E-Dirham, an initiative launched by the UAE Ministry of Finance to provide an official electronic payment platform for collection of revenues and service fees of governmental and semi-governmental institutions, has reported the e-collection of Dh8.2 billion ($2.2 billion) last year, a 21 per cent increase compared to the previous year's Dh6.78 billion.

 

In the corresponding period, the total number of e-services has grown eight per cent from Dh33.46 million to Dh36.14 million, while the total number of transactions have increased from Dh15.17 million to Dh16.73 million, a 10 per cent growth, said a statement.

 

The number of eDirham ‘Alhaslah’ cards issued reached 639,000 from 595,000 a 7.4 per cent growth over the same period, it said.

 

The total number of cards have reached 1.8 million, which can be used across 5,000 eDirham Point of Sale (POS) devices across the UAE.

 

Since the launch of eDirham G2, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in partnership with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), a total of 100 million e-service transactions with a total value of Dh21.66 billion has been collected.

 

Saeed Rashid Al Yateem, assistant undersecretary of Resources and Budget Sector at MoF, said: "These figures reflect the value added by the eDirham to the UAE’s financial sector, as part of the country’s smart government initiatives. The 2015 results prove that the speed and efficiency of the eDirham system ensures the maximum utilisation of time, effort and resources.

 

“MoF continues to innovate and with the automation of revenue collection, government institutions and companies are now able to generate detailed, real-time databases and reports that are vital in their decision making and future planning.”

 

Saif Al Shehhi, senior managing director- UAE Government and VVIP Clients at NBAD, said: “The 2015 results confirm the ever increasing importance of eDirham system as an affordable means of payment for public and private services as well as a revenue collection that is efficient, convenient, user friendly.

 

“In line with the UAE’s move towards Smart government, the eDirham system supports the latest mobile applications, offering the e-Wallet and payment through various other channels.  The variety of choices and channels include the ‘Al Haslah’ pre-paid cards, ATM/CDM machines, POS terminals, e-commerce payment systems over the internet and through smart phones, as well as self-service e-kiosks.” - TradeArabia News Service