Raast is the payment system quietly sitting inside your banking app that most people scroll past. It is Pakistan’s national instant payment system, run by a State Bank of Pakistan subsidiary, and it does one job extremely well: it moves money from any bank account or wallet to any other, in seconds, free of charge, using nothing more than the receiver’s mobile number.
This beginner guide covers what Raast is, how to switch it on, how to send and receive, how to pay at shops, what the limits really are (the famous “Rs 200,000 limit” is widely misunderstood), and the one safety rule that matters most.
What Is Raast?
Raast launched in phases: bulk payments in January 2021, person-to-person (P2P) transfers in February 2022, and person-to-merchant (P2M) payments in December 2023. It is operated by Raast Payments Pakistan (Private) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State Bank, and it is interoperable by design — commercial banks, microfinance banks, government entities and regulated fintechs (wallets like Easypaisa and JazzCash) all connect to the same rail.
Two properties define it. First, speed: under the State Bank’s direction, a successful Raast transfer must be credited to the receiver’s account within 20 seconds, and banks must keep their Raast channels available continuously, with 24/7 support. Second, finality: a Raast transaction is final and irrevocable, and banks are not allowed to sit on your money — a transfer is either credited or rejected. By June 2025, 45 million Raast IDs were registered, according to the State Bank’s Annual Payment Systems Review.
What You Need
- A bank account or wallet with a participating bank/EMI (all major Pakistani banks participate; leading wallets offer Raast features too)
- Your bank’s mobile app or internet banking (Raast is also offered at branch counters — the State Bank directed banks to offer it on at least three channels)
- Your mobile number registered with your bank
Step 1: Register Your Raast ID (2 Minutes)
Your Raast ID is simply your mobile number, linked to one of your accounts so people can pay you without knowing your account number or IBAN.
- Log in to your bank’s app or internet banking.
- Open the Raast section and choose Manage Raast ID (wording varies slightly by bank).
- Select the account you want to link.
- Tap Link Raast ID and confirm.
Two rules govern the ID. One number links to one account, and one account holds one Raast ID — you cannot point the same mobile number at two banks. If you change banks, de-link the ID from the old account and link it to the new one; the banks’ apps offer exactly this. And note: you only need a Raast ID to receive via your number. Anyone can still pay your IBAN without you registering anything, and you do not need your own Raast ID in order to send.
Step 2: Send Money
- In your app, choose Send Money → Raast Payment.
- Pick your account, then enter the receiver’s Raast ID (mobile number) or their IBAN.
- Enter the amount. The app shows the beneficiary’s name fetched from their bank.
- Check that name carefully (see the safety section), then confirm.
The money lands within seconds. One catch: sending to a mobile number only works if the receiver has linked that number as a Raast ID. If they have not, the transfer will fail — send to their IBAN instead, which works through the same Raast option.
Step 3: Pay at Shops (Raast P2M)
Since December 2023, Raast also works at merchants, and the State Bank required banks and wallets to support it across their apps by March 2024. You will meet it in four forms:
- Raast QR codes — scan the shop’s code (Pakistan’s unified QR standard is built on the global EMVCo specification, with dedicated tags for Raast) and pay from any bank app or wallet. Merchant QR adoption has grown fast under the government’s cashless push — SBP’s review put QR-enabled merchants at 3.8 million by June 2026.
- Merchant alias / Till ID — some shops give you a till number or alias instead of a code.
- IBAN — pay the shop’s account directly.
- Request to Pay (RTP) — the shop sends you a payment request, which you approve in your app. “RTP Now” requests expire quickly; “RTP Later” requests allow more time.
For you as the customer, the rule is absolute: nobody may charge you a fee for paying by Raast — not your bank, not the merchant, not any third party. Any merchant-side cost is the merchant’s own arrangement with their provider.
Fees: Free Means Free
The State Bank directed banks at the P2P launch to levy no charges on Raast services — all transactions free for end customers — and the P2M circular extended the same protection to shopping payments. Bank pages still describe Raast as free (some word it as “currently no charges”, which is the honest phrasing: the direction is in force, and no bank fee applies today). If any app tries to charge you for a Raast transfer, you are probably looking at a conventional IBFT option instead — go back and choose the Raast option.
Limits: Rs 200,000 Is a Floor, Not a Cap
The most misunderstood Raast fact online: since 1 April 2022 there has been no State Bank ceiling on Raast transactions at all. What the State Bank set is a floor — your bank must allow at least Rs 200,000 per transaction, your combined Raast limit must not be lower than your IBFT limit, there is no minimum transaction size, and your limit must be visible inside your app, adjustable by you.
Your actual limit is set by your bank, by risk profile — and the published examples differ a lot:
| Bank | Published Raast limit |
|---|---|
| MCB | Rs 500,000 per day (combined internal + interbank + Raast) |
| Bank Alfalah | Up to Rs 1,000,000 (depends on your Alfa package) |
| Bank AL Habib | Rs 2,500,000 per day (P2P) |
So if your app refuses a Rs 600,000 transfer, that is your bank’s limit, not Raast’s — raise it in the app’s limit settings or ask your bank.
Safety Rules
- Verify the beneficiary name before confirming. Raast payments are final and irrevocable. A wrong number, once confirmed, cannot be pulled back by the bank — the name the app displays is your last line of defence.
- Raast is domestic. Bank guidance is clear that it works for transfers within Pakistan. (A link with the Arab Monetary Fund’s Buna platform for inbound remittances from overseas Pakistanis has been announced — that is a remittance channel, not a way for you to send money abroad from your app.)
- Never share OTPs or app PINs. No bank or State Bank official will ever ask for them, on a call or otherwise.
Raast’s rules, phases and fee directions in this guide follow the State Bank of Pakistan’s own Raast page and circulars, cross-checked against participating banks’ published guides on 23 October 2026.
Also read: JazzCash Crosses 1.9 Million Raast QR Merchants · Easypaisa Account Limits and Upgrade Guide
FAQs
Q: Do I need a Raast ID to receive money?
Only to receive via your mobile number. Registering a Raast ID (linking your number to one account) is what lets senders pay you by number. Without it, you can still receive any Raast payment sent to your IBAN. And sending never requires you to hold a Raast ID yourself — you can send to anyone’s Raast ID or IBAN from your bank app.
Q: Can one mobile number be linked to two bank accounts?
No. The rule is one-to-one: a Raast ID (mobile number) links to a single account, and an account holds a single Raast ID. If you want payments to land in a different bank, de-link the ID from the old account inside that bank’s app and link it to the new one — it takes a couple of minutes and you can switch whenever you like.
Q: Is Raast really free? Is there a fee when I pay at a shop?
Yes, free for you in both cases. The State Bank directed banks to charge end customers nothing for person-to-person Raast transfers, and its merchant-payments circular goes further: neither the bank, the merchant nor any third party may charge the customer a fee for a Raast purchase. Merchants may have their own arrangements with their payment provider, but that cost cannot be passed to you at the till.
Q: What is the Raast transaction limit?
There is no State Bank ceiling — it was removed on 1 April 2022. The State Bank only guarantees a floor: your bank must allow at least Rs 200,000 per transaction, and your overall Raast limit must be at least your IBFT limit. Your actual limit is your bank’s: for example Rs 500,000 per day at MCB (combined with other transfers), up to Rs 1,000,000 at Bank Alfalah depending on package, and Rs 2,500,000 per day at Bank AL Habib. Check and adjust yours inside your own app.
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