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The afternoon sun shone on the large transparent plastic bottles lined up on the wet tiles of the Bashbari WASA water ATM, one of the water collection points the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority has set up in the capital.

Barefoot and focused, 17-year-old Rakib from Mohammadpur moves quickly, lifting one bottle away the moment it fills, sliding the next into place.

Before the water stops dripping, he taps his digital payment card against the machine, recharged earlier through mobile financial service bKash. The flow begins instantly.

The second the meter hits the target amount, he pulls the card away, so smoothly that the gesture seems like pure muscle memory.

Rakib has never owned a bank account, and his father, a rickshaw-puller, the main breadwinner of the family, never felt the need of one.

Yet here he stands, using a digital payment card to pay for the family’s drinking water, something he does every day.

‘If I have to pay 80 paisa in cash, it’s trouble,’ he says shyly, lifting a freshly filled bottle. ‘Digital is easy. No change, no hassle.’

Men, women, students, domestic workers and elderly residents wait in line, cards in hand, collecting water while navigating Bangladesh’s steadily expanding cashless ecosystem.

Koli, the pump operator who has worked at this booth for three years, has watched the users from up close to adapt to the digital payment environment.

‘People used bKash from the beginning of my joining three years ago,’ she says. ‘If someone doesn’t know how to recharge, we help them.’

Dhaka WASA began installing water ATM points in the city in 2016.

‘Digital payments reduce arguments and confusion,’ she adds.

This quiet adoption of technology among people traditionally left outside the banking system reflects a bigger national trend, and by now, the ever expanding net of mobile financial services has rapidly changed the scenario of financial transactions at the grassroots in just 15 years since its introduction in 2011.

People now use digital payments for making payments for hundreds of services.

According to Bangladesh Bank’s October data, MFS transactions reached Tk 1,51,123.6 crore in August 2025—an increase of Tk 2,557 crore (1.72 per cent) from July.

During July–August 2025, MFS transactions increased by Tk 38,847.30 crore (14.89 per cent) compared with the same period last year.

Much of this growth is happening among informal workers, people who often do not use traditional banks but have found digital tools more accessible, more convenient, and sometimes safer than cash.

Sixty-year-old rickshaw-puller Azgar Ali Sheikh never learned to use a mobile phone.

He has no bank account and no MFS account of his own.

Yet for the last four to five years, he has been sending money home through bKash, without ever touching the app.

He walks to an MFS agent in the area he trusts, hands over cash, and watches the money to be sent it his family in Rangpur within minutes.

‘I don’t understand it,’ he says about the system. ‘But it works.’

To people like Azgar, digital payments are not modern conveniences, they are lifelines.

In New Market, Harunur Rashid, owner of Casual Corner, scrolls through his bKash app between customers.

For seven to eight years, he has accepted payments digitally.

Each month, he receives Tk 10,000–12,000 in digital transactions—money he uses instantly for family support, business purchases or phone recharge.

His employee, who has family in Jashore, recalls the days before MFS.

‘To send money home, I relied on someone travelling—or I had to go myself,’ he says. ‘Now I can do it anytime.’

Still, he believes the ecosystem needs a more unified structure.

He feels the need of a system that will enable him to transact with a big agency or a small, local seller alike—which may be called a universal payment system.

‘We need a solution that works everywhere—from a corporate retailer to a local tea stall. Carrying cash feels risky.’

In front of the Saudi Visa Centre at Shazadpur, 22-year-old Hasan sells ‘jhalmuri’, puffed rice mixed with spices.

For two years, he has accepted payment through Rocket, an MFS linked to Dutch-Bangla Bank, and bKash, linked to BRAC Bank.

‘Many pay digitally, many gives cash,’ he says. ‘But digital is easier. No need for change.’

In Motijheel, Rubel, owner of Adda Fast Food and Juice Corner, uses a Bangla QR sticker installed eight months ago.

‘Maybe two or three customers pay digitally each day,’ he says.

Near Sena Kalyan Bhaban at Motijheel, 37-year-old sanitary shop owner Md Rasel accepts bKash payments, but does not own merchant accounts which is cheaper for his customers.

‘The process is very complex, too much hassle,’ Rasel says of the requirements for owning a merchant account.

Bangladesh Bank introduced a universal payment system named ‘Bangla QR’ in 2023 with an aim to make transactions easier at the grassroots, but apparently it has yet to become popular.

Tallykhata is another universal payment system, introduced in 2020, has yet to grow popular and is rarely seen to be in use in Dhaka city.

Rony, a seller at Bondhu Tea Stall in Dhanmondi says that still cash payments are more popular for small payments.

‘For tea and cigarettes costing 20 or 30 taka, people prefer cash over digital payment,’ he says.

Economist Mashrur Reaz says Bangladesh’s slow digital transition is tied to the structure of its economy.

‘Less than 10 per cent of transactions in Bangladesh are cashless,’ he says. ‘Informal employment and enterprises dominate.’

He believes digital inclusion requires addressing low financial literacy, fear of taxation, and mistrust of digital systems.

‘Incentives can help bring informal workers into the digital system,’ he adds.

Bkash spokesperson and head of corporate communications, Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, says everyday digital adoption among informal users shows how financial technology is spreading across social and economic boundaries.

He notes that bKash has built a comprehensive digital ecosystem through partnerships with banks, NBFIs, telecom operators, NGOs, and utility services.

Still, he acknowledges persistent barriers: irregular incomes, limited smartphone access, and low digital literacy.

‘Coordinated action from all stakeholders, government awareness campaigns, and incentives are essential to accelerate the shift,’ he says.

Bangladesh Bank spokesperson and executive director, Areif Hussain Khan, said that the central bank was running community-based digital literacy programmes and school initiatives.

With around 7,50,000 Bangla QR users, he believes Bangladesh could become largely cashless within three to five years, but only with a mindset shift.