Postal department is set to substantially slash charge for its mobile money order service soon, a finance division official said.
The state entity charges senders more than the privately-run mobile money transfer ecosystem in a highly competitive market, he added.
To this end, finance ministry will sit later this month to discuss and find a way out to gain a competitive advantage over rivals.
Postal department runs mobile money order service, known as 'Electronic Money Transfer Service (EMTS)'.
Postal department sent a proposal to finance ministry last year to lower money transfer charge to nearly 50 per cent, he mentioned.
It is finding ways to restore the facility that the public would use as a means of secure money transfer, according to a senior postal official.
When asked, postal department director general Sushanto Kumar Mondal said, "We're trying to revive our glory of money order. Finally, we'll be able to reach our goal."
"We're sincerely trying to lower EMTS charge significantly in competition with private mobile money transfer networks," he told the FE.
"The government's income will increase 100 per cent from the mobile e-money sector if the proposed charges are implemented finally," Mr Mondal mentioned earlier.
An official told the FE the sorry state of electronic money order service which turned out to be a major generator of revenue.
But the service has faced a stiff competition for the private-sector mobile payment system, he said.
"We're trying to revive our past glory of money order. Finally, we will be able to reach our goal," he added.
The official said, "We have sent a proposal to the finance ministry early of 2017 in this regard."
Overall, postal department is making profits other than the electronic money order service, he cited.
As the EMTS is available until evening, analysts said, senders mostly use private transfer services like bKash, Rocket and other money transfer services.
Private mobile money transfer service is an easy and fast way to send money to a receiver's mobile phone anytime a day, they said.
The government earned only Tk 13 million from money order-related transactions in fiscal year (FY) 2016-17.
It was Tk 282.30 million in FY '12, a 95.4 per cent decline, according to the document received by the FE.
The number of money orders was 4.88 million in FY '12. It reduced to 0.58 million in FY '17, it showed.
In FY '18, the department's total income stood at Tk 3.74 billion, a 24 per cent rise compared to the same period a year ago, a high official said.
There are 9,886 post offices that render services to more than 120 million people.
