How people pay in Pakistan in 2026
Pakistan is moving from cash to phones, and it is skipping cards on the way. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, 92% of the 3.7 billion retail payments made from January to March 2026 were digital, and mobile apps from banks, wallets and electronic money institutions carried 2.9 billion of them. The engine is Raast, the central bank's instant payment system, which processed 742.1 million transactions in the quarter. Branchless banking wallets such as JazzCash and Easypaisa, both now backed by licensed banks, are the default way to pay online.
Cards remain a minority tool, even with a domestic scheme, PayPak, run by 1LINK. Online, the SBP counts 434 million wallet-based online purchases against 32 million card e-commerce payments in the same quarter. Yet the biggest checkout habit is still offline: cash on delivery. Buy now, pay later is small and only starting to be regulated. For merchants and payment providers, Pakistan is a wallet and Raast market, with a long cash tail.
- 92% of retail payments made digitally in Q1 2026 (State Bank of Pakistan)
- 742.1 million Raast instant payments in Q1 2026 (State Bank of Pakistan)
- 68.3 million payment cards in circulation at the end of March 2026 (State Bank of Pakistan)
- 2.5 million merchants accepting Raast QR payments at the end of March 2026 (State Bank of Pakistan)
Payment by card in Pakistan
Pakistan had 68.3 million payment cards in circulation at the end of March 2026, according to the SBP's quarterly payment systems review. Debit cards made up 57.2 million of them, credit cards only 3.1 million, and 7.7 million were social welfare cards. Cards are still used mostly to withdraw cash: ATMs handled 272.2 million card transactions in the first quarter of 2026, against 150.4 million card payments at the point of sale.
Acceptance is growing quickly. The country counted 247,836 POS terminals in March 2026, up from 179,383 a year earlier. Visa and Mastercard are the main international brands, UnionPay is accepted by local gateways, and the domestic scheme PayPak, owned and operated by 1LINK, offers a low-cost local alternative that is co-badged with Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB for use abroad. Online, cards play a small role: 32.3 million card e-commerce payments in the quarter, a fraction of wallet payments. Card pricing and interchange fees matter, but in Pakistan the bigger question is whether cards fit at all next to wallets and Raast.
Card schemes in Pakistan
PayPak
Domestic card scheme
Pakistan's domestic payment scheme, owned and operated by 1LINK, used on debit cards for ATM, POS and e-commerce payments; its chip supports contactless and it is co-badged with Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB.
Visa
International scheme
One of the two main card brands issued by Pakistani banks, on debit and credit cards, and used by wallets such as NayaPay for their debit cards.
Mastercard
International scheme
The other leading card brand in Pakistan, issued by banks and by fintechs such as SadaPay, and accepted at every terminal.
UnionPay
International scheme
China's card scheme is issued by some Pakistani banks and accepted online through local gateways such as PayFast, alongside Visa, Mastercard and PayPak.
Debit cards
Debit card
Debit cards are the main card type in Pakistan, used first for cash withdrawals and increasingly at POS terminals.
57.2 million debit cards in circulation at the end of March 2026, State Bank of Pakistan
Payment by cash in Pakistan
Cash is still the default for many Pakistanis, especially outside large cities and in informal retail. In e-commerce, cash on delivery remains the dominant method. A Karandaaz study on digitizing e-commerce with Raast notes that card transactions are only about 5% of e-commerce volume, while the US International Trade Administration estimates that around 95% of e-commerce companies collect payment through cash on delivery. Cash on delivery means high return rates and slow settlement for merchants.
Cash also feeds digital payments through over-the-counter channels. In the first quarter of 2026, 819,397 banking agents processed 155 million transactions worth PKR 1.1 trillion, while 20,232 bank branches handled 128 million. Agents are where people pay utility bills, load wallets with cash and send money. Bill payment networks such as 1LINK's 1Bill and Kuickpay let customers pay a voucher in cash at a branch or agent, or online. Our article on the transition from cash to digital payments looks at how other markets made the switch.
Cash payment methods in Pakistan
Cash
Banknotes and coins
Rupee notes and coins remain the everyday payment tool for small purchases, informal retail and many rural households.
Cash on delivery
Cash on delivery
Shoppers pay the courier when the parcel arrives. It is the dominant way to pay for online orders in Pakistan, as Karandaaz and the US International Trade Administration both note.
Banking agents
Over-the-counter payment
Shops acting as agents for banks and branchless banking wallets let customers pay bills, deposit cash into a wallet and send money over the counter.
