The Raast Revolution: Apps Now Control 81% of Pakistan’s Digital Payments

Pakistan’s shift toward a cashless economy is accelerating at a record pace. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has released its Payment Systems Quarterly Review for Q1 FY26 (July–September 2025), and the numbers tell a clear story that digital adoption is exploding. Raast is also continuing its massive ascent.

Retail payments reached a staggering volume of 2.8 billion transactions during the quarter, marking a sustained growth of 10%. More importantly, 90% of these retail payments were conducted through digital channels, up from 87% in the same period last year.

However, cash hasn’t disappeared completely. While digital channels dominate the number of transactions, they only account for 33% of the value. Paper-based transactions at bank branches still hold the lion’s share of money moved.

Mobile Apps Are the New King

The primary driver behind this digital surge is the massive adoption of mobile app-based banking. Mobile banking apps alone processed 2.0 billion payments. This accounts for 81% of all digital payment volume. In terms of money moved, these apps processed PKR 33.7 trillion in just three months.

The user base is growing just as fast. The total number of mobile app banking users has hit 120 million. Here is the breakdown of that user growth:

Platform	Users (Millions)	Growth
Branchless Banking (BB) Apps	88.0	+ 11%
Bank Mobile Apps	25.9	+ 7%
EMI E-Wallets	6.3	+ 9%

Raast Continues Its Massive Ascent

Raast, Pakistan’s instant payment system, is proving to be a game-changer. Adoption gained strong momentum this quarter.

Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions jumped to 535 million, a significant 31% increase. The value of these transfers also grew by 27%, reaching PKR 11.3 trillion.

Furthermore, Raast is rapidly entering the retail space. Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions more than doubled, hitting 4.3 million. Over 1.1 million merchants are now onboarded to accept Raast payments.

Pakistanis are also changing how they shop. E-commerce activity recorded 250 million online payments amounting to PKR 343 billion. Interestingly, shoppers prefer wallets over cards. Digital wallets and account-based payments accounted for 94% of e-commerce transaction volume.

Meanwhile, physical retail is also digitising. The number of Point-of-Sale (POS) machines increased to 220,532. These machines processed 122 million transactions, showing a healthy growth of 14%.

The “Value” Gap: Digital vs. Branch Banking

Despite the high volume of digital clicks, big money still moves through traditional branches.

Bank branches processed only 137 million payments (mostly paper-based), yet these transactions were worth a massive PKR 110 trillion. In contrast, the 2.5 billion digital payments processed during the quarter amounted to PKR 55 trillion.

While the volume is overwhelmingly digital, the value remains heavily anchored in traditional banking channels.