Minister asks banks to do more for Cashless Pakistan
Bilal Azhar Kayani told bank chief executives in Karachi that the Raast QR subsidy will continue and the State Bank must return with concrete proposals.
The minister of state for finance, Bilal Azhar Kayani, asked banks on Friday to take a more active part in the Prime Minister's Cashless Pakistan Initiative and directed the State Bank of Pakistan to draw up practical proposals with the lenders.
Kayani met the presidents, chief executives and chief digital officers of banks at the Pakistan Banks Association head office in Karachi, according to ARY News. Officials of the State Bank, the chief executive of Raast and officials of Karandaaz attended the meeting.
The minister set out what the initiative has achieved so far, including wider adoption of digital payments and the digitisation of government payments, and the targets fixed for the current fiscal year, 2026.
He said the government had subsidised merchant discount rate charges through the Raast QR subsidy, and that the prime minister had decided to keep the subsidy in place to maintain the pace of digital payments adoption.
The Prime Minister's Cashless Committee is narrowing its focus and revising its targets, with new indicators and new goals, to speed up the shift to digital payments, Kayani told the meeting. He asked the bank executives for their suggestions on getting better results.
According to ARY News, he directed the State Bank to hold detailed consultations with the banks' chief digital officers, the Raast chief executive and Karandaaz, and to turn them into concrete recommendations for the committee. The consultations are to look at the user experience of digital payment methods, QR payments among them.
Kayani thanked the PBA for hosting the session and said he expected further discussions with banks at the association in the coming months. He also credited Karandaaz for its work on the initiative.
The PBA thanked the minister for visiting its head office, welcomed the prime minister's and the government's focus on the initiative and said the banking sector would play its part in reaching what it called a national objective.
Daily Times reported that the government used the meeting to call on banks to expand digital payment services across the country, and described the session as giving fresh momentum to the cashless drive.
Islamabad sets December 31 deadline to go fully cashless
Cash will stop being accepted at ICT administration and CDA offices after November 30, with 26,000 merchants already on the digital network.
Government ends cheque payments under Asaan Assignment Accounts from November 15
All payments under the scheme will move to Raast from November 16, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was told at a meeting on the cashless economy.
Sindh to prefer electric vehicles in official fleet purchases
A cabinet committee chaired by Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon cleared new vehicles for three departments and said future procurement will favour electric models.
Sindh third-party motor insurance policies climb to 452,515
SECP says the count rose from 11,200 in March after the province made third-party cover mandatory for vehicles registered in Sindh.
Sindh police form committee to probe faulty vehicle in Zardari's motorcade
The three-member inquiry, chaired by Additional IGP Karachi Azad Khan, will examine how an unroadworthy Toyota Revo was cleared for the president's Thatta visit.
Naqvi flies to Nawabshah for talks with Zardari
Sources say the interior minister carried a message from a senior national figure and discussed new provinces, a referendum and possible action against JUI-F.
ECP removes MQM-P convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui from records
The party is one of 13 without a recognised head in the commission's records, and has been issued a show-cause notice for missing its intra-party election deadline.
Sindh orders joint drive against encroachments on Karachi roads
A meeting chaired by Sharjeel Inam Memon picked University Road and People's Bus Service routes for the first phase and decided to move illegal bus terminals out of the city