Most rickshaw-pullers in Dhaka use mobile to send money home: study

Three out of four rickshaw-pullers in the Dhaka city send money to their village homes through mobile banking services which they deem safe and cost-effective, according to a new study.

Salahuddin Aminuzzaman, a professor of the public administration department at Dhaka University, conducted the study on 350 rickshaw-pullers to understand the pattern of internal remittance behaviour of the rickshaw-pullers in the capital as well as the use of the remitted money.

The study, conducted between March and June 2013, shows 47 percent of the rickshaw-pullers send money home every week, while 21 percent fortnightly.

An overwhelming number of respondents consider mobile money safe and cost-effective. All the respondents think mobile money is safe while 85 percent said it is cost-effective.

Around 89 percent of them said the remitted money reaches their family members or desired persons within 15 minutes. 

The study showed the average amount of money sent per week is around Tk 981, and 84 percent of the recipients include parents, wife and family members.

Around 75 percent of the remitted money is spent on food and family maintenance, while 31 percent spent on child education, 35 percent on investment, 32 percent on small business and 9 percent on loan repayment.

Majority of the rickshaw-pullers come from riverine and char areas such as Rangpur, Kurigram, Jamalpur, Tangail, Mymensingh, Bogra and Sirajganj. Mobile money is driving financial inclusion in the country where most of the people do not have access to formal banking services.

The central bank has so far given licences to 28 banks to operate mobile financial services of which 19 are in operation.

Most people use bKash money transfer service, a joint venture between Brac Bank of Bangladesh and Money in Motion of the US.

Mobile banking now registers more than 20 percent growth in cash transaction a month, thanks to the growing popularity of the service, according to the central bank. On average, around Tk 263 crore is transacted a day through mobile banking services. The amount was only Tk 121 crore in April last year.

fazlur.rahman@thedailystar.net