BISP beneficiaries to bear digital wallet cash withdrawal charges, SBP tells NA panel

Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) beneficiaries will pay the transaction fee for cash withdrawals made through interoperable digital wallets, Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Saleem Ullah told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety on Thursday.

Briefing the committee chaired by Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, he said the cash withdrawal fee would be fixed at Rs280, while online transfers and RAAST transactions would remain free. The SBP will notify the schedule of charges every six months.

Saleem Ullah said two private microfinance banks would operationalise digital wallet interoperability on July 16 and July 20, with all six participating banks completing integration by July 31. He added that BISP beneficiary accounts would become fully digital by December 31.

The committee expressed concern over low public awareness of the digital wallet system and BISP's enforcement of banks' contractual obligations. It directed BISP to strengthen its implementation mechanism and ensure participating banks adequately facilitate beneficiaries.

Secretary BISP Amer Ali Ahmad told the committee that a district-wise performance report of participating banks would be submitted.

The committee was also informed that BISP had penalised a private microfinance bank over negligence in the March roof collapse at a payment site in Rahim Yar Khan. Families of each deceased beneficiary were paid Rs2 million in compensation, while Rs500,000 was provided to each injured person for medical treatment, with the amount recovered from the bank's share.