Sri Lanka has an estimated 7.5 million unregistered micro-sellers who operate informally, in addition to the over one million formally registered micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Visa Country Manager to Sri Lanka and Maldives Avanthi Colombage said, at a media press conference yesterday (23).

“If we deep dive into Sri Lanka there are over a million registered MSMEs, but there are also an estimated 7.5 million unregistered micro sellers in our country. They contribute over 50% of GDP, but they do not have even basic facilities like accepting card payments for the transactions or sales that they need,” Colombage said.

According to Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) survey statistics, 70% of MSMEs operated informally in 2022, and in 2024 the percentage of MSMEs recorded to have been operating informally was over 60%.

The DCS and Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) data both show that the segment contributes to more than 50% of Gross Domestic Product in Sri Lanka.

Colombage made these comments at the launch of Visa’s ‘Visa Accept’ digital product launch, in partnership with Hatton National Bank (HNB). Visa Accept enables real-time payments without the need for a merchant account or point of sale (POS) equipment.

Colombage further explained that the reason behind vendors choosing to not operate formally stems from the tedious processes involved in registering to accept card payments in Sri Lanka.

“Becoming a merchant who accepts card payments is a very cumbersome task. There are quite a few steps in that process, there's a wait time, you have to be approved by the bank, and also you need to invest in terminals, a terminal or a mobile phone that accepts payments.”

According to Visa Asia Pacific President Steven Karp, MSMEs are largely excluded from access to formal payment infrastructure.

“Across the country there are one million registered small and medium businesses and many more informal sellers, and they are the lifeblood of the economy. They represent more than 75% of businesses and they contribute to over half of Sri Lanka’s GDP. Yet many of them, especially micro and home-based entrepreneurs face a major challenge. They often lack access to formal payment infrastructure,” Karp said.

Karp noted that such informality leads vendors towards an inability to accept secure payments, and engage in the economy as other formal businesses.

“This means they often can’t accept secure digital payment, and that limits their ability to reach new customers to grow their business, and to formally participate in the economy.”

According to LankaPay, Sri Lanka's national payment network, in 2024 alone Sri Lanka processed approximately Rs. 34 trillion, or 50% of GDP in total transactions through the LankaPay network.

Further, real-time transactions, or Common Electronic Fund Transfer Switch (CEFTS) payments, processed through the platform reached Rs. 17 trillion in value in 2024, which was also more than 50% of the country’s GDP.