BISP introduces social protection wallet for beneficiaries

ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has announced a new facility for registered women beneficiaries, allowing them to obtain free SIM cards and open a Social Protection Wallet.

According to a BISP statement, women registered with the programme can visit their nearest BISP office or designated campsite to obtain the free SIM and activate their Social Protection Wallet.

The statement said that after biometric verification, eligible beneficiaries will be provided with a free SIM card, which will be used to create their BISP Social Protection Wallet.

In the future, all BISP instalments, stipends and financial assistance will be transferred through the Social Protection Wallet, according to the programme.

BISP has advised beneficiaries to safeguard the SIM carefully, emphasizing that it is not merely a mobile phone SIM but serves as their digital wallet for receiving financial assistance.

Read more: BISP advises beneficiaries to obtain Benazir SIMs only from official offices

The programme has urged registered women to keep the SIM secure and avoid handing it over to anyone else.

Earlier, the Minister of State for Finance in Pakistan, Bilal Azhar Kayani announced that all beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) would be provided with digital wallets by the end of the current year, 2026.

Speaking at a ceremony marking the launch of Z-Wallet, Bilal Azhar Kayani said the government was working with the public and private sectors to promote digital payments across Pakistan.

He said the digital payment system had been strengthened by the introduction of Raast, and that the government was working to make digital transactions easier for users.

According to the minister of state, over two million traders are now using digital payment facilities, while the number of digital banking users has reached 137 million.

The government had also provided subsidies on merchant discount rates (MDR) to encourage payments through QR codes, he said.

Bilal Azhar Kayani said significant progress had also been made in digitizing government payments.