The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in its Quarterly Report on Payment Systems released on Thursday, informed that share of digital channels in retail transaction has surged to 92 per cent during the second quarter of fiscal year 2025-26, depicting the growing adoption of digital payment methods across the economy.
Adoption of digital payment methods grows further with 92% share in retail transaction: SBP
KARACHI, Mar 19 (APP):The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in its Quarterly Report on Payment Systems released on Thursday, informed that share of digital channels in retail transaction has surged to 92 per cent during the second quarter of fiscal year 2025-26, depicting the growing adoption of digital payment methods across the economy.
Total 3.4 billion retail transactions were performed during the quarter from October to December 2025, out of which 92% were conducted through digital channels as compared to 88% during the same quarter last year while share of digital payments by value has also increased to 38%.
The number of retail transactions have increased by 8% from the previous quarter and its value grew by 7% reaching Rs 167 trillion while the number of payments through digital channels reached 3.1 billion, amounting to Rs 64 trillion, as shown in the Quarterly Payment Systems Review that presents an overview of key payment trends of both retail and RTGS transactions conducted through formal banking and payment channels.
Mobile app-based payments, according to the report, continued to dominate the digital landscape, with 2.6 billion transactions conducted through apps offered by branchless banking (BB) players, banks, and EMIs.
These transactions accounted for 83% of all digital payments and amounted to Rs 40 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, it reported, adding that Internet banking also recorded steady growth, with transaction volume and value increasing by 11% and 22%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Raast Instant Payment System maintained strong growth momentum, during the quarter, processing 645.7 million transactions valuing Rs 18.5 trillion. Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions rose to 603 million, increased by 13%, with a value of Rs 15.7 trillion while Raast P2M transactions, increased to 33.6 million, amounting to Rs 167.6 billion.
The Report showed that over 9 million transactions worth Rs 2.6 trillion were processed by government and corporates using Raast Bulk Service showing rapid adoption of Raast for business and government payments.
The number of payment cards in circulation rose to 66.7 million, with debit cards comprising 87% of the total and credit cards accounting for 5% only. While the rest includes social welfare cards and prepaid cards.
Point-of-sale (PoS) 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 Rs 4.9 trillion during the period.
In addition, 20,143 bank branches and 763,262 banking agents provided Over-the-Counter (OTC) services such as cash deposits, withdrawals, fund transfers, and bill payments. Bank branches processed 138 million transactions valued at Rs 102 trillion, while banking agents facilitated 135 million transactions amounting to Rs 0.9 trillion.
