7 August 2025

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), with backing from the Prime Minister’s Office, has mandated all retail and commercial outlets across the country to obtain and visibly display Raast QR codes by August 31, 2025. The directive aims to accelerate Pakistan’s shift to a cashless economy, ensuring widespread availability of digital payment infrastructure like Raast QR, POS, and Soft POS.

Federal ministries, provincial chief secretaries, and regulatory bodies have been instructed to enforce compliance, linking QR display with business licensing and renewal. Penalties for non-compliant businesses are also being considered. A national focal person, Dr. Shazia Ghani, has been appointed to coordinate implementation across ministries.

SBP targets 2 million active QR points, 15 billion annual digital transactions, and 100% digital remittance disbursement by FY26. The Finance Ministry is simultaneously working on digitizing G2P and P2G transactions to improve transparency and efficiency in SOEs.