Lahore: The provincial government on Wednesday announced the collection of PKR 500mn in government duties and taxes during the first 100 days of the launch of its automated electronic payments app ‘ePay Punjab’, a news source reported. As per the publication, the executive also plans to integrate several additional payment channels, including Debit/Credit Card Mobile Wallets and TELCO Agent Networks, to the platform’s current line-up of available payment methods.
The government inaugurated the ePay platform on October 4, 2019 in collaboration with the Finance Department and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB). The purpose behind this move was to provide the public with an efficient and convenient method for paying duties and taxes.
The application uses ICT tools and is the first-ever Punjab government payment aggregator for business to government (B2G) and public to government (B2P) payments. In the future, it is also expected to include Government to Public (G2P) and Government to Business (G2B) payment methods to widen the scope of the platform.
The ePay Punjab is connected on the backend with 1-link and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for interconnectivity across the country’s entire banking network. The application permits the citizens of Punjab to create a 17 digit unique PSID number that is accepted by all banks in the country.
The various channels which the
public can use for tax payments are ‘Internet/Mobile Banking, ATM, and Over the
Counter (OTC) / Branch visits. The portal
has proved to be a turning point for the local FinTech industry, as it has led
to increased tax and revenue collection and improved financial inclusion.
