption lie within the non-urban sector and small medium enterprises operating outside of Colombo.
“The problem is the retail, where SMEs outside of Colombo, where financial inclusivity must come in.”
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the Central Bank’s Payment’s Bulletin recorded a 27.4% growth in e-commerce payments in year-on-year terms, valued at Rs. 367.6 billion.
Sri Lanka’s efforts for digitisation of payments began gaining momentum in the early 2010s, with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) having played key roles in this transformation during its early stages.
The Indian government’s expertise in digital payment systems, particularly through its unified payments interface (UPI), has influenced Sri Lanka’s approach to digitising payments, as the Indian government has provided technical assistance and knowledge sharing to Sri Lanka in developing its digital payment infrastructure (DPI).
According to its website, Sri Lanka onboarded 16 government institutions with the launch of its government digital payments platform GovPay, in February.
OSL take:
The value of the transactions processed by LankaPay is indicative of the increasing business for digital payment platforms in Sri Lanka. With Sri Lanka on a growth path moving towards becoming a regional hub, the increasing financial transactions have expanded the digital payment platforms in Sri Lanka. Also, the Sri Lankan government’s commitment to transform the country into an e-economy through an aggressive digitization programme covering the entire country have presented a host of business/investment opportunities. All these developments have resulted in multiple business/investment opportunities opening up in Sri Lanka’s digital industry that present a host of lucrative ventures for foreign businesses/investors. Also, the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors have therefore become a hotspot for business/investment opportunities. The growth, profits and expansion recorded by many local businesses in the digital industry, especially in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors are indicative of the increasing business potential in these sectors in Sri Lanka. Given the overall growth and business potential in Sri Lanka, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the increasing business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s expanding digital economy and in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20250702/Z_3 |