155 million agent-based transactions worth PKR 1.1 trillion in Q1 2026, State Bank of Pakistan
1Bill vouchers
Bill payment voucher
1LINK's bill payment service lets customers settle invoices and online orders with a reference number, in cash at a branch or agent or through banking apps and wallets, across 4,800 billers.
Payment by bank transfer in Pakistan
Raast, the State Bank of Pakistan's instant payment system, is the fastest-growing payment rail in the country. In the first quarter of 2026 it processed 742.1 million transactions worth PKR 23.3 trillion. Person-to-person transfers made up 664 million of them, and person-to-merchant payments jumped to 55.9 million from 36.3 million the previous quarter. The SBP counted 49.5 million Raast IDs and 2.5 million QR-enabled merchants at the end of March 2026.
Older rails still carry large volumes. Interbank fund transfers (IBFT), run by 1LINK, handled 447.7 million transactions worth PKR 20.7 trillion through mobile banking apps alone in the same quarter. For merchants, the key shift is Raast P2M: payments by QR code, by Raast ID or through a request to pay at checkout, settled instantly into the merchant's account. Gateways such as PayFast now offer Raast at checkout next to wallets and cards. Our article on QR code payments in Asia shows where this model leads.
Bank transfer methods in Pakistan
Raast
Instant payment
The State Bank of Pakistan's instant payment system, used for free transfers by phone number alias or IBAN between banks, microfinance banks and wallets.
742.1 million Raast transactions worth PKR 23.3 trillion in Q1 2026, State Bank of Pakistan
Raast P2M and QR
QR and request to pay
Raast's merchant layer lets shoppers pay by scanning a Raast QR code, entering the merchant's Raast ID or approving a request to pay in their banking or wallet app.
55.9 million Raast person-to-merchant payments in Q1 2026, with 2.5 million QR-enabled merchants at the end of March 2026, State Bank of Pakistan
IBFT
Interbank transfer
1LINK's 24/7 real-time interbank funds transfer service, still widely used in banking apps for transfers and for paying merchants by account number.
447.7 million IBFT transactions through mobile banking apps in Q1 2026, State Bank of Pakistan
1Bill
Bill payment
1LINK's bill presentment and payment service, used to pay utilities, schools and online orders with a consumer number from any connected bank or wallet; it connects 4,800 billers.
Kuickpay
Bill payment
A bill and invoice collection platform that lets customers pay a voucher through banks, wallets or cash channels; in 2025 it partnered with Visa on B2B payments.
Payment by installment and BNPL in Pakistan
Buy now, pay later is still a niche in Pakistan. Credit card penetration is low, with only 3.1 million credit cards in circulation in March 2026, so most installment buying happens through retailers' own plans and bank installment offers on big-ticket items. Pakistan has no standalone regulatory framework for BNPL, and consumer lenders fall under the SECP's non-banking finance company rules or work through regulated banks.
A few fintechs serve online shoppers. QisstPay splits retail purchases into installments while paying merchants upfront, and BaadMay offers pay in 3 installments on Shopify stores. The market drew a large new entrant in 2026: in April, the SECP licensed KOKO Tech Pakistan, ultimately owned by Alibaba, to run a BNPL business. Wallets add their own digital loans too. JazzCash issued more than 224,000 digital loans a day in the second quarter of 2026. No reliable national figure on BNPL volumes is published.
Installment and BNPL providers in Pakistan
QisstPay
BNPL
A Pakistani BNPL platform that lets shoppers split online purchases into installments while merchants are paid upfront, operating under the non-banking finance framework.
BaadMay
BNPL
A Pakistani pay-later service that lets shoppers pay in three installments, offered to merchants through a Shopify app and direct integrations.
KOKO
BNPL
An Alibaba-owned BNPL provider that received an SECP license for its Pakistani entity in April 2026, with AI-based credit assessment.
Bank installment plans
Card installments
Banks convert credit card purchases into monthly installments, typically for electronics and appliances at partner retailers; reach is limited by the small number of credit cards.
Payment by digital wallet and X-Pay in Pakistan
Wallets are the center of digital payments in Pakistan. At the end of March 2026, the SBP counted 95.8 million branchless banking app users and 7.3 million EMI wallet app users, against 28.9 million mobile banking users. Branchless banking wallets also handled 433.9 million online merchant purchases in the quarter. JazzCash reports more than 60 million users and Easypaisa, which became Pakistan’s first digital retail bank in January 2025, had more than 22 million monthly active users in the first quarter of 2026. Fintech wallets SadaPay and NayaPay, both licensed as electronic money institutions, target younger, urban users.
