Gates Foundation pledges continued support for 'Cashless Pakistan Initiative'

Gates Foundation has reaffirmed support for the Cashless Pakistan Initiative and assured its continued support through Karandaaz — a not-for-profit firm that focuses on expanding access to digital financial services.

The development came as a high-level delegation from the Gates Foundation, comprising Dr Anita Zaidi, President of the Gender Equality Division and Dr Kalpana Kochhar, Interim President of the Global Policy & Advocacy Division and other senior officials, called on Bilal Azhar Kayani, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue & Railways, to review progress on Pakistan's digital transformation agenda.

The state minister briefed the delegation about the progress on the Cashless Pakistan Initiative, launched under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s direct supervision, highlighting the rapid scale-up in digital payments and merchant adoption of Raast QR, according to an official statement.

He noted that active merchants on digital payments have grown from 0.5 million to 2.03 million, already surpassing the June 2026 target of two million, supported by a Rs3.5 billion government subsidy on Raast QR that has helped drive adoption and behavioural change.

Kayani also shared updates on rising digital transactions, growing digital banking users, and improving financial inclusion, particularly the narrowing gender gap in access to financial services, and reaffirmed the government's commitment to expanding transparency and efficiency in public payments.

The Gates Foundation delegation endorsed the progress that has been made so far to digitise Pakistan's economy under the PM’s Cashless Pakistan Initiative and assured their continued support through Karandaaz.

Beyond Cashless Pakistan, the minister spoke about the government's broader economic reform agenda, underscoring the need to document and formalise the economy to strengthen fiscal sustainability.

He highlighted the newly introduced “Asaan Tax Scheme” for small traders, designed to bring merchants into the formal economy through incentive-based, voluntary registration rather than enforcement alone.

The minister emphasised that the government was setting ambitious targets for the current fiscal year to further accelerate the Cashless Pakistan agenda, including deeper merchant onboarding, expanded digitisation of government payments, and improved end-user experience on digital payments.

He welcomed the Gates Foundation's continued partnership, including its support through Karandaaz, and responded positively to the potential expansion of the development agenda through a strategic partnership framework.