Only Cashless Transactions Can Curb Corruption

Implementing a nationwide cashless transaction system can visibly rein in corruption. For this, a coordinated, robust, and universal digital application is required—one that integrates every earning-capable citizen’s financial profile, asset details, income-expenditure records, and all transactions onto a single platform.

Core Structure of the Unified App

Through this app—

Each citizen will have only one bank account.

All financial activities, including salary, allowances, business income, and personal transactions, will be fully cashless.

VAT and tax on any goods or services purchased will be automatically deposited into the government treasury.

The government will be able to update all TIN and BIN-related information directly.

This way, government revenue will not be held up anywhere, and no individual will be able to use large sums of cash for bribery, illicit earnings, or money laundering.

The Need for Coordination

Significant progress has already been made in various sectors of Bangladesh—
including AID, Information Batayan, digitisation in the banking sector, multiple apps by the central bank, mobile money systems, and numerous other initiatives.
What is now needed is a single, integrated national platform that brings all services and data under one umbrella to make them even more effective.

Global Examples

Several countries, including China, have already established similar cashless ecosystems. Platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay have simplified the entire economy and governance system, making them more transparent and largely corruption-free.

This is undoubtedly a broad and extensive topic. A sector-wise analysis could be published as a book. Here, only the main ideas have been presented in a nutshell. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions so that this concept can be further enriched and potentially provide effective guidance for the country’s development and anti-corruption measures in the future.

Author: Editor and Publisher, Khaborwala