ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has introduced a new digital payment facility under which registered women beneficiaries can receive free SIM cards and activate Social Protection Wallets to access future financial assistance.
According to a statement issued by BISP, eligible women can visit their nearest BISP office or designated campsite to complete the process.
Beneficiaries will first undergo biometric verification. Once their eligibility is confirmed, they will receive a SIM card free of charge. The SIM will then be used to establish an individual Social Protection Wallet linked to the beneficiary.
BISP said future payments, including programme instalments, stipends and other forms of financial assistance, will be transferred through these digital wallets.
The programme has urged beneficiaries to keep their SIM cards safe and avoid handing them over to other people, as the SIM will effectively function as a means of accessing their digital wallet and receiving financial support.
The initiative forms part of the government’s broader effort to expand digital payments and improve the delivery of social protection funds.
Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani had earlier announced that all BISP beneficiaries were expected to receive digital wallets by the end of 2026.
Speaking at the launch of Z-Wallet, Kayani said the government was working with both public and private sector institutions to increase the use of digital payments across Pakistan.
He said the introduction of Raast had helped strengthen the country’s digital payment infrastructure, while further measures were being pursued to make digital transactions more accessible.
According to Kayani, more than two million traders are now using digital payment facilities, while the number of digital banking users has reached 137 million.
He added that the government had provided subsidies on merchant discount rates to encourage QR-code-based transactions and had also made progress towards digitising government payments.
