For years, we have heard everyone lament the fact that Pakistan is cash-driven and lacks digitisation in payments. On the surface, it appears to be true, as only the big retailers have point-of-sale machines or other such infrastructure, while much of the main street stubbornly clings to cash. However, this is only half the truth.

Take an InDrive, head to Saddar to buy clothes or whatever, and stop by a roadside dhaba for chai. The chances are that you won’t have to use any cash. All those merchants most likely will accept online fund transfers — whether through a bank or JazzCash/EasyPaisa. So the payment channel is definitely digital, just that the underlying rails are person-to-person (P2P) instead of person-to-merchant (P2M).

Now, the government and the State Bank want to change that as they try to expand the adoption of Raast’s P2M module. Under the cashless economy initiative, the prime minister has directed regulated financial institutions to activate two million merchants for digital payments by June 2026. While we don’t know the exact number at the moment, the latest Payment Systems Review notes that there are over 770,000 Raast merchants, the majority of whom use QR codes.

As far as announcements go, the Finance Division has also mandated all shops in the country to 1) display a QR code and 2), as a rule, accept digital payments if a customer asks for it. The deadline for this was Aug 31, so it’s safe to assume things haven’t yet moved at the desired pace.

There were more fund transfers in a day through peer-to-peer transactions than through peer-to-merchants in the first quarter of the year, as per the latest Payment Systems Review

Simultaneously, other regulators are stepping in to do their bit. For example, the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority........

© Dawn Business