X-Pay wallets arrived late. Google Wallet launched in Pakistan in March 2025 for tap-to-pay with Visa and Mastercard cards from banks such as HBL. Apple Pay is not yet available in Pakistan, despite reports of PayPak code in iOS beta versions. New digital banks such as Mashreq and Raqami are now operational, which adds more app-based ways to pay.
Digital wallets and X-Pay in Pakistan
JazzCash
Mobile wallet
Jazz's mobile wallet, working with Mobilink Bank, used for transfers, bill payments, Raast QR and online checkout, with a merchant payment gateway.
60 million+ users and PKR 19.6 trillion in gross transaction value over the 12 months to Q2 2026, Jazz
Easypaisa
Digital bank wallet
The wallet of Easypaisa Bank, a digital retail bank owned by Telenor and Ant Group, used for transfers, bills, QR payments and online shopping; it got its digital bank approval in January 2025.
22 million+ monthly active users in Q1 2026, Easypaisa Bank via APP
SadaPay
EMI wallet
An app-based wallet with a Mastercard debit card, licensed by the SBP as an electronic money institution and acquired by Turkish fintech Papara.
NayaPay
EMI wallet
Pakistan's first commercially approved electronic money institution, offering a wallet with Visa virtual and physical cards, transfers and payments for small businesses.
Google Wallet
Mobile wallet
Available in Pakistan since March 2025 for contactless, in-app and online payments with tokenized Visa and Mastercard cards from banks such as HBL.
Payments in Pakistan: FAQ
What is the most popular way to pay online in Pakistan?
Cash on delivery still dominates online orders, but among digital methods wallets lead by far. The SBP counted 433.9 million wallet-based online purchases in Q1 2026, against 32.3 million card e-commerce payments. JazzCash and Easypaisa are the main wallets.
What is Raast?
Raast is the State Bank of Pakistan's free instant payment system. It handles transfers by phone number alias or IBAN and merchant payments by QR code or request to pay. It processed 742.1 million transactions in Q1 2026.
Is Apple Pay available in Pakistan?
Not yet. Google Wallet launched in March 2025 and works with cards from banks such as HBL, but Apple has not announced an Apple Pay launch in Pakistan.
Does Pakistan have a domestic card scheme?
Yes. PayPak is the domestic payment scheme, owned and operated by 1LINK. PayPak cards work at ATMs, POS terminals and online, and are co-badged with Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB for international use.
Accept local payments in Pakistan with NORBr
In Pakistan, merchants use SBP-licensed gateways or wallets such as JazzCash and Easypaisa, while banks keep card acquiring and 1LINK runs the switch. Check the partner's SBP license, Raast P2M, PayPak and wallet coverage, and settlement times.
With NORBr, you can connect any acquirer, PSP or local provider that offers Raast, JazzCash and Easypaisa wallets, PayPak and international cards, and cash on delivery. Some are already in our connector catalog; Mapper™ gets the others live in days, and Smart Checkout shows each shopper the right methods. Explore the other #PayWorldTour guides.
Local payment providers in Pakistan
1LINK
Payment switch
Pakistan's largest interbank switch, operating the shared ATM network, IBFT, the 1Bill bill payment service and the PayPak domestic card scheme.
4,800 billers connected to 1Bill, as listed in 2026, 1LINK
Covers: PayPak, IBFT, 1Bill, ATM network
PayFast
Payment gateway
Run by Avanza Premier Payment Systems, a Premier Systems group company, PayFast was the first Pakistani gateway to get commercial SBP approval in 2021 and was the first to add Raast P2M at checkout.
3,500+ businesses using PayFast in May 2024, Profit
Covers: Cards (Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, PayPak), Raast, mobile wallets, bank accounts, payment links, QR
Safepay
PSP
A Karachi-based payment service provider backed by Y Combinator, with a full commercial SBP license as a PSP; in 2026 it launched a Shopify app for Raast payments.
Covers: Cards, Raast, bank accounts, wallets
Kuickpay
Bill payment aggregator
A bill and invoice collection platform used by schools, ISPs, insurers, real estate firms and e-commerce merchants, connected to banks and wallets; it partnered with Visa in 2025 on B2B payments.
Covers: Bill payment vouchers via banks, wallets and cash channels, Visa commercial cards
JazzCash
Wallet and gateway
Besides its consumer wallet, JazzCash runs a merchant payment gateway and in-store QR acceptance, and upgraded its e-commerce gateway with Dgpays in 2024.
735,000+ active merchants in Q2 2026, Jazz
Covers: JazzCash wallet, cards, Raast QR, voucher payments
