E-Dirham: A Secure Payment Gateway for UAE Government and Private Sector

E-Dirham is a payment-based tool introduced by the UAE government for the facilitation of collection of revenues from governmental and non-governmental services. The system offers a wide range of services that include prepaid and credit cards, electronic funds transfer point of sale, online payment and e-commerce. The payment platform is mainly used for payment across 5000 services from both the governmental and the private sector. The rise of the E-Dirham payment gateway has majorly helped the federal government and the private sector. However, there are certain limitations on the usage of the cards and the accessibility of the E-Dirham cards is a matter of high concern for many of the governmental offices. The technical suggestions for the improvement of the E-Dirham system are smart payment solutions and investment within the infrastructure. The managerial suggestions for the improvement of the E-Dirham system are upgrading and modernizing the system and integrating the best form of digital services. The future direction for the E-Dirham system includes minimizing the risks within the payment gateway, special features of security and a smart chip based technology, and developing certain values on the service portal of E-Dirham to allow payments through phones, e-wallets, debit/credit cards and e-kiosks.

Name of the Student
Name of the University
Student ID
E-Dirham

A Brief of E-Dirham
• It is a payment-based tool introduced by the UAE
government.
• The online payment method was initiated on 3rd
February 2001.
• The payment method aims for the facilitation of
collection of revenues from governmental and non-
governmental services (e-dirham, 2018).

About the Organization
• UAE had become the first country within the Arab
region to introduce such a payment mode
• The Ministry of Finance and Industry is working on
the expanding of the channels of payment
• The organization ensures the offering of top class
secure and an effective payment collection scheme

Theoretical Concepts used in E-Dirham (1)
The E-Dirham services offer a wide range of services that
include:
• Prepaid and Credit Cards for a Comprehensive
Payment System (Marshall, Charlesworth & Hurst,
2014)
• Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale (EFTPOS)
• Online Payment and E-Commerce (EIPG)

Theoretical Concepts used in E-Dirham (2)
The E-Dirham has also launched services such as:
• e-Direct – This service directly charges their Bank
accounts to recharge their G2 cards at any given point
of time
• eDebit – The new additional payment method would be
an upgrade to the E-Dirham system for supporting
online services

Outcomes of the Theoretical Concepts (1)
Based on the theoretical concepts, there are certain
outcomes of E-Dirham that can described as:
The system could be described as a Secure Electronic Purse
that has two versions:
• Fixed Value Card – They have a certain fixed value for
certain denominations such as AED 100, 200, 300, 500,
1000, 3000 and 5000 (Wang, Li & Chen, 2015)
• Government Client Card – This card is meant for some
frequent users of the services of government

Outcomes of the Theoretical Concepts (2)
• The payment platform is mainly used for payment
across 5000 services from both the governmental and
the private sector.
• This platform features different types of cards such as
Red, Green, Gold, Blue.
• These kind of cards offer vast discounts on the service
fees. There is also no necessity for the user to have a
bank account.

Achievements of E-Dirham
• The E-Dirham system could be defined as a smart
technological achievement as it provides several kinds of
payment based solutions (Eggermont et al., 2015)
• The smart payment solutions and their innovative services
are designed to enrich the experience of the customers
(Lund, 2014)
• The payment solution system offer the support for their
services all around the clock.

Major Achievements of E-Dirham
• The services of E-Dirham include e-Stamp, which has
eliminated the basic need of paper-based stamps. This
has also reduced the risk of falsified stamps
• The payment system has also simplified the collections
of revenue for various departments of the government
sector
• This system provides a secure payment gateway that has
protected the rights of the government agencies

Impact of the E-Dirham System (1)
• The rise of the E-Dirham payment gateway has majorly
helped the federal government and the private sector
• There has been an increase of revenue by 82 percent as
compared to the previous systems
• There has also been a rise in the number of issued cards
within the first quarter of 2018

Impact of the E-Dirham System (2)
• With the rise in the number of payments that were done
through this payment gateway, there has been a rise in
the transaction receipts (Panjwani et al., 2013)
• The e-collection machines and the number of POS has
reached up to 4000. They accept all kinds of cards that
include the E-Dirham card and other cards that are
issued by various other banks

Major Issues with Users of E-Dirham System
• There is a high need for employing new advancements
within the technology that would help in facilitating virtual
money, mobile payments and e-transfers
• The cards have certain limitation on their usage such as
issues of recharge of their fixed value card
• The accessibility of the E-Dirham cards is a matter of high
concern for many of the governmental offices

Technical Suggestions for Improvement
The technical suggestions for the improvement of the E-Dirham
system are:
• Smart payment solutions should be implemented in order to
harness the opportunity and enrich the experience of the
customers
• The investment within the infrastructure would be helpful in
strengthening the payment integration within the financial
systems

Managerial Suggestions for Improvement
The managerial suggestions for the improvement of the E-
Dirham system are:
• The system would need to upgrade and thus the system
would be needed to be modernised for improving the
management of the flow of cash
• The best form of digital services should be integrated for
the enrichment of the customer experience

Future Direction for the E-Dirham System (1)
Regarding the actions of the E-Dirham system, the future of
the system could be decided as:
• With the new form of systems, there would be the
minimization of the risks within the payment gateway
(Roy & Venkateswaran, 2014)
• The applicants need not to have a bank account in order to
purchase the E-Dirham G2 cards

Future Direction for the E-Dirham System (2)
• The improvements within the systems in the future
would include special features of security and a smart
chip based technology
• The MOF should develop certain values on the service
portal of E-Dirham to allow payments through phones,
e-wallets, debit/credit cards and e-kiosks

References
e-dirham. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.edirhamg2.ae/
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