Digital payments now make up 92% of all retail transactions in Pakistan. That's according to the State Bank of Pakistan's Annual Report on Payment Systems for FY26.
Total retail payments through banks reached 14.3 billion transactions worth Rs 673 trillion. Digital channels alone handled 13.2 billion of those transactions, up 65% from last year.
How Much Did Digital Payments Grow?
The number of retail payments rose 58% compared to FY25. The money moved through these payments grew by a smaller 10%. This gap tells us something simple: people are making more payments, but each payment is, on average, smaller in value. That fits with everyday use like mobile top-ups, bill payments, and small QR purchases.
Digital channels held 88% of the market in FY25. That share rose to 92% in FY26. Mobile phone-based payments led this growth. They processed more than 11.1 billion transactions, up 79% from the year before. Internet banking stayed much smaller by comparison, with about 0.3 billion transactions and 15% growth.
Card Payments and POS Terminals
Shops and businesses now have more ways to accept digital payments too. The point-of-sale (POS) network grew to 337,791 terminals, spread across 295,367 merchant locations.
These terminals processed close to 1.5 million card payments every day in FY26. That's up from 1.0 million a day in FY25, and from 0.7 million the year before that. The jump shows card payments at physical stores have grown fast over the past two years.
