Raast QR merchant fee in Pakistan: what you pay in 2026
According to APP, the State Bank of Pakistan lets banks and payment companies charge merchants at most 0.25% of the transaction value for onboarding and servicing on Raast QR. The subsidy that topped up their income on these payments ran until 30 June 2026, so now is a good time to recheck your contract.
How much can a bank charge for Raast QR?
Up to 0.25% of the transaction value. According to APP, the state news agency, that is the ceiling SBP set for regulated entities (banks, microfinance banks, EMIs, payment system operators and providers) for onboarding and servicing merchants on Raast P2M.
It is a cap, not a price list. Your actual rate depends on the acquirer contract. We would not sign an offer where the Raast QR fee is not a separate line item: "as per bank tariff" without the tariff attached means the rate can change without you.
To compare it with the card and wallet rates in your contract, run the numbers through our fee calculator.
Worked example: an online store with a PKR 4,000 basket
The numbers are illustrative. Say a store takes 3,000 payments a month with an average order of PKR 4,000, so PKR 12 million in volume. The first row is the SBP cap; the other two are hypothetical rates you could try to negotiate.
| Raast QR rate | Monthly fee | Per order |
|---|---|---|
| 0.25% (cap) | PKR 30,000 | PKR 10 |
| 0.15% | PKR 18,000 | PKR 6 |
| 0.1% | PKR 12,000 | PKR 4 |
Even at the cap it is PKR 10 per order. The number that matters is the difference: how many payments move to QR from more expensive methods. If a third of buyers switch, your saving is the rate gap on that third, not on total volume.
The SBP subsidy and why 30 June matters
In September 2025 SBP allocated PKR 3.5 billion to subsidise Raast P2M QR payments from 1 September 2025 to 30 June 2026. The rate was 0.5% of the transaction or PKR 100, whichever is lower, split equally between the merchant's and the payer's institutions and paid quarterly. If claims exceeded the PKR 3.5 billion ceiling, the rate was cut equally for everyone.
On a PKR 4,000 payment that meant PKR 20, or PKR 10 per side. From PKR 20,000 upward it hit the PKR 100 cap. The scheme rewarded small and mid-sized payments most, which is where most e-commerce orders sit.
The sources we checked do not mention an extension after 30 June 2026. That does not prove there is none. But if your bank priced Raast QR around the subsidy, it now has a reason to reprice. Ask directly whether Raast QR terms changed from 1 July 2026 and whether your rate is fixed in the contract.
Who can onboard you for Raast QR?
Only Raast participants, or merchants through them, can accept Raast P2M. BOL News reported that by February 2025 Raast had 44 participants, SBP-regulated and government entities, and that SBP had published minimum criteria for new ones. In May 2026 National Bank of Pakistan said it had received approval for the commercial launch of Raast P2M acquiring.
So there is choice, but Raast QR is not built the same everywhere. Before signing, check whether you get dynamic QR codes with the amount and order ID (an online store needs these, not a static shop code), whether payment confirmation arrives as a real-time API callback or in next-day statements, and how fast funds settle to your account, including any withdrawal fee.
Should Raast QR sit next to wallets at checkout?
In our view, yes, if many of your orders are under PKR 20,000 and buyers pay from banking apps. Raast moves money account to account, and with a 0.25% cap it is hard to make expensive. The weak spot is the flow: on desktop the buyer has to scan with a phone, and some of those sessions drop. Add Raast QR as a second method, not the only one.
Payment methods for the market are on our Pakistan payments page; a similar fee calculation for India is in our piece on the 0.4% UPI MDR. Want offers compared for your volume? Leave a request.
Sources
This article was prepared by the PayFlow editorial team with the help of AI, based on the public sources listed above. It is for information only and is not legal or financial advice; provider terms change — check current terms with an operator.