How do people in Sri Lanka pay online?
Cards lead. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reports that e-commerce payments by card reached 152 million transactions worth Rs 461 billion in 2025, up 24.6% in volume and 25.3% in value on 2024. Debit cards carried 126 million of those transactions (Rs 299 billion) and credit cards 26 million (Rs 162 billion). At the end of 2025 there were 20.74 million debit cards and 2.17 million credit cards in use. DataReportal counts 13.9 million internet users in late 2025, 59.7% of the population.
Bank transfers are the second route. LankaPay’s Common Electronic Fund Transfer Switch (CEFTS) moves money between banks in real time, up to Rs 5 million per transfer, and handled 260.1 million transactions worth Rs 23,137 billion in 2025, 28.4% more transactions than in 2024. CBSL caps the fee at Rs 25 for a CEFTS transfer made through internet banking, mobile banking or the member’s own ATMs.
Payment apps sit on top of these rails. JustPay lets a shopper link a bank account to a JustPay enabled app and pay in real time; it handled 28.5 million transactions worth Rs 145 billion in 2025 through 25 apps. LANKAQR, the national QR standard, had 460,990 registered merchants at the end of 2025 and also accepts apps connected to UnionPay International, India’s UPI and Alipay+. Two mobile network operators hold CBSL licences for mobile phone based e-money wallets.
Google Pay is available for online payments in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is not on Apple’s list of Apple Pay countries.
What rules shape online payments in Sri Lanka?
VAT is 18% from 1 January 2024. The Inland Revenue Department lists the supply of services by a non-resident person through an electronic platform among the supplies chargeable to VAT, so foreign sellers of digital services should check whether they need to register.
Payments have their own limits. A JustPay transaction can be up to Rs 50,000, and since 1 April 2024, under Payment and Settlement Systems Circular No. 01 of 2024, a JustPay payment above Rs 10,000 needs a one-time password from the shopper’s bank. The maximum merchant discount rate for LANKAQR is 1% for domestic apps and 1.8% for apps linked to international providers, and a single LANKAQR payment is capped at Rs 500,000.
Card spending abroad costs extra. The US International Trade Administration notes a 2.5% stamp duty on credit card transactions by Sri Lankan cards that are converted into foreign currency, while local currency transactions are exempt. This matters for foreign stores charging Sri Lankan shoppers in another currency.
Personal data is protected by the Personal Data Protection Act, No. 9 of 2022. The Data Protection Authority, set up in August 2023, announced that enforcement began on 18 March 2025.
How would Omno route payments in Sri Lanka?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Sri Lanka:
- Card pay-ins would follow rules by BIN, currency and amount, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Bank and app payments such as JustPay or LANKAQR would go to a local provider that supports them, with the hosted checkout showing the payment step and the order pending until the provider confirms.
- Currency rules could keep Sri Lankan shoppers in LKR where a provider settles locally, avoiding the stamp duty on foreign currency card transactions.
- Customer groups could see different methods, for example debit cards and saved cards for returning customers and bank apps for first orders.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for debit cards first. Most card e-commerce in Sri Lanka runs on debit cards, so a checkout should handle the issuer’s authentication step smoothly.
Plan for pricing in LKR. A foreign currency charge on a Sri Lankan credit card carries a 2.5% stamp duty for the shopper.
Plan for bank-linked apps. JustPay and LANKAQR give shoppers without cards a way to pay from their account, within the Rs 50,000 JustPay limit.
Plan for VAT and data rules. Check whether your digital services fall under VAT on non-resident electronic platform supplies, and how the Personal Data Protection Act applies to your customer data.