bKash Deploys 800,000 Interoperable Bangla QRs

For the past seven years, Mahmudul Hasan Nayeem has relied on his bKash merchant account to process digital payments at ‘Nayeem Collection’, his shop in the bustling Kapasia Bazar of Gazipur. Yet, without an expensive Point of Sale (POS) machine, accepting payments directly from traditional bank apps remained out of reach for him.

Today, that barrier has vanished, replaced by a simple, interoperable square on his counter: the Bangla QR.

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“Now that bKash has installed the Bangla QR, we can accept payments from other banks and mobile banking platforms as well,” Nayeem explains. “This has been incredibly convenient for us. Now, with just one QR code, we can receive payments from all institutions, making it much easier to keep track of our daily sales at the end of the day.”

Nayeem’s experience highlights a quiet but monumental shift in Bangladesh’s retail landscape. From neighbourhood groceries to leading lifestyle retails, superstores, etc., transactions across this bKash-deployed Bangla QR network have gone up to TK 2.0 billion every day.

For merchants, the interoperability of the Bangla QR is considered a gamechanger. Abu Saeed Rony, Manager of M.N. Fashion in Kumarpara of Sylhet metropolitan area, notes how the upgrade has streamlined their operations. “We used to receive a number of payments through bKash every day. Now that bKash has installed the Bangla QR, we can also seamlessly accept payments from other financial institutions using the exact same QR. We hope transactions through the QR will attract more customers to go cashless in the coming days.”

About the Bangla QR deployment drive, Ali Ahmmed, Chief Commercial Officer of bKash, said: “The transition to interoperable Bangla QR at merchants represents a major step towards financial inclusion and the democratisation of technology in Bangladesh. Customers of banks, MFS and payment service providers can now make cashless transactions seamlessly by scanning a single QR code nationwide.

This initiative reduces the risks of carrying cash, simplifies merchant operations, and creates digital records that strengthen access to formal financial services, including credit.”

Innovation for Cashless Shift

However, deploying Bangla QR codes is just one of bKash’s strategies to digitise the payment landscape in the country. To build trust and remove the friction of verifying transactions during busy business hours, bKash has introduced payment speakers for merchants- a first of its kind in Bangladesh. These devices provide instant audio confirmation for successful payments, securing the transaction for the merchant while offering a smooth checkout experience for the customer.

Furthermore, bKash is also utilising the digital footprints created by these QR transactions to solve one of the most persistent challenges for small businesses: access to formal credit. In a pilot programme with the BRAC Bank, bKash is analysing merchant transaction histories to offer instant, collateral-free, short-term digital loans directly to the merchant account.

Stimulating Consumer Behaviour

Infrastructure alone does not change consumer behaviour; incentives do. To drive mass adoption of the Bangla QR, bKash has launched promotional payment campaigns across 45,000+ merchant outlets. Customers scanning Bangla QRs via the bKash app can currently unlock cashback and discount coupons worth up to Tk 10,000. The campaign will continue till August 31, 2026.

As bKash approaches its 15th anniversary, this initiative demonstrates how the platform continues to evolve from a peer-to-peer transfer service into a comprehensive digital financial ecosystem. By equipping merchants with universal payment acceptance, bKash is not just changing how people pay- it is fundamentally empowering the businesses that drive Bangladesh forward.