Karachi, Pakistan –: PayFast marked its eight-year milestone at NASTP in Karachi with the launch of Rah-e-Raast, a new initiative designed to enable QR-based payments at the point of delivery—helping businesses reduce reliance on cash and strengthen Pakistan’s shift toward digital payments. PayFast has completed eight years of enabling secure, reliable, and scalable digital transactions, supporting thousands of merchants across e-commerce, retail, and services while contributing to the country’s transition toward a cashless economy.
The Rah-e-Raast launch was carried out in collaboration with Unity Retail and SLG Trax, underscoring an ecosystem-led approach to digitising last-mile commerce. Aligned with the Prime Minister of Pakistan’s vision and the Government of Pakistan’s push toward a cashless economy, the initiative aims to accelerate real-world adoption of digital payments where cash has traditionally dominated. The programme also highlighted PayFast’s collaboration with Karandaaz Pakistan to support broader QR deployment and digital acceptance across the country.
“Eight years ago, PayFast set out to simplify how businesses accept and manage payments in Pakistan,” said Adnan Ali, CEO, PayFast. “Today, with Rah-e-Raast and our expanding suite of digital acceptance tools, we’re focused on helping merchants digitise everyday transactions—especially at the last mile where cash has traditionally dominated.”
As a digital payments platform, PayFast highlighted its broader portfolio beyond Rah-e-Raast—spanning Raast rails, QR acceptance, Google Pay, payment links, invoicing solutions, checkout tools, and its payment gateway—supporting merchants across e-commerce, retail, and services. The company operates under Premier Systems Limited (Premier Systems Group) under the guidance of its CEO, Mr. Syed Arshad Raza.
The event brought together public- and private-sector stakeholders and featured a keynote address by Sohail Jawad, Executive Director, State Bank of Pakistan, recognising the role of policy and industry collaboration in building a more inclusive digital payments ecosystem. Commenting on the initiative, he said “Industry collaborations that expand digital acceptance—particularly for real-world use cases like deliveries—help strengthen trust, transparency, and convenience for businesses and consumers alike.”
Commenting on the collaboration, Taimur Ali, Group Head, DFS Projects, Karandaaz Pakistan, said, “Scaling QR acceptance is critical to making digital payments part of everyday commerce in Pakistan. Partnerships that bring QR payments into real customer journeys can help merchants grow while reducing dependence on cash.”
As part of the celebrations, PayFast recognised long-standing brand partners including Sana Safinaz, Ticketwala, GulAhmed, and K-Electric, alongside key ecosystem and payment partners such as Easypaisa, JazzCash, Faysal Bank, Bank Alfalah, and other leading banks, reflecting the scale of industry participation built over the past eight years.
During the ceremony, commemorative shields were also presented to select long-standing brand partners and ecosystem collaborators in recognition of their continued support, shared commitment to expanding digital acceptance, and contributions to strengthening real-world payment adoption across Pakistan’s commerce and delivery journeys.
The programme concluded with a panel discussion on the future of digital payments and e-commerce in Pakistan, moderated by Mahwish Saad Khan (Chief Business Officer, PayFast), featuring stakeholders from PayFast, Karandaaz, Unity Retail, and the retail sector.
The panel discussion explored how QR acceptance can be scaled in everyday customer journeys—particularly in last-mile deliveries—along with practical considerations around merchant onboarding, customer experience at the doorstep, settlement and reconciliation improvements, and the ecosystem partnerships needed to accelerate trust and adoption of digital payments across Pakistan.
