To make buying and selling at the Qurbani cattle markets easier and safer, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has set up digital payments at six of its markets. The e-banking service, named "Smart Haat", has already drawn a strong response from buyers and sellers.

Ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, DNCC "Smart Haat" booths have been set up at the markets in Gabtali, Bosila, Aftabnagar, Bhatara, Kawla and Uttara Sector 17. Buyers can pay sellers with credit and debit cards through POS (point of sale) machines, through mobile financial services and QR codes, or by withdrawing cash from ATMs. Mastercard, Visa and American Express run the card schemes as payment partners. Bank Asia, BRAC Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Eastern Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh and City Bank are working as lead banks, and bKash and Islami Bank mCash will work as mobile financial service providers.

A visit to the Bhatara and Aftabnagar markets on the afternoon of Tuesday, 5 July, found plenty of animals but comparatively few buyers, although several animals were seen being sold.

Mominul Islam Rubel, assistant relationship officer of Bank Asia at the Bhatara market, told Jago News: "We started on 1 July. It was a bit slow at first but the response is much better now. Today six accounts were opened with our bank and Tk 1 lakh was transacted. The ATM booth is next door and there are regular transactions there too."

Many people run short of money when they come to buy a cow, he said, and can now quickly go to the ATM. Buying has not picked up yet, but where sales are happening, digital payments are being used a great deal.

Traders at the Bhatara market said sales were very low for now, but they had come early to get a place in the market. The picture was the same at Aftabnagar: plenty of animals but a shortage of buyers.

Cattle trader Shamser Uddin Jahangir told Jago News that people in Dhaka buy animals a day or two before Eid. Pressure will build from the day after tomorrow (Thursday), he said; those coming now look and leave, and only a few are selling.

An official at a Smart Haat booth said the service gives people coming to buy or sell animals a way to keep their money safe. Transactions have started on a small scale, and the rush will grow from Friday.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.