BISP under fire for inefficiencies in digital payment system

ISLAMABAD: The Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety observed that the management of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has failed to properly educate the public about its role, resulting in the programme being blamed for inefficiencies involving partner banks’ point-of-sale (POS) agents. The BISP says it has no direct role in these issues.

A parliamentary scrutiny of BISP has also uncovered a Rs1.25 billion reduction in banks’ claims over contractual failures, alongside questions over years of weak oversight, inadequate public communication and the programme’s still-delayed digital-payment system.

The Committee met here on Thursday with Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur in the chair. The meeting was convened to review BISP’s performance, awareness campaigns, digital wallet initiatives, bank penalization mechanisms, and deputation matters.

Behind BISP’s push to digitise welfare payments lies a troubling administrative gap: the programme has opened nine million digital wallets, yet beneficiaries are still not using them for transactions, while lawmakers say years of ineffective communication have allowed confusion over bank services to damage BISP’s public image.

The Committee expressed grave dissatisfaction over the delayed receipt of briefing material from the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety (PASS), noting a concerning lack of discipline, and directed the Ministry Secretary to ensure such lapses are not repeated. The Secretary offered his apologies and assured the Committee that he would personally investigate the incompetence on the part of the Ministry and its ancillary organizations.

The BISP Chairperson informed the Committee that BISP had been collaborating with the Gates Foundation to educate the masses that BISP bears no role in partner banks’ POS agent activities, which fall under the contractual obligations of those banks.

The BISP Chairperson acknowledged that an ineffective media campaign had contributed to this negative image, and stated that a vibrant media campaign is now under way to correct it. She further informed the Committee that digital transactions are not currently being carried out by beneficiaries via Social Protection Wallet (SPW) accounts, and that BISP had secured time until December 2026 from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), until which such transactions shall not be conducted, while also considering an extension for digital transactions education of its beneficiaries. The Committee appreciated that nine million digital wallets had been opened alongside the free distribution of SIMs to these beneficiaries.

In response to the Committee’s inquiry regarding the saturation point, timeline, and budget of the awareness campaign, the Chairperson BISP stated that BISP is exploring collaboration with existing partner banks through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, and that earlier campaigns through the Press Information Department (PID) had proven tedious. BISP is in the process of hiring a social media company on a monthly retainer to disseminate its message through content creation across all social media platforms. The Committee observed that content creation could now be undertaken using advanced artificial intelligence software.

The Chairperson BISP informed the Committee that BISP lacks the requisite human intelligence and specialized skill set while also suffering from a severe shortage of staff. Noting that BISP had been oblivious to ensuring its private partner banks fulfilled contractual obligations, the Committee sought details of media campaign costs for the past two years, to be provided within a week to the Committee. The BISP Chairperson assured that digital wallets would resolve these problems, as POS agents would no longer hold a monopoly. Regarding timely penalization, she informed the Committee that banks had been penalized in accordance with their contracts, which will expire by January 2027, after which new contracts will be executed.

The Committee observed that penalization occurred only at the end of the contract rather than during its application, thereby granting banks considerable time to fail in providing desired services; it was assured that this aspect had already been addressed, as penalization is now applied annually and banks have become more cautious in their contractual obligations.

The Committee decided that before any mass education initiative is undertaken, BISP must provide complete and comprehensive details of its media campaign to Committee members for advance study within a week. On savings and better utilization of BISP funds, it was informed that a World Bank-sponsored pilot project titled the Hybrid Social Protection Scheme, under its Deliverable Targets, involves a monthly savings scheme of 500 to 1000 rupees, with a 40 percent top-up on each quarterly disbursement, and over 4,000 beneficiaries have registered.

Regarding agenda item number six, the Committee was informed that banks’ claims had been reduced due to penalization for contractual failures, with an amount of 1.25 billion rupees from about 2010 to 2019, which will remain in the government treasury and not be paid to the banks.

A third-party chartered accountant firm is being hired to conduct an assessment. Under agenda item number ten, the Committee was informed that 478 deputationists are working in BISP, and their details shall be provided within the week. On the secrecy of tranche amounts provided through SPW accounts and the procedure for discrepancies, the Chairperson informed the Committee that the SBP Governor had been requested to integrate the grievances management system, with banks forming part of the system, and that interoperability will be applicable in the coming tranche.

The Committee deferred the rest of the agenda item for discussion in the next meeting.

The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks from the Chair.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, Huma Akhtar Chughtai, Shahid Usman, Mohammad Ilyas Choudhary, Ahmad Atteeq Anwer, Saba Talpur, Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, Aasia Ishaque Siddiqui, Misbah Uddin, and Arshad Abdullah Vohra.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026