Pakistan's cashless initiative pushes digital merchants above 2 million

Pakistan recorded more than 2 million active digital payment merchants in the first year of its cashless economy initiative, alongside a sharp increase in digital transactions and banking users.

According to a statement issued by the finance ministry of Pakistan, the progress was reviewed at a high-level meeting chaired by Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani.

Annual digital transactions increased from 6.9 billion to 11.3 billion, while the number of active digital payment merchants rose from around 0.5 million to more than 2 million, supported by the government’s Raast QR Code initiative. The number of digital banking users also expanded to more than 135 million.

The Cashless Pakistan initiative was launched in June 2025 under the supervision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The initiative is built on three core pillars: enhancing public convenience, promoting transparency, and accelerating the formal documentation of the economy through digital payments.

Three sub-committees operate under the main Cashless Pakistan Committee to execute the Prime Minister’s directives under the program: Digital Payments – Innovation and Adoption led by the Governor of the State Bank, Digital Public Infrastructure led by the Minister of IT & T, and Digitizing Government Payments led by the Finance Secretary.

The Minister of State for Railways and Finance, Bilal Azhar Kayani, also said that financial inclusion had reached 69 percent, with the gender gap continuing to narrow through targeted measures.

He further reviewed progress on public sector digitization, with 25 high-impact federal and provincial entities identified for complete digitization through Raast by December 2026.

The minister noted the progress made on digitizing government-to-people (G2P) payments with approximately 75 percent digital payments acceptance at both centralized and self-accounting entities.

The Minister of State emphasized the importance of sustaining the momentum to further accelerate Pakistan’s digital transformation.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to working closely with regulators, financial institutions, fintech companies, and the private sector to expand digital payments, strengthen financial inclusion, and support a transparent and documented economy.

To ensure absolute transparency and the prudent use of public funds, Kayani emphasized validating the progress, streamlining reporting gaps, and eliminating data duplication. A third party has been hired by the government of Pakistan, which has started the assessments to ensure transparency.