Visa Plans to Expand Digital Payments in Pakistan
Visa which is a well known global payments company has announced about a big plan. And that is to encourage the use of digital payments in Pakistan. Visa hopes that ten times more businesses in Pakistan will accept digital payments within the next three years.
Why Is Visa Doing This?
Many people in Pakistan are still using cash for most transactions. A large amount of the country's population still does not have access to bank accounts. Therefore Visa's goal is to make digital payments easy, safe and common. Even in small towns and rural areas.
To make this happen Visa has partnered with 1LINK which is Pakistan's largest payment service provider. They want to expand the digital payment system across the country. This will push more businesses to accept digital payments and make it easier for customers to pay with their phones or cards.
How Will It Work?
Visa plans on introducing new technologies. For example using QR codes for payments and "tap and pay" cards. These innovations aim to make digital payments more accessible to all.
Visa is also working to make money transfers easy and safe. For an example they are introducing a service called the "Visa Alias Directory" which will help users protect their information while also making it easier to receive payments.
Benefits for Pakistan
This plan might have a major effect on Pakistan's economy. Currently only 60% of Pakistani adults have a bank account. When digital payments become more widely available more people will be able to participate in the economy. This means they can save money safely, get loans and build up credit histories.
Visa's partnership with 1LINK will let local PayPak cards to be accepted on Visa's global platform. This means that people will be able to use these cards for online shopping with businesses across the globe.
The Bigger Picture
This plan fits into Pakistan's goal of becoming a more digital and cashless society. It will help businesses to grow by making it easier to accept customer payments. It will also help the government keep better track of the economy. This will help in economic planning and development easily and accurately.
