The government has decided to make Islamabad Pakistan’s first fully cashless city, setting a final deadline of December 31, 2026, to bring all merchants and business centres in the federal capital into the digital payment system.
A meeting on implementing the Cashless Islamabad project was held under the chairmanship of Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, attended by the chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), representatives of the banking sector and senior government officials, Geo News and Pakistan Point reported on Friday. The banking sector representatives assured the meeting of their full cooperation for the success of the project.
Chaudhry said that after November 30, no department of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration or the CDA would accept cash payments from citizens or applicants, and all official transactions would be conducted through digital payment channels. The second phase aims to bring all small and large businesses in the federal capital into the cashless system by December 31, with digital payment facilities made available from street vendors to major commercial centres.
He said 26,000 merchants in Islamabad had already been connected to the digital payment system. He added that the cashless system would improve financial transparency, tax monitoring and the overall transaction system, and that consultation and suggestions from all stakeholders were important for the project’s success.
According to Chaudhry, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had promised the prime minister that Islamabad would become Pakistan’s first cashless city. The government aims to make it the world’s first cashless capital, with no cash payments being received in any government department and all traders brought into a cashless system, he said. Work on the initiative was progressing rapidly on the special instructions of the prime minister and the interior minister, he added.
The cashless push builds on steps already taken in the capital. The Islamabad district administration introduced QR code payments for fines earlier this week, making all assistant commissioners’ offices cashless, and the facility has also been implemented across the Deputy Commissioner Complex. The H-9 weekly bazaar became Pakistan’s first fully cashless market, and Islamabad International Airport has already transitioned to a fully cashless environment, becoming the first airport in the country to eliminate physical currency across its premises.
Officials say the initiative is part of wider efforts to promote digital payments, modernise public services and make official payments more transparent. The CDA has already fast-tracked the expansion of QR-based payment systems across the city, with the cashless system functioning in weekly bazaars, the CDA’s One-Window Facilitation Centre and the metro and electric bus services. The government says the aim is for no citizen in Islamabad to need to carry cash, with all transactions facilitated through digital means.
The deadline gives the administration and traders about seven weeks to complete the transition. The meeting decided that the project would be implemented in phases, with government departments going cashless first, followed by the city’s markets, shopping centres, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and other commercial areas.