Digital Commerce Payment Points Reach Over Two Million as Pakistan Pushes Cashless Agenda

The Finance Ministry's filing to the National Assembly says the Cashless Pakistan Initiative now counts 2.03 million active digital commerce payment points, including 1.73 million merchants using Raast QR payments.

The State Bank of Pakistan is tracking four key performance indicators and notes that, by June 2026, active digital points grew from a 500,000 baseline to 2.03 million, a 306 percent increase.

The same document confirms the government stays on schedule to fully digitise public-sector payments by December 2026.

Mobile, internet app and digital banking users climbed to 137 million from 95 million, while digital transactions rose to 11.9 billion from 6.9 billion. Remittance credits to accounts and wallets reached 92 percent, up from an 80 percent baseline.

Government-to-person (G2P) payouts via Raast and digital banking at central government bodies jumped from Rs 472 billion in July 2025 to Rs 4.402 trillion in June 2026.

This amount represents 76 percent of total disbursements by federal and provincial governments, as well as those of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Over 84 percent of G2P transaction volume, equal to 39.5 million transactions, now runs through Raast.

Raast integration and digital processing have also been extended to major self-accounting agencies such as the Central Directorate of National Savings, Pakistan Post Office Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geological Survey of Pakistan and provincial forest departments.

Of the Rs 1.669 trillion allocated to these agencies, Rs 1.247 trillion, 75 percent, has been paid out via digital and Raast channels.

The filing adds that domestic billers must adopt QR codes, and that payments under the Benazir Income Support Programme shifted directly to beneficiaries' digital mobile wallets in July 2026.

Digital payment uptake in state-owned enterprises is also moving forward, with 34 percent of G2P payments and 18.4 percent of person-to-government payments digitised by value.

The Finance Ministry has launched a dedicated data-collection portal to track progress and flagged 25 high-impact entities for faster rollout. Technical linkage with the remaining bodies, including Pakistan Railways and Ehsaas Assignment Accounts, continues, aiming for complete digitisation of government payments by December 2026.