Karandaaz Pakistan has unveiled the “Offline Payments Innovation Challenge,” a flagship initiative under its Digital Public Infrastructure agenda aimed at accelerating digital financial inclusion across the country. Supported by international development partners, the challenge seeks to discover and support innovative offline payment solutions that address gaps in Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem, particularly where lack of internet connectivity or infrastructure limits digital adoption.
The Innovation Challenge invites startups, fintech companies, and digital financial services providers to pitch solutions for offline payment acceptance, such as devices and software that enable merchants to accept payments without constant online connectivity. This includes spot‑market vendors, rural retailers, transport operators, and micro entrepreneurs who operate beyond the reach of reliable internet access. By offering grant funding, technical assistance, and ecosystem support, Karandaaz expects the challenge to catalyze scalable solutions that bridge cash‑based transactions to formal digital rails.
Pakistan’s evolving payments infrastructure, including the state bank’s real‑time Raast system, currently relies on internet‑connected digital channels. Yet many touch points remain offline, hindering broader financial inclusion, especially in underserved regions. The Offline Payments Innovation Challenge aims to address this by fostering products that rely on intermittent connectivity, USSD, Bluetooth, or SMS‑based functionality—offering reliable payment capture even in low‑connectivity areas. These solutions are expected to support government‑to‑person disbursements, person‑to‑merchant and merchant‑to‑merchant payments, and value‑chain digitization in key sectors such as agriculture, transport, and retail.
As part of Karandaaz’s broader Innovation Challenge Fund, the offline payments round aligns with earlier efforts that have supported fintech disruptions in e‑commerce payments, agricultural financing, and digital value chains. Karandaaz’s Innovation vertical, backed by the UK’s FCDO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, invests in scalable solutions that bring formal finance closer to the underserved. Past challenge rounds have yielded successful pilots in invoice financing, digital lending, and e‑commerce payment digitization.
The offline payments challenge reflects Karandaaz’s commitment to building resilient and inclusive digital payment infrastructure. In areas where network stability remains a hurdle, offline‑enabled point‑of‑sale devices and mobile tools can empower merchants and consumers alike, enabling real‑time payment capture with subsequent synchronization when connectivity restores. The objective is to migrate economic transactions from cash to digital, promoting transparency, traceability, and downstream access to financial services and credit.
Karandaaz will select a cohort of finalists whose prototypes will undergo testing through pilots in real‑world settings across urban‑rural corridors. Successful solutions will receive grants, product development support, customer testing, and market linkage assistance. Furthermore, these pilots aim to partner collaboratively with payment service providers (PSPs), banks, local merchants, and government entities to build an ecosystem where offline digital payments are viable and sustainable.
The initiative also complements Karandaaz’s engagement in digitizing e‑commerce value chains and reducing cash‑on‑delivery reliance, as well as its broader private sector and public sector engagement efforts. Through this challenge, Karandaaz reinforces its role as a catalyst for fintech innovation that closes the inclusion gap, especially for micro‑enterprises operating in cash‑intensive and connectivity‑challenged environments.
By pioneering offline‑capable payment solutions, the innovation challenge strives to expand access to formal financial infrastructure, reduce reliance on informal cash transactions, and enable more citizens and businesses to benefit from digital financial services. As Karandaaz continues to host competitive innovation rounds, the offline payments challenge reflects a crucial step toward a more accessible, reliable, and inclusive digital payments ecosystem in Pakistan.
