Transactions processed by the electronic card payment network, Shaparak, increased 11.86% on a monthly basis to 6,677 trillion rials ($23.8 billion) in the month ending Nov. 21.
More than 3.28 billion retail payments were processed in the month up 0.29% on the month before, according to data seen on the company’s website.
Compared to the same period last year, the numbers showed 52.46% hike in the value of transactions. In volume terms, however, the number was 18.9% higher year-on-year.
Sharp increase in the value of transaction is linked largely to the high and rising consumer prices. When adjusted for inflation, the real value of transactions rose 9.19% during the month. On YOY basis, the real value of transactions increased 12.4%.
The overall goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Nov. 21 increased 44.4% compared with the same time last year.
Payment Services
Electronic retail payment services in Iran are offered via internet, cell phone and POS terminals.
According to the report, the total number of receiving instruments rose 1.36% compared to the month before to reach 12.77 million.
The rise was linked to internet payment gateways and POS terminals, which respectively rose 2.01% and 1.3% in number on the month before. The number of mobile instruments rose 1.05%.
In terms of market share, POS devices were at the top with 75.74%. Internet payment gateways were next with 12.70% followed by mobile instruments at 11.56%.
In terms of volume and value of transactions processed via each receiving instrument, POS devices as usual led the pack, accounting for 89.6% and 86.95% of the volume and value of transactions processing 2.94 billion transactions worth 5,805.84 trillion rials ($20.7 billion) during the month.
Online gateways were next accounting for 7.13% of the total number of transactions while mobile instruments represented 3.29%.
In terms of services offered by Shaparak, data show that during the month under review, 88.34% of the transactions were for “buying goods and services. Cellphone recharges and paying bills was second accounting for 7.4% of the services while 4.26% of the transactions were logged for checking account balances.
As for penetration rate of the receiving instruments, there were 2,066 instruments per 10,000 adults (above 18 years old) in the month.
POS devices had the highest and mobile instruments the lowest penetration rates with 1,565 and 238 instruments per 10,000 adults, respectively.
During the period there were 1.9 million active POS devices operating in Tehran Province – a 0.63% monthly rise. This was followed by Khorasan Razavi and Isfahan provinces with 728,907 and 653,620 active devices, respectively.
The lowest number of POS devices was reported in Ilam Province at 65,809.
