How do people in Pakistan pay online?
Payments in Pakistan have moved to phones. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported 14.3 billion retail payments through banking and payment channels in FY26, the year to June 2026, and 92% of them went through digital channels, up from 88% in FY25. Mobile phone solutions handled over 11.1 billion of those payments. Branchless banking apps had 99.1 million users and banks’ mobile apps 30.4 million.
Wallets and accounts lead online. The SBP counted 1.56 billion online e-commerce payments worth PKR 1.7 trillion made from accounts and wallets in FY26, against 65 million card payments worth PKR 0.3 trillion. Account and wallet payments made up about 96% of e-commerce transactions through banking channels. The best known wallets are JazzCash, from Mobilink Microfinance Bank, which says it has over 50 million registered users, and Easypaisa; payment providers such as dLocal offer both as redirect methods at checkout, including recurring wallet payments.
Cash on delivery remains common for goods. The US International Trade Administration’s country guide, citing industry reports, says most online sellers still collect payment in cash when the parcel arrives, and the SBP’s figures cover only payments made through banking channels.
Cards are a smaller channel. Pakistan had 69.9 million payment cards in June 2026, 84% of them debit cards, and cardholders made 64.8 million e-commerce card payments in FY26. PayPak is the domestic card scheme, run through 1LINK. Google Pay is available for online payments, but Pakistan is not on Apple’s list of Apple Pay countries.
Raast is growing fast. The SBP’s instant payment system handled 2.76 billion transactions in FY26, including 182.5 million person-to-merchant payments, up from 4.9 million the year before. It had 49.2 million registered personal IDs and 3.6 million merchants registered for Raast merchant payments.
What rules shape online payments in Pakistan?
Card e-commerce uses 3-D Secure. The SBP directed banks in 2019 to implement 3-D Secure for online card payments. Since its February 2021 measures, banks that have 3-D Secure in place can activate customers’ cards for online payments without a separate request, so new cards work online from the day they are issued.
Refunds after disputes must be credited at once. In the same measures, the SBP told banks to credit a customer’s account immediately once they receive the funds back from the merchant or acquiring bank.
Sales tax on goods is 18%, and the provinces tax services at 15% to 16%. The Finance Act 2025 introduced a 5% Digital Presence Proceeds Tax on foreign vendors with a significant digital presence in Pakistan, but the Federal Board of Revenue made it inapplicable through a notification dated 30 July 2025, according to PwC’s tax summary.
The SBP oversees payment systems. In August 2025 it designated 1LINK, which runs PayPak, shared ATM switching and interbank transfers, as a designated payment system under the Payment Systems and Electronic Fund Transfers Act, 2007.
How would Omno route payments in Pakistan?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, amount and customer group. In Pakistan:
- Wallet pay-ins for JazzCash and Easypaisa would go to a provider that supports them, with the hosted checkout sending the shopper to approve the payment in their wallet and the order pending until the provider confirms.
- Card pay-ins would follow rules by BIN, currency and amount, with cascading: if a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, the payment moves to the next provider in the rule until one accepts.
- Raast and bank payments could be added through a provider that supports them, confirmed by the provider’s notification rather than by the shopper’s return to the store.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, the record a back office should trust before shipping an order, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for wallets first. Online payments from accounts and wallets outnumber card payments by more than twenty to one, so JazzCash and Easypaisa should sit at the top of the checkout.
Plan for cash on delivery next to digital methods. Many shoppers still pay the courier, so a prepaid option has to be at least as easy as paying on arrival.
Plan for cards with 3-D Secure. Debit cards make up most of the 69.9 million cards in issue, and online card payments need the issuer’s authentication step.
Plan for Raast. Person-to-merchant payments grew from 4.9 million to 182.5 million in a year, so Raast is worth adding as a provider route once your volumes justify it.