KARACHI: The share of retail transactions conducted through digital payment channels increased to 92 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, up from 88 per cent a year earlier, the central bank said on Thursday.
The State Bank of Pakistan, in its quarterly report on payment systems for October-December FY26, said that 3.4 billion retail transactions were conducted through digital channels. The number of retail transactions increased by 8.0 per cent, compared with the previous quarter, while their total value rose by 7.0 per cent, reaching Rs167 trillion.
The SBP’s report presents an overview of key payment trends of both low-value (retail) and high-value (real-time gross settlement system) transactions conducted through formal banking and payment channels.
The number of payments through digital channels reached 3.1 billion, amounting to Rs64 trillion, reflecting the growing adoption of digital payment methods across the economy, the report said.
Mobile app-based payments continued to dominate the digital landscape, with 2.6 billion transactions carried out through apps offered by branchless banking (BB) players, banks, and electronic money institutions (EMIs). These transactions accounted for 83 percent of all digital payments and amounted to Rs40 trillion in value, supporting a wide range of services including person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and account and wallet-based merchant payments across online platforms and physical retail outlets. Internet banking also recorded steady growth, with transaction volume and value increasing by 11 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.
During the quarter, Raast, Pakistan’s instant payment system, continues to maintain strong growth momentum, processing 645.7 million transactions valuing Rs18.5 trillion. Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions rose to 603 million, increasing by 13 per cent, with a value of Rs15.7 trillion. Raast P2M transactions, on the other hand, increased to 33.6 million, amounting to Rs167.6 billion. Over 9 million transactions worth Rs2.6 trillion were processed by the government and corporates using Raast bulk service, showing rapid adoption of Raast for business and government payments.
The SBP’s report noted that the number of payment cards in circulation rose to 66.7 million, with debit cards comprising 87 per cent of the total and credit cards accounting for only 5.0 per cent.
Point-of-sale terminals and e-commerce activity using cards continued to expand, collectively processing around 1.7 million card-based transactions per day. Meanwhile, a nationwide network of 20,976 ATMs facilitated 277 million transactions amounting to Rs4.9 trillion during the period. In addition, 20,143 bank branches and 763,262 banking agents provided over-the-counter services such as cash deposits, withdrawals, fund transfers, and bill payments. Bank branches processed 138 million transactions valued at Rs102 trillion, while banking agents facilitated 135 million transactions amounting to Rs0.9 trillion.
