More than 12,000 beneficiaries of the federal government’s Benazir Income Support Programme have registered for the Hybrid Social Protection Scheme through JazzCash, a digital wallet-based initiative designed to help low-income households build a regular habit of saving. Beneficiaries can opt into the scheme when they visit their respective BISP Tehsil offices to collect their regular payments, where agents explain the voluntary programme and, for those who choose to participate, record their consent and complete enrolment through the HSPS application on the spot.
Under the scheme, beneficiaries deposit savings directly into their JazzCash wallets, with the government matching 40 percent of their quarterly contributions and JazzCash adding a further 2 percent on top of that. The programme falls under BISP’s World Bank-funded Crisis Resilient Social Protection Programme, and allows eligible beneficiaries to save either PKR 1,500 or PKR 3,000 each quarter, paid either as a single lump sum or through smaller installments spread across the quarter. Savings, along with the government and JazzCash contributions, are held for two years before beneficiaries can withdraw the funds, giving them a lump sum they can draw on to manage unexpected expenses.
Participation in the scheme remains entirely voluntary, and beneficiaries can exit at any point simply by providing their consent to leave. Those who fail to make a savings contribution for three consecutive quarters are automatically removed from the programme, keeping active participation tied to consistent saving behavior rather than a one-time signup. Eligibility for HSPS is determined through BISP’s National Socio-Economic Registry, and JazzCash serves as the programme’s sole implementation partner under an agreement with Mobilink Microfinance Bank Limited, positioning the wallet provider as the operational bridge between the federal social protection programme and the digital savings mechanism itself.
Arif Mahmood Chaudhary, Head of Public Sector Partnerships at JazzCash, described the milestone as an example of what public-private collaboration can achieve in advancing financial inclusion, saying the combination of BISP’s social protection mandate and JazzCash’s digital infrastructure is helping underserved households build savings habits and improve their financial resilience over time. Through HSPS, BISP and JazzCash are aiming to make formal savings part of everyday financial life, particularly for women and transgender beneficiaries, with the goal of helping them move beyond short-term assistance toward more lasting financial stability and greater participation in Pakistan’s formal economy.
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