Pakistan has recorded a 306% increase in active digital commerce payment points under the government’s Cashless Pakistan Initiative, reflecting the expanding adoption of electronic payments among merchants and consumers. According to a Finance Ministry document submitted to the National Assembly, the number of active digital commerce payment points reached 2.03 million by June 2026, compared with a baseline of 500,000. The document reported that 1.73 million merchants were actively using Raast QR payments, highlighting the growing role of QR-based transactions in Pakistan’s efforts to reduce reliance on cash. The government is also targeting full digitisation of public-sector payments by December 2026 as part of its broader cashless economy programme.
The report highlighted growth across several indicators used to monitor the initiative’s progress. Mobile, internet application and digital banking users increased from 95 million to 137 million, while the number of digital transactions rose from 6.9 billion to 11.9 billion. The share of overseas remittances credited to bank accounts and digital wallets reached 92%, compared with a baseline of 80%. These figures indicate wider use of digital channels for payments and financial transactions. The expansion of mobile banking and QR-enabled merchant services is particularly relevant for customers and businesses seeking alternatives to cash, although continued adoption depends on accessibility, awareness, reliable infrastructure and confidence in digital payment systems.
Government payments have also shifted towards electronic channels. Government-to-person (G2P) disbursements through Raast and digital banking channels at centralised government entities increased from Rs472 billion in July 2025 to Rs4.402 trillion in June 2026. These payments accounted for 76% of total disbursements by federal and provincial governments, as well as the governments of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. More than 84% of G2P transaction volumes, representing 39.5 million transactions, were processed through Raast. The integration of digital payment processing has also expanded to public-sector entities, including the Central Directorate of National Savings, Pakistan Post Office Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geological Survey of Pakistan and provincial forest departments. Of the Rs1.669 trillion allocated to these entities, Rs1.247 trillion, or 75%, had been disbursed through digital and Raast-based payments.
The government is continuing work to extend digital payments across public institutions and services. Domestic billers are required to introduce QR codes, while payments under the Benazir Income Support Programme were shifted directly to beneficiaries’ digital mobile wallets in July 2026. The Finance Ministry has also established a dedicated data collection portal to monitor progress and identified 25 high-impact entities to accelerate implementation. According to the document, 34% of government-to-person payments and 18.4% of person-to-government payments by value had been digitised across state-owned enterprises. Technical integration with remaining entities, including Pakistan Railways and Ehsaas Assignment Accounts, is ongoing. The December 2026 target for full digitisation of government payments will depend on completing these integrations and expanding adoption across the remaining institutions. The reported progress demonstrates the growing scale of Pakistan’s digital payment infrastructure, while continued implementation will determine how broadly electronic payments become embedded in everyday commercial and public-sector transactions.
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