Pakistan’s eCommerce market size has increased to 96 billion Rs in Q12021 as compared to 71 billion Rs in Q12020, witnessing a growth of over 35 percent stated State Bank of Pakistan.
As per the data, prepaid eCommerce merchants have increased from 1,410 in the past 12 months to 2,164. The data was disclosed at the fourth meeting of the National E-Commerce Council (NeCC).
The NeCC addressed the operationalization of the e-Commerce cross-border procedure, incentives for e-commerce promotion, debate on international payment services, i.e. PayPal via checkout.
The National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) told the meeting that in collaboration with the SBP, it is in the process of developing a payment solution for cross-border/international payments through which individuals living outside Pakistan will be able to pay through Paypal, Google Pay and Apple Pay while payments within/from Pakistan will be processed through integration with any integer
It has been said that the payment system would be supported by third-party participation. By the end of 2020, the payment facility should become operational. The multi-party involvement with the effects of COVID, however, has really impacted the programme.
The progress has been confirmed to be continuing and will be updated as soon as they are ready to take it to SBP. When they put in the full information for their analysis, assistance from SBP will come in. The pilot run is currently scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2021.