LAHORE:The e-Pay Punjab online application under the Finance Department is being linked to the federal government’s instant payments system Raast to easily transfer provincial collections to State Bank of Pakistan.
The revenue transfer through Raast would play an important role in the promotion of the digital economy with transparency in the collection system. In the near future, payments through Visa, MasterCard and UnionPay International would also be possible on e-Pay Punjab and more accounts would also be added to the e-Pay.
Provincial Finance Minister Sardar Mohsin Khan Leghari disclosed this in a review meeting on e-Pay Punjab here at Finance Department, on Tuesday.
The minister said that e-Pay Punjab was a revolutionary initiative of the provincial government to eliminate corruption in the tax system and it would help increase resources of the province. “If people’s trust in government institutions is restored, tax collections will also increase. Institutions should also ensure the delivery of services to improve collections,” he added.
Finance Secretary Wasif Khurshid, Special Secretary Finance, Additional Secretary, and officials from the Finance department and PITB were also present.
Project Director e-Pay Punjab informed that online payments of more than 22 receipts of ten government departments through e-Pay Punjab were started on October 4, 2019, for transparency in the tax system under the Finance Department and ease of doing business. So far, 23 million transactions and more than 128 million receipts had been done through the said application, he added and noted that the application’s annual success graph was showing more improvement than before.
The Finance Department had taken approval from the cabinet for collaboration of e-Pay Punjab with Raast and an MoU would be signed with the State Bank of Pakistan for linking e-Pay Punjab with Raast, he added.