The move towards Bangla QR in Bangladesh is timely and welcome. Introduced in January 2023, the payment collection system was available to 9.63 lakh merchants across the country by the end of 2025. A single interoperable QR code that lets customers pay through different banks, mobile financial service (MFS) providers, and payment apps can simplify transactions, reduce cash dependency, and bring more businesses into the formal financial ecosystem. The Bangladesh Bank has already made Bangla QR mandatory at merchant points, instructing financial service providers to replace proprietary QR codes with this national standard.
However, the success of Bangla QR will not depend on technology alone; trust is an equally important factor here. For a small merchant, a QR code is not just a payment sticker on the counter but a doorway to a more visible business life. That visibility can be empowering if it helps the merchant access credit, reduce cash-handling risk, and build a formal business record. But it can also create anxiety if the merchant fears new charges, tax scrutiny, delayed settlement, or data misuse. This is the missing link in the Bangla QR conversation: along with digital payment, Bangladesh must discuss digital trust as well.
The first concern is cost. The central bank has set a minimum merchant discount rate (MDR) of 1 percent for payments processed through the National Payment Switch Bangladesh. For large retailers, this is manageable. But the same cannot be said for micro-merchants, who are already showing reluctance to adopt Bangla QR. A small grocery shop taking Tk 10,000 a day through Bangla QR loses Tk 100 daily, or roughly Tk 3,000 a month, to the fee. For a business with thin margins, that is a significant amount. Adoption for such businesses will be driven more by arithmetic than advertising.
This is not an argument against MDR. Digital infrastructure has real costs, including cybersecurity, settlement systems, and customer support, just as cash has hidden costs such as theft, counterfeit notes and time. But cash costs are invisible while QR charges are not. A differentiated MDR such as a lower or waived rate for micro-merchants would recognise this reality. The Bangladesh Bank recently decided to create a Tk 100 crore fund to subsidise MDR for small merchants—a welcome recognition of the cost burden on small merchants.
Tax fear is another major concern among the merchants. Policymakers rightly see Bangla QR as a route to transparent business records. But for many small traders, visibility feels like exposure: will today’s sales invite tomorrow’s audit? This fear may not always be justified, but it’s commercially real and shapes behaviour. The central bank and the National Board of Revenue could jointly address it by offering a “digital transition safe harbour”, an assurance that, for an initial period, QR adoption by small merchants will support formalisation and credit-building rather than trigger retrospective tax action, barring clear fraud. This gives honest, unregistered businesses room to enter the formal system without fear of being ambushed by it.
Then comes data governance. Merchants deserve to know, in plain Bangla, who can see their transaction data, for what purpose, and under what legal authority. Left unanswered, these questions will be filled by rumour. In a low trust environment, that can keep a shopkeeper reaching for the cash drawer instead of the QR code.
There’s the matter of settlement and reconciliation, too. Cash is settled instantly; a shopkeeper can use today’s takings to restock tomorrow. Digital payment must offer the same confidence. Picture a small restaurant at lunch hour: two of 10 QR payments show “pending,” a customer insists payment went through, and reconciliation takes a day to sort out. If that becomes routine, cash will always feel simpler. Real-time confirmation, clear receipts, and fast dispute resolution are preconditions for the successful nationwide adoption of Bangla QR.
Digital literacy is another factor to consider. Many small merchants need practical support to be able to navigate technology. A shopkeeper should know how to verify a payment, check daily sales, spot a fake screenshot, and resolve a failed transaction. Market-level demonstrations are best placed to deliver that support. The awareness campaigns being run by the banks and payment providers should also include merchant-level support.
The last but most significant factor is customer behaviour. Bangla QR will work only if both sides of the transaction are comfortable. If customers distrust the process as much as merchants distrust the tax exposure, both sides will keep reverting to cash. Adoption requires a two-sided incentive: customers may need small cashback or convenience benefits, while merchants need fee relief, faster settlement and credit access.
However, the strongest case for Bangla QR is not payment convenience; it is access to finance. Most small merchants cannot get formal loans because they have no reliable sales record. A grocer, pharmacist, or tailor with a verified QR transaction history has something a loan officer can actually assess. If that history can help secure a modest working capital facility, digital payment starts looking like leverage.
That is the shift Bangladesh needs to make: from presenting Bangla QR as a tool that records sales for the state to presenting it as one that proves business strength to lenders and customers. Achieving that means lowering the cost burden on small merchants, giving them a fair transition into the formal system, clarifying data rules, ensuring instant settlement, and training merchants where they work.
Bangla QR can change how Bangladesh pays, but only trust can determine how quickly this change happens. To make the Bangladesh Bank’s ambitious target of one crore daily payments—up from around one crore per month currently—through Bangla QR achievable, it must ensure that the system is affordable, fair, and useful for the merchants. Only then will Bangla QR become a genuine foundation of the country’s digital economy.
Md Emdadul Haque, FCA is director and CFO at Heidelberg Materials Bangladesh PLC.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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