Kanwal Naseer

The e-commerce industry in Pakistan has largely evolved during the Covid-19 pandemic; however, it is still far behind the developed countries due to a number of challenges. Online payment is one such challenge that’s affecting the ecommerce business in the country. It is due to this factor that PayPal, Google Checkout, and Moneybookers – the world's most well-known e-payment service providers – are reluctant to cater to local enterprises. Talking to WealthPK, Sayed Khizar Hamayun, representative consultant and trainer for Enablers, said, “whenever we work in a foreign market, we earn in dollars.

In this way, we increase the foreign reserves of our country, but there are many challenges we have to face during payments. If we want to do business outside of Pakistan, the biggest difficulty is to arrange dollars. If we use the route of the State Bank of Pakistan, we have to deal with a lot of formalities and documentation that confuses us.’’ “The State Bank of Pakistan has its own set time period in which the seller has to show the deposit, while they have to understand that the seller's investment is rolling.

The State Bank of Pakistan should provide a time margin so that if it begins to generate profits in the third or fourth month, it is good; otherwise, they can investigate and adopt policies if they are concerned about money laundering,” said Khizar. He said that the State Bank should set a mechanism for prohibiting money laundering and facilitate investment for the business purpose. “It is surprising that despite having such a big seller industry, we do not have the PayPal access,’’ he said. “If you have any dispute in business, PayPal can easily refund and recover it. 

It is a safe payment system with a strong potential for acquiring customer and merchant confidence. There are many obstacles in our local banks. Verification and documentation are a lengthy and complicated process without any proper guidance. In fact, the people over there are not willing to guide and listen to us either,” Khizar continued. He said the government will have to work together with the State Bank of Pakistan on these challenges and at least create a policy that makes it easy to do business and send money to other countries.

According to WealthPK, the available options are either insecure or have a large payment overhead. A proper e-payment system is necessary for long-term growth in e-commerce. Absence of corporations such as PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay makes Pakistan an outcast in the worldwide digital economy. Pakistan will not be considered trustworthy in the international market unless it is financially compatible with the rest of the globe. Now that Amazon has arrived, it can open all other platforms longed for by the service providers and traders.

 Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk