In order to improve the digital payment infrastructure in Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan has decided to facilitate the Point of Sale (POS) acquiring industry. The State bank pointed out that there has been considerable growth in the digital payment infrastructure of the country, especially in the number of debit cards being issued by the banks to their customers in past years. “Although, the Point of Sale (POS) infrastructure has also grown during the past few years, its growth has largely remained restricted to high value merchants in big cities. Some of the key challenges being faced by the POS acquiring industry in Pakistan include high Interchange Reimbursement Fee (IRF), lower than cost Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) to onboard high value merchants and less interest by banks in offering low cost domestic payment cards to their customers,” read the circular issued by SBP. The central bank said that in order to address the above challenges and increase the POS card acceptance infrastructure in the country especially at retail level; in line with the objectives of National Payment System Strategy (NPSS), it has been decided to implement the following measures: The SBP said that the instructions shall come into effect from April 01, 2020.