The nationwide payment settlement network, known as Shaparak, said it processed almost 3.26 billion transactions worth 6,679. 1 trillion rials ($22.6 billion) in the calendar month to Dec 21.
Transactions rose 0.03% in value but declined 0.46% in volume compared to the 3.28 billion transactions worth 6,677 trillion rials a month earlier.
However, the transactions increased 21.34% and 59.38% in volume and value y/y, respectively, though the higher value could be partly attributed to the pattern on rising inflation.
The company ascribed the annual increase in transactions to the rise in payment instruments and debit cards plus the public preference for e-payment instead of cash due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Shaparak presents figures in real value terms to adjust for inflation. Accordingly, the real value of transactions registered 3.95% decline on a monthly basis. This is while the figure shows 17.94% rise Y/Y.
The Persian-language economic newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad saw the growth as a sign of improvement in demand.
"Growth in the real value of transactions means that the nominal demand has outpaced inflation," it wrote Saturday.
Increase in Payment Tools
With more than 12.95 million payment instruments in use during the reviewed month, the total showed 1.42% growth on the earlier month.
The rise was mainly attributed to point-of-sale devices in shops, which grew 1.68% to reach 9.83 million. The number of mobile gateways and online payment gateways rose 1.08% and 0.68% during the month, respectively.
In terms of market share, POS devices topped the list with a 75.93% share. Online gateways were next at 12.54% followed by mobile payment gateways at 11.52%.
Higher number of POS devices is largely due to their wider spread compared to other devices plus the convenience with which payments are made without the need for supplementary devices such as PC or cellphone, which may not always be accessible.
POS devices accounted for 90.71% of the total transactions processing 2.96 billion transactions worth 5,862 trillion rials ($19.8 billion) during the month.
Online gateways were next with 6.01% and mobile instruments at 3.27%. In terms of services offered by Shaparak, data show that 88.23% of transactions were for “buying goods and services”.
“Buying cellphone recharges and paying bills” accounted for 7.38% of all transactions in the month. More than 4.39% of the transactions were conducted for “checking account balances”.
Shaparak's report said the value of the highest portion of POS transactions was between 50,000 rials and 150,000 rials. Payments worth 250,000-500,000 rials dominated transactions via online gateways accounting for 17.5% of the total.
Penetration Rate
As for the penetration rate of payment tools, the report said there were 2,095 instruments per 10,000 adults (above 18 years old) during the month.
POS devices had the highest and internet instruments the lowest penetration rates with 1.591 and 241 instruments per 10,000 adults, respectively.
Tehran province as always was first with the highest number of POS terminals. There were 1.92 million active POS devices in the sprawling metropolis – up 0.97% on the previous month. Khorasan Razavi Province had 742.145 and Isfahan 661,493 active devices.
PSPs
Shaparak also reflected on the performance of payment service providers in the month. Saman Electronic Payment Company, affiliated with Saman Bank, accounted for the highest number of transactions with 20.83%. Beh Pardakht Mellat, a Bank Mellat-affiliated PSP, was next with 20.64%.
Peh Pardakht, however, topped the list in terms of the collective value of transactions, solely accounting for 19.42% of the total value of monthly transactions. SEP ranked second with 17.78%.
Parsian Electronic Commerce Company, affiliated to Parsian Bank, ranked third on both lists, accounting for 17.97% of the transactions and 12.17% of the collective value.
