Raast P2M QR payments get govt support

KARACHI: The government has approved targeted support for the central bank’s regulated entities (REs) to facilitate the onboarding of merchants on Raast and to enable them to digitally receive payments via Raast quick response (QR) code, a circular said on Wednesday.

This move has been announced as part of the prime minister’s ‘cashless economy’ initiative.

“The government has allocated a subsidy of Rs3.5 billion for Raast P2M [person to merchant] QR code-based transactions to be conducted during the period from September 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026,” the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in the circular.

“The subsidy shall be paid at the rate of 0.5 per cent of the value of each Raast P2M QR Code-based transaction or Rs100, whichever is lower,” it added. The subsidy is to be shared equally between the acquiring and issuing financial institutions. The REs, in addition to the subsidy, may charge up to 0.25 per cent of the transaction value for onboarding and servicing the merchants, the SBP’s circular said.

“The subsidy payments shall be made to REs on a quarterly basis. In case the total subsidy amount exceeds the annual ceiling of Rs3.5 billion, the subsidy rate will be revised downward to ensure that each RE gets the subsidy at an equal rate within the budget ceiling.”