Locally developed ‘Scan&Pay’ QR code saves Rs. 1.5 billion

From left – State Minister of Samurdhi, Household Economy, Micro Finance, Self Employment, Business Development and Underutilized State Resources Development Shehan Semasinhe, State Minister of Cooperative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna, State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena and CBSL Governor Prof. W. D. Lakshman.

by Sanath Nanayakkare

The national ‘Scan and Pay’ digital payment QR code (LankaQR) launched by the Central Bank yesterday has been developed without obtaining consultancy from a foreign firm, which would otherwise have cost about Rs. 1.5 billion for the country, a forum of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) revealed yesterday.

Dharmasri Kumaratunga, Director, Payments and Settlements Department of the CBSL made this revelation at the launch of the National QR Code, LANKAQR.

“Cambodia had paid US$ 8 million for a similar service that it received from Korea. But we were able to develop the National QR code using the technical know-how of our own developers, so it’s tantamount to being able to save about Rs. 1.5 billion which would otherwise have been paid for foreign consultancy,” he said.

Central Bank Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman pointed out that this facility would encourage digital payments in the economy and reduce the cost of cash management as well as formalise the informal sector.

Ajith Nivard Cabraal, State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms said that the use of credit cards in the country has increased and the Central Bank has moved further ahead to introduce the National QR Code to accelerate the empowerment of the digital economy. “We should enable the inflows into the country to be formalized attracting those who transfer money to the country through alternative methods. For this we must offer low costs for such inward remittances. Also, we must follow tech developments in the world on a daily basis and adopt them in our financial landscape ensuring cyber-security of those payment and settlement innovations. We shouldn’t lag behind other countries, he said.

The code enables quick and secure transactions at a low cost bringing numerous benefits to the public and the economy.

Customers can use the LANKAQR system to transfer funds directly to a merchant’s bank account where a nominal fee is charged from the merchant.

The new payment system is expected to be beneficial to small and medium enterprises, which account for 90 percent of all businesses and contribute 52 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).