Raast is Pakistan's instant payment system from the State Bank of Pakistan. With Raast P2M (Person-to-Merchant), businesses accept payments directly from any Pakistani bank account in real time — no card networks, lower fees, instant settlement. Rapid Gateway gives you Raast P2M integration alongside cards, wallets and bank transfers through one API.
Raast is Pakistan's first national instant payment system, designed and operated by the State Bank of Pakistan. It enables free, real-time fund transfers between any bank accounts in Pakistan — 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The merchant variant, Raast P2M (Person-to-Merchant), lets businesses accept payments from customers directly through their bank app via QR codes, payment links, or Request-to-Pay flows. Unlike card payments, Raast bypasses international card networks entirely, which makes it cheaper for merchants and instant for everyone.
Raast P2M became commercially available in 2023–2024 and adoption accelerated rapidly through 2025 and 2026 — making it the fastest-growing payment method in Pakistani ecommerce.
Raast is not just another payment method. It's a fundamentally different rail — and the economics strongly favour the merchant.
Funds move instantly between banks. No T+1 wait, no card-network clearing cycle — money lands in your account the moment your customer pays.
Raast runs on Pakistan's national rail, bypassing Visa and Mastercard. That means dramatically lower MDR — keep more of every sale.
HBL, UBL, Meezan, Allied, Bank Alfalah, MCB, Standard Chartered, Faysal, Bank Al Habib and more — every major bank is on the Raast rail.
Generate dynamic QR codes for in-person checkout, or share a one-click Raast link on WhatsApp. Customers scan, approve in their bank app, done.
Customers pay directly from their bank app — no card numbers ever touch your stack. PCI scope drops, fraud risk drops, customer trust goes up.
Unlike JazzCash or easypaisa, customers don't need a wallet account. If they have any Pakistani bank account, they can pay via Raast — instantly.
Raast lives inside our unified gateway. No separate Raast merchant contract, no extra SDK, no parallel reconciliation.
One sales call plus KYC. Raast is bundled with cards, JazzCash, easypaisa and bank transfers — no separate Raast contract needed.
Toggle Raast on in your dashboard. Use our REST API, drop-in JS snippet, or install the WooCommerce, Shopify or Wix plugin — it's already wired.
Customer picks Raast, scans a dynamic QR or confirms in their bank app, and the payment lands in your account in seconds.
A clear, side-by-side view of the four main ways Pakistani customers pay online — and what each means for your merchant economics.
The smart play isn't picking one — it's offering all four at the same checkout. Rapid Gateway gives you every method through one integration, with Raast already wired in.
Three deployment paths depending on your stack — same Raast rail under the hood.
Install the Rapid Gateway plugin, paste your live key, enable Raast in the dashboard. Raast P2M shows up at checkout next to cards and wallets — same flow as any other payment method.
POST a payment intent with methods: ['raast'], redirect the customer to the hosted checkout, and receive a signed webhook the moment settlement completes. JSON in, JSON out.
Generate dynamic Raast QR codes for in-person and counter sales, or share Raast-enabled payment links via WhatsApp, SMS or invoice. No development required.
The questions Pakistani merchants ask most often about Raast P2M. Don't see yours? Ask the team directly.
Raast is Pakistan's first instant payment system, built and operated by the State Bank of Pakistan. It enables real-time fund transfers between any bank accounts in Pakistan, 24/7. The P2M (Person-to-Merchant) variant lets businesses accept payments instantly via QR codes, payment links or request-to-pay flows.
Raast is significantly cheaper than card payments because it bypasses card networks (Visa, Mastercard) and runs on Pakistan's national rail. Specific MDR varies by gateway; Rapid Gateway customers pay among the lowest published Raast rates in Pakistan.
All major Pakistani banks support Raast: HBL, UBL, Meezan, Allied, Bank Alfalah, MCB, Standard Chartered, Faysal, Bank Al Habib, Bank of Punjab, Soneri, Askari, Habib Metro, JS Bank and more. If your customer has a bank account in Pakistan, they can use Raast.
No. Unlike JazzCash or easypaisa, customers don't need a separate wallet. They use their existing bank's mobile app to scan the merchant QR code or approve a Raast payment request. Every major Pakistani bank app supports Raast P2M.
Raast is real-time. Funds move from your customer's bank account to yours within seconds — not the T+1 or T+2 typical of card payments. Your dashboard reflects the payment as settled immediately.
Yes. The Rapid Gateway plugins for Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix and OpenCart all include Raast as a payment method out of the box. Install, paste your live key, and Raast appears at checkout alongside cards and wallets.
Yes. Every Rapid Gateway invoice includes a Raast payment option. Share the invoice link via WhatsApp; your client opens it, picks Raast, scans the QR or confirms in their bank app — you're paid in seconds.
Yes. Raast is operated by the State Bank of Pakistan with bank-grade security. Payments are authenticated inside each customer's bank app, so card details and account numbers never leave the bank. There's no card data for attackers to steal, which substantially reduces fraud risk for merchants.
Refunds happen instantly via the same rail. Chargebacks (in the card-network sense) don't exist on Raast — disputes are handled directly with the customer's bank under SBP guidelines. This dramatically reduces chargeback exposure for merchants compared to card processing.
Raast launched in phases starting January 2021 with Person-to-Person (P2P) transfers, followed by Bulk Payments, and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) — the version merchants use to accept payments — which rolled out commercially in 2023-2024 and accelerated rapidly through 2025 and 2026.
One call. API docs in your inbox. Live by end of day — with Raast, cards, JazzCash, easypaisa and bank transfers in a single integration.
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