Pakistan Payments User Data Report

Below is a structured analytical report on Payments in Pakistan user data covering key trends, market players and future outlook:

Core Insights on User Data for the Payments Industry in Pakistan (2023-2024)

1. Market size and growth

  • user base: Only 25% of the approximately 120 million adults have bank accounts, but there are 45 million mobile wallet users (18% annual growth rate).
  • Transaction size: Digital payments volume topped 4.5bn in 2023, up 32% year-on-year (RBI data).
  • Penetration drivers::
    • Smartphone penetration: Adults in 48% use smartphones (GSMA 2023).
    • policy impetus: The Government has made it mandatory for civil servants' salaries to be paid through digital payments.

2. Percentage of main payment methods

Payment type market share Typical User Profile
Mobile Wallets (JazzCash, EasyPaisa) 42% Young age group (18-35), unbanked
Bank Transfers (IBFT) 30% SME enterprises, urban middle class
Cash-on-Delivery 20% E-commerce consumers (especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities)
Cards (debit card based) <8% High-end urban population

3. Competitive Landscape of Top Players

  • JazzCash(operated by VEON):
    28 million active users, 5 million transactions per day; advantage in telecom points redemption.
  • EasyPaisa(Telenor Department):
    Covering 170,000 agent locations, it specialises in cross-border remittances (15% of inward remittances from Pakistan).
  • emerging forces::
    Alipay and UBL collaborated to launch "UPaisa" focusing on merchants in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

4. Post-COVID behavioural changes

5. Changes in payment behaviour after COVID (key trends 2020-2023)

(1) Explosive growth in contactless payments

  • Popularity of QR code payment: Small merchant QR code adoption jumps from 121 TP3T before the outbreak to 391 TP3T by 2023 (Karachi Market Research).
  • Biometric verification on the rise: JazzCash's fingerprint/face-recognition transactions account for 27% of total transactions (8x growth from 2019).

(2) E-commerce drives shift in prepaid behaviour

  • Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Penetration Increases: Platforms like Daraz, Foodpanda, etc. launch instalment payments with 6.2 million BNPL users (181 TP3T of e-commerce payments).
  • Cash delivery ratio declining but still dominant: The e-commerce COD ratio drops from 78% (2020) to 65% (2023), but rural areas still exceed 80%.

(3) Accelerated digitisation of government policies

  • Ehsaas Emergency Funding Scheme: Subsidies through mobile wallets, 8 million new female digital accounts (RBI report).
  • tax incentive: 151 TP3T GST relief on digital transactions to stimulate access for small and medium-sized merchants.

6. User pain points and unmet needs

Problem areas concrete expression business opportunity
confidence deficit 75% Informal economy practitioners worry about financial security Blockchain Audit Solutions
Insufficient financial literacy Only 31% users understand how interest is calculated Gamified Financial Education App
Cross-border bottlenecks China-Pakistan trade settlement still relies on Hawala underground system Alipay-Riayat Joint Compliance Channel Development

7. Projections for the next three years (2024-2026)

  1. Agent Banking Expansion: It is expected that the number of rural agent sites will increase from the current 210,000 to 350,000, serving 60 million people who are not covered.
  2. The Rise of Islamic Fintech : Sharia-compliant P2P lending platforms will attract $300M investment (e.g. Qard, Pakistan's first Halal BNPL platform).
  3. China's technology export deepens:
    • WeChat PaymentIt is proposed to enter the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scenario through a joint venture model.
    • Huawei CloudAI anti-fraud system is being tested with local banks, which could reduce 30% bad debt rates.

[Strategic recommendations]

✅ For companies going overseas:
👉🏻 prioritises integration of JazzCash/EasyPaisa APIs over card channels - reaching 76% of active digital payment users.
👉🏻 designed a "zero-literacy friendly" UI (voice navigation + icon interaction) to target the 45+ emerging user group.

More specific vertical data is required (e.g. agricultural supply chain finance/cross-border workers' remittances), which can be further targeted for analysis.