Shaparak, the nationwide payment network, processed 1.92 billion transactions worth 1,978 trillion rials ($ 12.3 billion) during the Iranian month to April 20 – down 15.7% in volume and 39.71% less in value compared to the earlier month.
According to a report released by Shaparak website, a year-on-year comparison of the numbers indicates 5.7% growth in the value of transactions. The report indicates 7.85% growth in the number of transactions compared to last year.
Decline in monthly numbers seems normal, as the number of transactions and their collective value usually peak in the final month of the fiscal year (February to March 21).
However, the growth in volume and value was considerably smaller than the numbers pertaining to the same period last year.
During the same period last year, the network registered 55.71% annual growth in value and 26% increase in the number of transactions.
Factoring out inflation, the report presents data in real value terms to help provide timely and authentic information to decision-makers.
Accordingly, the real value of transactions dropped by 9.87% compared to the same period last year. Compared to the previous month and after deducting inflation, the value of transactions had a real decline of 40.89%.
Shaparak rates its performance in terms of volume and value of transactions processed by its three main receiving tools, namely internet, mobile and point-of-sale devices.
Based on the report, cardholders made bigger transactions via online gateways. Online gateways processed 116.6 million transactions worth 421 trillion rials ($2.63 billion) during the month, accounting for 21% and 6.07% of transactions in terms of value and volume, respectively.
Accordingly, more than 1.7 billion transactions were made using 8.3 million POS terminals across Iran during the month to April 22, with collective value at 1,500 trillion rials ($9.3 billion).
Higher number of POS devices and their easy access is another factor in their widespread use. However, considering the spread of the covid-19, more users prefer card-free methods for making payments.
The report indicates that in terms of the purpose of transactions, purchasing goods and paying for services had the lion’s share of the total transactions at 84.7%.
Transactions processed for buying cell phone recharges and checking account balance respectively accounted for 10.12% and 5.15% of the total Shaparak transactions.
Shaparak said it registered more than 185 million failed transactions during the period. Failed transactions accounted for 83.78% of the total.
User errors were the reason for 90.57% of failed transactions. Card issuers' (banks) errors were the reason behind 7.61% of unsuccessful transactions. Shaparak’s own faults were the cause of failures in 0.54% of failed transactions.
The total number of failed transactions declined by 16% compared to the month before, the report concuded.
