Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has set a target to make Islamabad a cashless city by the end of 2026, as the government expands digital payment options across the federal capital. Naqvi said the initiative aims to move residents from cash to digital payments for government and commercial services, directing relevant institutions to speed up implementation of the digital payment system. The deadline formalizes a drive the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has been running for roughly a year, with CDA Chairman and Chief Commissioner Islamabad Muhammad Ali Randhawa having first launched the cashless push in October 2025 by inaugurating a digital payment system at the CDA’s One-Window Facilitation Centre.
Under the plan, citizens will be able to pay for various services and fees through electronic channels without relying on physical cash, with authorities expected to introduce additional digital payment options for public services and other transactions. The rollout has progressed through several visible milestones since its launch, including the introduction of Raast QR code payments at weekly bazaars in sectors H-9 and G-6, the opening of what officials described as Pakistan’s first 100 percent cashless weekly bazaar in Sector H-9 in November 2025, and integration of QR-based payments into metro and electric bus services. By November 2025, more than 39,000 vendors and shopkeepers across Islamabad had adopted digital payment methods, according to officials who briefed CDA on the programme’s progress at the time.
The government is working with relevant institutions to expand the digital payment infrastructure, with the aim of bringing more services under cashless payment methods before the year-end deadline. CDA has previously said it plans to extend QR code-based payments to all markazs, shopping malls, and Class-III markets across the city, alongside hotels, guest houses, petrol pumps, and restaurants, while also introducing digital parking and M-Tag integration as part of the broader push to digitize everyday transactions. Officials have consistently framed these measures as reducing opportunities for fraud and improving transparency, positioning the cashless rollout as both a convenience upgrade and an accountability mechanism for citizen transactions with the capital’s civic institutions.
The initiative forms part of wider efforts to promote digital payments and modernize public services in the capital, expected to make payments simpler and more transparent while reducing dependence on cash transactions. With Naqvi now attaching a firm end-of-2026 deadline to a campaign that has unfolded gradually over the past year through incremental expansions across bazaars, transport, and civic facilitation centres, the practical test will be whether CDA can scale adoption from its current vendor base to a genuinely comprehensive citywide system within the remaining months of the year, particularly across the markets, hospitality venues, and retail outlets that have been repeatedly cited as next in line for QR code integration but have yet to see the same level of rollout as the capital’s weekly bazaars and government facilitation centres.
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