Staff Reporter:

The government has made the use of automated receipts, known as A-chalan, mandatory for depositing all public revenues and other charges from July 1, 2026, with the aim of ensuring real-time receipts and strengthening public cash management.

From the beginning of fiscal year 2026-27, no ministry, division, department or subordinate office will be allowed to collect or deposit government revenue through any system other than A-chalan, according to a press statement issued today.

A-chalan is a web-based system for depositing government revenue and service fees into the government treasury. The Finance Division introduced the A-chalan system in fiscal year 2019-20 to ensure the real-time deposit of public money, prevent fake challans, improve revenue discipline and give the government a clearer picture of its daily cash balance.

Any separate arrangement currently being used for collecting public receipts will have to be discontinued, while funds lying in commercial bank accounts must be transferred to the government’s Treasury Single Account through A-chalan by June 30, 2026.

The decision comes at a time when A-chalan is gradually gaining popularity and has emerged as one of the most important digital tools in public financial management.

In fiscal year 2025-26, some Tk 407,225 crore was collected through the system, up 50 percent year on year from Tk 265,708 crore in the previous year.

“The latest performance marks a major turnaround, as both collections and transaction volumes increased together, reflecting wider use across government revenue and service payment channels,” the Finance Division said in the statement.

The full implementation of A-chalan would help the government determine its actual cash position more accurately, reduce idle public money in scattered bank accounts and improve cash management.

Under the manual system, citizens often had to deposit challans at designated branches of selected banks, mainly Bangladesh Bank or Sonali Bank. This resulted in unnecessary travel, long waiting times and additional costs for service seekers, the statement said.

Manual challans also delayed the transfer of money to the government treasury, created scope for fake challans and made it difficult for banks and government offices to reconcile daily and monthly revenue figures.