KARACHI: The electronic payment scene in Pakistan witnessed considerable growth during the third quarter of FY2025-26, with retail payments via banks touching 3.7 billion transactions in January-March 2026 – a 9 percent growth from the previous quarter, as per the latest Payment Systems Quarterly Review released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
Digital payments for Pakistan Q3 FY26 have experienced an increase in volume from 3.38 billion to 3.70 billion whereas the value has increased from Rs167.2 trillion to Rs168.8 trillion. The increasing trend indicates that the volume and value of cashless transactions are growing at a rate which is faster than traditional bank transactions.
Digital Payment Channels Dominant in 92 Percent of All Transactions
The digital payment channels recorded 3.4 billion transactions in the period under review, contributing to 92 percent of all retail transactions on volume basis. This comprises various payment channels including mobile banking, digital wallets, internet banking, USSD, ATMs, point-of-sale terminals, ecommerce sites, and phone banking among others, worth Rs68.3 trillion, an increase from Rs64.4 trillion in the previous quarter.
The rise was spearheaded by mobile banking applications and electronic money wallets. The users transacted 2.89 billion transactions amounting to Rs41.67 trillion using the banking applications and electronic wallets provided by banks, branchless banking organizations, and e-money organizations during the said period.
Number of Digital Banking Users Reaches 132 Million
The number of users behind the Pakistan digital payments third quarter financial year 2026 expanded rapidly.In March 2026, there were 95.8 million branchless banking mobile application users, 28.9 million banking mobile application users, 7.3 million EMI wallet users, and 16.2 million internet banking users.
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Raast Handles Rs23.27 Trillion in a Single Quarter
In Pakistan’s real-time payments network, Raast, one of the best quarters was witnessed. There were 664 million person to person transactions, which amounted to Rs18.88 trillion, up from 603 million transactions, whose value was Rs15.69 trillion in the last quarter. Person to merchant offerings kept growing as there were over 2.6 million merchants on board by the end of the quarter.
Rise in QR Payments by 41 Percent, E-commerce Makes Steady Growth
Merchant payments through QR code-based systems witnessed a growth of 41 percent quarter on quarter reaching a level of 87.3 million transactions with their value rising 63 percent to Rs0.5 trillion.
The use of e-commerce payments via bank accounts and digital wallets also grew, as consumers made 434.5 million online transactions totaling Rs0.47 trillion in the quarter.
The total number of outstanding payment cards was 68.25 million, out of which 57.2 million were debit cards. The payment cards helped in making 272.2 million transactions via ATMs for Rs4.99 trillion, 150.4 million transactions through POS for Rs0.81 trillion, and 32.3 million transactions via e-commerce for
Traditional Banks Resist Digitalization Boom
Though the digitalization growth rate in payments in Pakistan Q3 FY26 was very high, traditional banks were still working. The number of banks’ branches in Pakistan was 20,232 and 819,397 branchless banking agents by March 2026. Bank branches have done 127.9 million transactions worth Rs99.5 trillion, out of which Rs70 trillion only in cheque transfer transactions.
The national RTGS system of the country known as PRISM+, processed 1.5 million transactions worth Rs389.8 trillion for the quarter, where the major portion comprised government securities, reaffirming the fact that big value settlements of institutions are still passing through formal structure.
The SBP stated that the sustained increase in digitization efforts and high performance of Raast and PRISM+ systems have shown the continuous progress of Pakistan in achieving a more digitally integrated financial ecosystem.
Nayab Fatima is a media professional specializing in fact-based journalism, research, and analytical reporting on technology, telecom, aviation, and automobiles.
