Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce has finalized the draft of the National E-Commerce Policy 2.0, covering the period from 2025 to 2030, in a move aimed at improving Pakistan’s position in the global e-commerce market and helping local businesses reach international buyers at scale. The policy was developed after an extensive review of global e-commerce models and a series of stakeholder consultations involving e-commerce platforms, financial institutions, small and medium enterprises, freelancers, regulators, and industry experts, reflecting a broad-based effort to build a framework that addresses the needs of both established digital businesses and those yet to enter the formal e-commerce ecosystem.
The policy focuses on improving digital payment interoperability and expanding logistics infrastructure across the country. It also highlights consumer protection, data privacy, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and cross-border trade facilitation as major priorities. To support wider business participation in the digital economy, the government plans to introduce a national one-window digital onboarding system that will simplify business registration and improve digital inclusion for enterprises across Pakistan. A monitoring and evaluation mechanism will also be established to ensure smooth implementation of the policy and measure progress against defined targets over the five-year period.
The policy includes skills accelerators and targeted support programmes for micro, small and medium enterprises, women entrepreneurs, and young professionals, with officials believing these initiatives will help more Pakistanis participate in the global digital economy. The Ministry of Commerce and PTA are working together on e-commerce growth and cybersecurity initiatives, and the government is also developing a cross-border e-commerce portal under the Pakistan Single Window framework. Separately, the Ministry of Commerce continues consultations with the State Bank of Pakistan on several components of the policy, with discussions primarily centred on improving digital payments infrastructure and strengthening the overall e-commerce ecosystem to reduce friction for sellers operating on international platforms.
Pakistani sellers already have access to global e-commerce platforms including Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba, and officials expect the new policy to increase exports, support digital businesses, and strengthen Pakistan’s digital trade sector in the coming years. The National E-Commerce Policy 2.0 arrives at a time when Pakistan’s IT and digital export sectors are recording significant growth, with freelancing receipts approaching the $1 billion mark and the government actively pursuing a broader agenda of digital economy expansion under the Uraan Pakistan plan. A well-implemented e-commerce policy framework could meaningfully accelerate that trajectory by providing the regulatory certainty, payment infrastructure, and logistics support that small and medium enterprises need to compete credibly on global platforms.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
