Pakistan’s digital payments landscape continued its upward trajectory in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025-26, with the State Bank of Pakistan’s Quarterly Payment Systems Review for January to March 2026 showing that formal banking and payment channels processed 3.7 billion retail transactions worth Rs. 168.8 trillion during the period. Digital channels dominated the overall payment mix, accounting for 92 percent of all transactions, with 3.4 billion payments worth Rs. 68 trillion processed through mobile banking applications, internet banking portals, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals, e-commerce platforms, and call centre interactive voice response banking. Total retail transaction volume grew 9 percent compared to the previous quarter.
Mobile application-based payments were the clear frontrunner within the digital segment, recording 2.9 billion transactions worth Rs. 42 trillion and representing 78 percent of all digital payments during the quarter. These transactions were conducted through applications offered by branchless banking providers, commercial banks, and electronic money institutions, covering a wide range of use cases including person-to-person transfers, utility bill payments, and merchant payments across both online and physical retail channels. Internet banking also recorded growth, with transaction volume and value rising 5 percent and 19 percent respectively compared to the prior quarter, reflecting continued adoption of browser-based banking services alongside the dominant mobile app channel.
The Raast Instant Payment System, the State Bank of Pakistan’s national real-time payment infrastructure, processed 742.1 million transactions worth Rs. 23.3 trillion during the quarter. Person-to-person transfers on Raast reached 664 million, up 10 percent in volume, with a combined value of Rs. 18.9 trillion. Person-to-merchant transactions on the platform showed particularly strong growth, rising to 55.9 million from 36.3 million in the preceding quarter, suggesting that Raast is gaining traction not just as a peer transfer tool but increasingly as a retail payment channel for consumers and businesses. The continued expansion of Raast usage across both individual and commercial segments reflects the growing role of instant payment infrastructure in Pakistan’s broader shift toward a less cash-dependent economy.
Over-the-counter services remained an important complement to digital channels during the quarter, delivered through a network of 20,232 bank branches and 819,397 banking agents spread across the country. Bank branches handled 128 million transactions worth Rs. 99.5 trillion, while banking agents facilitated 155 million transactions worth Rs. 1.1 trillion, covering cash deposits and withdrawals, fund transfers, and bill payments. The data as a whole paints a picture of a payments ecosystem in which digital and mobile channels have clearly become the primary mode of transacting for the majority of users, even as physical touchpoints continue to serve a substantial volume of high-value institutional and over-the-counter activity.
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