Islamabad sets December 31 deadline to go fully cashless

Cash payments at Islamabad Capital Territory administration and Capital Development Authority departments will stop after November 30, and the government intends the federal capital to be Pakistan's first fully cashless city by December 31, 2026.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry set both deadlines while chairing a meeting in Islamabad on Friday. He said consultation with stakeholders and coordination between them would decide how well the Cashless Islamabad initiative works. CDA Chairman Sohail Ashraf, representatives of the banking sector and other senior officials attended.

Chaudhry said every merchant operating in the capital would be brought onto the digital payment system by December 31, and that about 26,000 had already been connected. Digital payment facilities would be extended to street vendors and small retailers as well as to large business centres, he said.

A separate meeting chaired by Minister of State for Railways and Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani directed the State Bank of Pakistan to prepare a working paper for approval of the Raast QR Merchant Discount Rate scheme. Figures presented at that meeting put the number of active merchants accepting digital payments nationwide at 2.03 million, up from 500,000, a fourfold increase the government credits to the Prime Minister's Cashless Pakistan initiative.

Raast QR codes have been placed on more than 45 million gas and electricity bills, according to the figures, and all National Database and Registration Authority centres have been equipped with Raast QR payment facilities. The government says the volume of digital payments doubled over the past year.

From November 16, all payments through Asaan Assignment Accounts across the country will be processed through Raast instead of by cheque. Drawing and Disbursing Officers have already been trained for the change.

Officials are also building a central dashboard that will track payment values, transaction volumes and unique account users. The central bank has been asked to examine macroeconomic indicators, including the ratio of payments settled through the Real-Time Gross Settlement system to gross domestic product.

Kayani is expected to meet bank presidents and chief executives in Karachi to discuss further measures to accelerate adoption of digital payments.

The Islamabad deadline is the first city-level target announced under the national initiative. Friday's meeting did not say how many merchants in the capital still deal only in cash, or what arrangements will be made for residents who do not use digital payment accounts.