UNISAMES URGES STATE BANK TO FACILITATE ONLINE TRADING FOR SMEs

KARACHI, The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has invited the attention of Syed Samar Hasnain Director SME department of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to the major hindrance for online trading in Pakistan due to the absence of an e-Payment Gateway (EPG) and urged for the facility for e-Commerce on priority for the benefit of the SMEs

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver felicitated and appreciated the efforts of Small & Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) and said the authority in order to introduce and promote the use of e-commerce in the country has set up an SME CLUB which is to be launched and marketed to SMEs but without a full fledged system of EPG would not be able to achieve its goals.

He complimented SMEDA and said in the first phase, the development of SME CLUB, a B2B and business information portal completed by SMEDA through its own resources is remarkable. The project is envisioned to be the largest and most comprehensive (one-stop-shop) source of information, and the biggest e-commerce portal, providing value added online services to SMEs in Pakistan.

Meer Anwar head of eBDS Directorate SMEDA informed UNISAME that the core objective of the SME Club is to provide e-business, information exchange services portals and empower the SMEs of Pakistan by giving them cyber presence, online trading facilities and access to new markets, business information and technologies. The proposed plan greatly relates to the ICT program of Government of Pakistan. It aims to make use of ICT for industrial and economic development in Pakistan through providing web-based vital information and institution support services, which would translate into high economic gains for the country.

UNISAME experts said the initiative lags the e-payment gateway integration since it is not available either in public or private sector capacity in the country.The presence of EPG is very necessary. The SBP has to play the vital role of regulatory authority and the commercial banks have to develop a consortium to pool investments for the establishment of central clearance entity as online payment gateway on top priority.

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