Business Desk :
bKash joins hands with Grameenphone and City Bank to offer the ‘Pay Later’ service for their joint customers, making 4G and 5G smartphones affordable.
Under this arrangement, eligible bKash customers can use City Bank’s nano-loan-based collateral-free Pay Later option in the bKash app to purchase smartphones from Grameenphone Experience and its partner brand sales points with bKash merchant accounts.
Under the Pay Later service, customers will instantly get a Tk 500 to Tk 30,000 loan limit through the bKash app. The customer can fully repay the amount in 7 days without any interest; if not, Pay Later will convert into a 3-month loan with a 9% interest per annum. In the 6-month repayment option, a customer needs to make an upfront payment of 20% of the total payment amount, and the remaining 80% will be divided into six equal monthly instalments. The installments will be paid automatically on the specified date every month. Customers will also have the option of early repayment. A one-time processing fee would be applicable in the Pay Later service.
In addition, Grameenphone is offering an affordable data pack designed to cater to the evolving digital needs of its smartphone customers. For just Tk 199, customers can access 7GB of data, comprising 4GB of regular data and 3GB of social media usage, with a validity of 30 days. This offer will be exclusively available through the MyGP app for 6 months from the tagging date. Customers can purchase this offer as often as they want during this period.
Regarding the partnership, Solaiman Alam, Chief Digital Officer of Grameenphone, said, “We are delighted to collaborate with bKash and City Bank to introduce the ‘Pay Later’ service, making 4G and 5G smartphones more accessible to our customers. The cost of owning a smartphone is one of the biggest barriers to digital inclusion. By offering flexible and affordable financing options, we ensure more people can experience the benefits of a digitally connected society. I am proud to partner with two great partners with a similar vision of connecting the unconnected.