Sri Lanka’s GovPay aims for Rs. 1 trillion in four years
The Morning: Sri Lanka’s integrated digital payment platform for government payments, GovPay, is looking to transact Rs. 100 million on a monthly basis in the next 12 months, and target Rs. 1 trillion in the next four years, which would add $ 3 billion to the local digital economy, Microimage Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. Founder Harsha Purasinghe said.
“We are looking to see how we can, within the time-span of 12 months, to transact Rs. 100 million worth of digital payments on a monthly basis, to reach at least Rs. 1 billion,” Purasinghe told media, during the unveiling of the rollout of its traffic fine system.
“With all government institutions joining in we can possibly transact Rs. 1 trillion within the next four years. The day we reach Rs. 1 trillion, a value of $ 3 billion dollars is added to the digital economy.”
In February, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya informed parliament that the total digital payments made to governmental institutions was Rs. 1.78 trillion in 2024, up by 114% from 2023.
Sri Lanka’s integrated platform, GovPay, was introduced in February. LankaPay Founder Channa de Silva added that digital transactions through the platform are likely to not intimidate the wider public, as the platform processed 18 million transactions last month alone.
“If you take banks and non-financial institutions, through real time payments within the last month alone, this platform has facilitated 18 million transactions. In the last year alone, there have been 1.8 trillion transactions that have taken place through the platform.”
“Then this payment platform is not something that the public should be suspicious or fearful of, as it is a system that they have been actively using, this is the connection of an additional service, which we are calling GovPay,” de Silva said.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s economic expansion and the expansion of the country’s ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors have all resulted in the growth in digital payment platforms. With Sri Lanka looking at transforming the country into an e-economy with an overall expansion in digital platforms including payment platforms, the business potential in Sri Lanka’s digital payment platforms record a further growth. The increasing value of the transactions recorded by Sri Lanka’s digital payment platforms indicate the growing business potential in the digital sector including ICT as well as in the digital infrastructure development sectors. Given that Sri Lanka is on a growth path to becoming a regional hub, the business/investment opportunities in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors will be continuously revolving to be on par with global standards. All these factors indicate that Sri Lanka’s ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors, especially digital payment platforms, present lucrative business opportunities for foreign businesses/investors. They could also look at the opportunities to present the latest global technological advancements to Sri Lanka as well.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20250716/Z_3 |