M-pesa Mobile Money Transfers. Photo/Courtesy.
Free small-value transactions made up 58 per cent of all M-PESA activity in the 2025/2026 financial year as more Kenyans turned to mobile money for daily payments and transfers.
According to Safaricom, the zero-rated transactions under the M-PESA Kadogo initiative reached 17.1 billion during the financial year whose results were announced on May 7.
Under the initiative, transfers of Sh100 and below and merchant payments of Sh200 and below are not charged transaction fees.
The free transactions include person-to-person transfers of between Sh1 and Sh100, Lipa na M-PESA payments below Sh200, cash deposits at M-PESA agent outlets and airtime purchases through M-PESA.
The initiative was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic when transaction charges on bank-to-M-PESA transfers and transactions below Sh1,000 were temporarily waived.
Safaricom said the removal of charges contributed to a sharp increase in usage, with the number of transactions tripling between 2020 and 2026.
READ: Safaricom Launches Visual Storytelling Challenge Around Community Impact
During the last financial year, M-PESA processed 46.4 billion transactions valued at Sh41.7 trillion, reflecting the continued growth of digital payments and financial services in Kenya.
“With M-PESA Kadogo, our purpose is to make digital payments affordable for small-scale daily purchases and deepen financial inclusion. The removal of transaction fees has reduced friction and accelerated the usage of M-PESA across the country,” said Peter Ndegwa.
M-PESA revenue grew by 13.4 per cent to Sh182.7 billion, supported by growth in consumer payments, business payments and global payments.
Consumer payments remained the largest contributor to revenue at Sh74.5 billion followed by business payments at Sh56.7 billion, highlighting the platform’s expansion beyond money transfers into a broader digital payments ecosystem.
Safaricom also reported continued growth in Pochi la Biashara, a product designed for small traders and businesses.
The number of Pochi la Biashara users grew from 600,000 in the 2024 financial year to 1.1 million the following year before reaching 2.2 million in the latest financial year.
Revenue from the product also increased from Sh800 million in 2024 to Sh2.2 billion the following year before rising to Sh4 billion in the latest financial year.
Pochi la Biashara users can also invest overnight balances through Ziidi MMF.
