According to Hanoi Electricity or EVN Hanoi, power charge can now be paid at branches of 14 banks in Hanoi or through digital payment intermediadiaries such as ECPay, Payoo, M-Service, Viettel Telecom, besides payment at the 228 counters of the power corporations. The transaction is fast, convenient and completely free of charge. As of the beginning of 2017, 560 thousand customers are paying their electricity bills to EVN via electronic payment , making 24.35% the total power customers in Hanoi.
Customers paying with credit card at Hanoi Co.opMart.
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According to statistics of the Hanoi Department of Taxation, currently 97% of enterprises in the city have declared their tax online, with over 95% paying tax electronically. The tax department is increasingly applying IT in administrative procedures such as tax declaration, tax payment, electronic bill acceptance, electronic tax refund and tax collection through Point of Sale (POS). Those applications have reduced cost and saved time for people and businesses.
Hanoi has recently put on trial the car parking payment using smart phones. The city also rolled out free wifi service on buses with a view to launch the face recognition and card readers on buses for digital payment.
Cashless payment enhances transaction safety and supports administrative agencies in monitoring and ensuring transparency of all transactions as well as people’s income, contributing to the fight against corruption and economic crimes.
Demand for cashless payment in Hanoi is calculated to be large, thus requiring the cooperation among administrative agencies to develop cashless payment platforms and support such as internet 4G network, free Wifi hotspots, and POS machines. At the same time, Hanoi has requested agencies in fields of education, healthcare and public service to apply cashless payment.
However, non-cash transaction has been promoted only in public services, while in business, e-commerce is still falling short of expectations. A survey conducted by Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) shows that there are low rate of online shoppers making online transaction. Moreover, the majority uses ATM card but still keeps the habit of paying in cash after ordering online.
In Hanoi, experts have identified major targets to promote cashless payment including: the youth; super market chains, restaurants and service points involving international customers; big hospital chains; and the transportation system. To encourage people to involve in payment without cash, experts suggested applying bonus points for those using non-cash payment. In addition to updating and formulating legal frameworks and policies for electronic payment development, the transparency and security should be promoted. Furthermore, experts suggested the State Bank of Vietnam to increase supervision to enhance people and enterprises’ trust in the electronic payment system.
Some researches show that if 90% of transactions in an economy are non-cash, the GDP would grow by approximately 1%. In Vietnam, the cashless payment needs to be further promoted, at first in big cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang by encouraging people to open bank accounts -Dr. Le Xuan Nghia, economic expert.
