Data released by the Central Bank of Iran show during the first half of the Iranian fiscal year (March-Sept. 2020), payments made through online gateways were 23.8% higher in volume and up 255% in value.
An estimated 961 million transactions worth 961.6 trillion rials ($16.4 billion) were processed through online payment gateways in the first six months of the current year, CBI data shows.
Purchasing goods or services accounted for 79.6% of the total online payments -- this share was 64.9% during the same period the last year.
The number of cashless transactions has been growing steadily in recent years. CBI figures indicate increase in the growth of electronic payment tools and their value, which likely was due to the Covid-19 outbreak as more people prefer to stay indoors.
Iran’s infections increased on Saturday with 11,203 new cases overnight. Close to 749,525 coronavirus cases have been reported with the death toll rising to 41,034, making it the hardest hit by the virus in the Middle East.
More Gateways
Shaparak company, the body in charge of overseeing Iran's domestic payment network, also reported that the number of online payment gateways made a 16.7% growth during the seventh month of Iranian fiscal year (Sept. 22- Oct. 23), and compared to the previous month.
By October 23, there were 1.58 million online gateways, which indicates 48% growth compared to Oct. 23, 2019.
Tehran Province, accounted for more than 460,000 of online gateways followed by Isfahan and Khorasan Razavi provinces with 120,000 and 105,000 gateways, respectively.
Regarding the performance of payment service providers, Parsian E-Commerce Company, affiliated to Parsian Bank, alone accounted for 30% of online payment gateways by the end of the seventh month.
The company managed to top the list after its market share gained 4% outgrowing Asan Pardakht (3%) during the month to October 23. Asan Pardakht Parsian has been holding the lion share of the market for the past couple of months.
Despite leading the market in terms of gateways, PECCO accounted for 17% of the total transactions via online gateways during the month under review. Asan Pardakht and Saman Electronic Payment accounted for 23% and 19% of total transactions, respectively.
In terms of the value, SEP, affiliated to Saman Bank, held the lion’s share as it accounted for 34% of the online transactions’ total value. Beh Pardakht Mellat, came after with 31% share followed by PECCO with 14%.
