Mechanically Stabilised Earth retaining wall has become a premier choice of retaining wall design in places where seismic and high vibration loads are frequent. The wall displacement has to be monitored regularly for the safe and economic function of the structure. In the present paper, a numerical study on an MSE wall model under real records of earthquake loading condition using an explicit finite difference program has carried out. A parametric study to scrutinize the influence of strong-motion parameters such as peak ground acceleration and predominant frequency on the permanent displacement of the wall is accomplished. The influence of PGA and frequency of seismic excitation was visible in the results. At higher frequencies, the ground surface is disturbed severely leading to excessive heaving on the surface. The amplification of strong motion along the backfill is observed for low PGA motions, whereas, de-amplification is observed for high PGA motion. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.