KARACHI: The volume of retail payments made through digital channels surpassed the 2 billion mark for the first time in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, the central bank said on Friday.
This growth was primarily driven by an increase in payments made via mobile banking apps, internet banking and over-the-counter (OTC) transactions at bank branches.In its second quarterly payment systems review for FY25, the SBP said retail transactions witnessed an 11 per cent increase in volume, reaching 2,143 million in October-December FY25, while the value of transactions increased by 12 per cent to Rs154 trillion.
Digital payment channels processed 88 per cent of all retail transactions by volume, with mobile app-based banking playing a crucial role. These platforms, which include mobile banking apps, branchless banking (BB) wallets, and e-Money wallets, collectively processed 1,450 million transactions worth Rs24 trillion, marking a 12 per cent increase in volume and a 28 per cent increase in value. The number of users leveraging digital banking services also saw a steady rise. Mobile banking app users grew to 21 million, e-Money and BB wallet users increased to 4.7 million and 64.3 million, respectively, while internet banking users reached 13.3 million.
Merchant payments through digital means also expanded in the second quarter. Digital e-commerce transactions increased by 30 per cent in volume to 152 million, amounting to Rs193 billion. By volume, 8.0 per cent (12.8 million) of the e-commerce transactions were made through cards and 92 per cent (139.5 million) through digital wallets/accounts, while by value, this share was 33 per cent and 67 per cent, respectively. The 115,177 point-of-sale (POS) enabled merchants with 151,646 POS terminals facilitated 89 million in-store purchases, totalling Rs510 billion. Retail/Kiryana store merchants accepting payments through QR or BB wallets reached 22.1 million in volume and Rs58 billion in value, a growth of 4.0 per cent and 9.0 per cent, respectively.
Raast Instant Payment System processed 296 million transactions worth Rs6.4 trillion during Q2FY25, bringing cumulative transactions since inception to 1,144 million, valued at Rs26 trillion. The large-value transactions via the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system settled transactions worth Rs330 trillion, registering a 19 per cent increase in value.