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September 30, 2026
BISP has introduced Social Protection Wallets for registered women beneficiaries, with free SIMs to be used for receiving future instalments and financial assistance.
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has introduced a Social Protection Wallet facility for registered women beneficiaries, allowing them to receive future financial assistance through a digital wallet.
According to a BISP statement, eligible women can visit their nearest BISP office or designated campsite to obtain a free SIM card and activate their Social Protection Wallet.
The SIM will be issued following biometric verification and will be used to create the beneficiary’s Social Protection Wallet. BISP said that, in the future, all instalments, stipends and other financial assistance provided through the programme will be transferred through these wallets.
The programme has advised beneficiaries to keep the SIM cards secure and not hand them over to other individuals. BISP has specifically highlighted that the SIM is not intended to function only as a conventional mobile phone SIM, but will serve as the digital wallet through which beneficiaries receive their payments.
The initiative is part of broader efforts to digitise government payments and expand the use of digital financial services among beneficiaries.
Earlier, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani announced that all BISP beneficiaries would be provided with digital wallets by the end of 2026.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the launch of Z-Wallet, Kayani said the government was working with both public and private sector stakeholders to promote digital payments across Pakistan.
He also highlighted the role of Raast in strengthening the country’s digital payment infrastructure and said efforts were underway to make digital transactions easier for users.
According to the minister, more than two million traders are currently using digital payment facilities, while the number of digital banking users has reached 137 million.
The government has also introduced subsidies on merchant discount rates (MDR) to encourage merchants to accept payments through QR codes.
Kayani said progress had also been made in digitising government payments as part of the broader transition towards digital financial services.
For BISP beneficiaries, the Social Protection Wallet is intended to provide a dedicated digital channel for receiving programme payments. The free SIM distribution and biometric verification process are designed to link beneficiaries to the wallet system.
Registered women are therefore being encouraged to obtain their SIMs through official BISP offices or designated campsites and keep them secure after activation.
The programme’s move towards digital wallets will shift the delivery of future BISP instalments and financial assistance towards a digital payment mechanism as the government continues its wider efforts to digitise public payments.
