The days of “cash only” retail are numbered. The Finance Division has drafted a major legal amendment to the “Payment Systems and Electronic Fund Transfers Act, 2007”. This move mandates at least one digital payment mode, specifically including Raast QR Codes, for businesses.
The draft is currently with the Prime Minister’s Office for in-principle approval. Once cleared, it heads to the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC). Significantly, the amendment empowers local governments to enforce these digital requirements. This ensures adoption happens at the grassroots level, not just in high-end malls.
To oversee this massive shift, the Ministry of Finance has established the Government Payments and Receipts Transformation Unit (GPRTU). This new unit acts as the “central nerve centre” for digitising all Government-to-Person (G2P) and Person-to-Government (P2G) payments.
The GPRTU will drive the adoption of Raast Connect, the government-facing interface for instant payments. Its mandate is clearly to standardise digitisation across the public sector, onboard departments to payment aggregators, and re-engineer outdated business processes. It will also secure technical backing from the National Information Technology Board (NITB) and provincial IT boards.
Under the “Cashless Pakistan” initiative, the government has set hard targets for December 2026. The roadmap is aggressive:
Momentum is already building. As of November 2025, Pakistan recorded 3.3 billion digital transactions. Furthermore, 89% of specific P2G streams are now fully digital.
Major federal entities are ditching paper. The Power Division, Petroleum Division, Pakistan Railways, NADRA, and Pakistan Post Office are transitioning to full Raast-based integration by 2026.
On the disbursement side, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Pakistan Military Accounts Department, and Central Directorate of National Savings have set a 100% digitisation deadline between March and June 2026. Additionally, interoperable Social Protection Wallets under the SBP-BISP framework will roll out by June 2026.
Provincially, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan are digitising education, healthcare, and revenue departments. They are moving salary, pension, and vendor payments onto digital rails.
The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is the testing ground for these reforms. The administration has already issued bylaws mandating digital payment solutions at retail outlets.
Key tech milestones in the capital include:
The shift is tangible. Federal and provincial governments have processed over Rs. 1 trillion through Raast for payrolls and pensions up to November 30, 2025. With legal frameworks tightening and infrastructure expanding, Pakistan’s economy is rapidly moving toward a transparent, cashless future.