Govt Clears Rs 3.5B Subsidy for Raast Merchants
The government has cleared Rs 3.5 billion in subsidies for Raast Merchants in a bid to bring 2 million merchants under the QR code system under its cashless economy drive.
At present, there are 3.2 million merchants across the country. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has targeted 2 million merchants to bring them under the QR code system. The government has approved a subsidy to achieve this target.
Eligibility
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced that the subsidy package will apply to Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions that have been processed between September 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. Governor SBP inaugurates JazzCash Experience Lounge
Financial institutions are set to receive compensation at a rate of 0.5 percent of each transaction’s value or Rs 100, whichever is lower, with payments shared between the acquiring and issuing banks.
The subsidy, part of the Prime Minister’s Cashless Economy initiative, is aimed at accelerating the adoption of Raast’s QR-based system to ease onboarding costs for merchants.
According to the finance ministry, the government has also asked utility companies to provide updates on the printing and integration of Raast QR codes to ensure wider usage.
Each regulated entity (RE) — including banks, microfinance banks, electronic money institutions, payment system operators, payment service providers, merchant service providers, and customer service providers is eligible under the scheme. But the condition is that transactions should be successfully recorded in the Raast system. The SBP has directed REs to maintain complete records for verification and audit.
The government will process subsidy claims quarterly, and REs will be bound to submit verified claims, which will be subject to internal audit. They will be submitted to Raast Payments Pakistan (RPP) within five working days after the close of each quarter.
The RPP will reconcile claims with Raast system data and communicate any discrepancies within the same timeframe. The RPP calculation will be treated as final if no response is received from an institution.
The SBP has also allowed institutions to charge merchants up to 0.25 percent of the transaction value for onboarding and servicing. This will be in addition to the subsidy. However, the government will revise the subsidy rate downward in case the Rs 3.5 billion allocation is exhausted before June 2026..
In its circular, the SBP has also noted that inspection teams will conduct random sample checks of subsidy claims during regular audits to ensure compliance. The initial subsidy for September 2025 transactions will be disbursed alongside the claims for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, subject to fund release by the Finance Division.