The federal government has directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to prepare a working paper for the approval of a Raast QR Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) scheme to support the continued expansion of digital payments across the country. The move comes as the number of active merchants accepting digital payments has increased fourfold to 2.03 million under the Prime Minister’s Cashless Pakistan initiative.
The directive was issued by Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani during a high-level meeting on Cashless Pakistan at the Finance Division. The meeting reviewed progress on digital payment targets and discussed improvements to the Raast QR MDR framework. Officials also emphasized tracking transaction values, payment volumes and the number of unique account users through a central dashboard.
According to the meeting, all payments for Asaan Assignment Accounts across Pakistan will be processed through the Raast digital system from November 16. Meanwhile, Raast QR codes have been added to more than 45 million gas and electricity bills, allowing consumers to pay their bills digitally. All NADRA centres have also been equipped with Raast QR payment facilities.
The government reported that active digital payment merchants have increased from 500,000 to 2.03 million, while the overall volume of digital payments has doubled within one year. The SBP has been directed to prepare the required working paper to process approval of the Raast QR MDR scheme and support further adoption of digital transactions.
The minister also announced plans to meet bank presidents and chief executive officers in Karachi to discuss expanding digital payment services. The meeting included representatives from the Finance Division, SBP, Ministry of IT and Telecommunication, NADRA, Easypaisa, JazzCash, Bank Alfalah, JS Bank and Karandaaz Pakistan.
