Rodela Hasan works in a private institution in the capital. She wants to save some money thinking that she will send her son to school next year. However, the traditional method of going to the bank to open an account or traveling regularly to deposit money is quite challenging for her. One day, she heard from a friend that a Deposit Pension Scheme (DPS) can be opened in a few minutes from home on her mobile phone without any paperwork. It also provides profits like a bank. She immediately opened a DPS, a press release said.
Mobile financial services provider or FFS institution bKash is offering this facility of digital savings. There is an opportunity to save in both interest-based and Islamic methods. Savings can be started from a minimum of 250 taka per week or 500 taka per month with a bKash account. Currently, DPS can be opened from the app of the MFS institution in four commercial banks – BRAC Bank, Dhaka Bank, Mutual Trust Bank and City Bank – as well as the financial institution IDLC. Currently, the interest rate on the term and amount of savings ranges from 8.5 percent to 10.5 percent.
The bKash authorities said that more than 6 million DPS have already been opened by customers on bKash. 34 percent of them are women. 48 percent of the customers who have opened DPS are under 35 years of age. This means that young people are more interested in saving digitally from their limited income.
They also said that customers usually save money for various reasons including future security, medical care, business capital collection, purchasing household and electronic products, travel, education expenses, purchasing vehicles. They even save a lot of money to repay debts or loans.
If you want, you can collect savings statements from the apps. You will also get tax exemption from this DPS. bKash’s digital savings or savings service started in 2021. At that time, DPS service was launched on a monthly basis through financial institution IDLC Finance. Later, four banks were added to the program. And the weekly DPS service on the bKash app was launched in early 2024. In addition, bKash has also launched Islamic DPS services of City Bank and Dhaka Bank for savings according to Islamic Sharia.
How to open a DPS First, click on the savings option in the bKash app and finalize whether you want to open a DPS or an Islamic DPS. Then, select the type of DPS you want to open, weekly or monthly. Then, click on the term and the institution you want to open the DPS with and proceed. After providing the nominee’s photo and national identity card, the account will be opened. If the account is confirmed to be opened, you will receive a text message on your mobile.
You can deposit from 250 to 5,000 taka every week in the app. And you can deposit from 500 to 20,000 taka as monthly savings. Weekly DPS can be opened for a period of six months to one year and monthly DPS can be opened for a period of six months to four years. DPS cannot be canceled before the completion of three months after the start of depositing money. However, you can apply for account closure at any time after the end of three months.
