The government has decided to make Islamabad the first fully cashless city in Pakistan, with a deadline of December 31 for the transition. The initiative aims to bring all merchants in the city into the digital payment system and transition all government departments to digital transactions.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry announced the plan during a meeting in Islamabad on Friday. Chaudhry stated that no cash payments will be accepted at any department of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) or the Capital Development Authority (CDA) after November 30. He noted that the project is moving at a fast pace under special instructions from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. Naqvi reportedly promised the prime minister that Islamabad would become Pakistan’s first cashless city and the world’s first cashless capital.
Chaudhry said the goal is to provide digital payment facilities at every level, ranging from street vendors to major business centres. He reported that approximately 26,000 merchants in Islamabad have already been integrated into the digital payment system. According to a statement from the Ministry of Interior, the move is intended to improve financial transparency, tax monitoring, and the transaction system.
The initiative follows a meeting on November 6 where the Prime Minister discussed the Cashless Pakistan project. During that meeting, PM Shehbaz emphasized the need for digital transaction systems to bring transparency to the economy and directed authorities to create a clear roadmap and time-bound targets for a 100 per cent digital payments system nationwide. The Prime Minister also noted that payments in “most institutions” would be fully digitised by December 2026.
In a related high-level follow-up meeting on the Cashless Pakistan initiative chaired by Minister of State for Railways and Finance, Bilal Azhar Kayani, the government reviewed progress made by the Cashless Committee. Key developments reported include:
From November 16, all payments for Asaan Assignment Accounts across the country will be made through the Raast digital system, following the training of Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs).
Active merchants accepting digital payments have increased fourfold to 2.03 million under the Prime Minister’s Cashless Pakistan initiative.
Raast payment QR codes have been placed on over 45 million gas and electricity bills, and all NADRA centres have been equipped with Raast QR to allow for digital service payments.
The overall volume of digital payments in the country has doubled in one year.
To sustain this expansion, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to prepare a working paper for the approval of the Raast QR Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) scheme. He also directed the SBP to assess the inclusion of macroeconomic indicators, such as the ratio of payments processed through RTGS to GDP.
The Minister of State also plans to meet with the presidents and CEOs of banks in Karachi to discuss the promotion of digital payments to ensure all banks participate in the national initiative.
