Introduction
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is Pakistan’s flagship social safety-net initiative, designed to assist the country’s most vulnerable households with unconditional cash transfers and targeted support. Founded in 2008, its mission is to reduce poverty, promote equity, and empower women from marginalised and under-served communities.
As we move through 2025, BISP is undergoing important adjustments in scope, financing, mechanism and outreach — reflecting both the pressures of inflation, fiscal constraints, and evolving social-protection paradigms in Pakistan.
—
Background & Objectives
BISP operates under the executive patronage of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, with the President as its Chief Patron. It is administered through federal-level headquarters in Islamabad, as well as regional offices in all provinces and territories (Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan).
Main Objectives:
To enhance the financial capacity of poor persons and their dependent family members.
To formulate and implement policies and targeted programmes for uplift of underprivileged and vulnerable people.
To reduce poverty and promote a more equitable distribution of wealth, especially among low-income groups.
To empower women, by making the woman of the household the recipient of the benefit (thus enhancing household-level agency).
From its inception, BISP adopted a large-scale door-to-door poverty survey to build a database of the “poorest of the poor” families in Pakistan — a core platform from which targeting, enrolment and monitoring are built.
—
Key Features in 2025
Coverage & Targeting
By 2025, BISP aims to cover around 10 million households (- about 1 crore) across Pakistan under its flagship “Kafaalat” (unconditional cash transfer) programme.
Eligibility criteria generally include: low poverty score on the National Socio-Economic Registry (the “PMT” or Proxy Means Test), female-headed households or households in which the woman is the recipient, non-government employees (often) and low-asset families.
Benefit Amounts & Inflation Adjustments
From January 2025, the quarterly payment under Kafaalat was raised from Rs 10,500 to Rs 13,500.
Further, as part of the Federal Budget for FY2025-26, the government announced an allocation of Rs 716 billion for BISP (around 0.5 % of GDP), representing a ~20 % increase over the previous year.
Under that allocation, the quarterly benefit is projected to further increase to Rs 14,500 starting in January 2026.
These adjustments reflect the need to maintain the real value of transfers amid rising inflation and cost of living pressures.
Payment & Delivery Mechanisms
Modernisation of delivery has become a priority. For example:
A pilot initiative (from August 2025) will open personal bank accounts for female beneficiaries, enabling direct deposit of funds.
Biometric verification (thumbprint + CNIC) is being strictly applied at payment points to reduce fraud.
BISP is also introducing digital wallet-based payments, and piloting retailer-based payment kiosks in remote districts to alleviate travel burdens for beneficiaries.
Overall Budget & Fiscal Context
The proposed Rs 716 billion allocation for FY2025-26 is in part driven by commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of Pakistan’s broader fiscal and structural reform framework.
The budget increase is intended not only to raise benefit levels but also to maintain coverage and protect households vulnerable to economic shocks, inflation and poverty.
—
Significance & Impact
Poverty Alleviation & Women’s Empowerment
By transferring cash to women in poor households, BISP serves a dual role: immediate poverty relief and household-level empowerment. The principle of targeting women draws on evidence that when women control resources, expenditure is more likely to go toward children’s nutrition, health and education. This design positions BISP as both social protection and social empowerment.
Buffer against Inflation & Economic Shocks
Pakistan in recent years has faced inflationary pressures, currency volatility and economic headwinds. The regular increase in BISP payments (e.g., to Rs 13,500 in 2025; Rs 14,500 in 2026) can help poor families maintain their purchasing power. The fact that BISP aims to adjust benefits annually is an important shift.
Institutional Modernisation & Transparency
Efforts such as biometric verification, mobile/web portals for eligibility checking (e.g., SMS to 8171) and direct bank transfers aim to reduce leakage, fraud, and inefficiencies that have historically plagued many social-protection programmes.
—
Challenges & Areas for Improvement
While BISP’s 2025 trajectory is promising, several challenges persist:
Adequacy of Benefit Levels
Even at Rs 13,500 or Rs 14,500 quarterly (i.e., around Rs 4,500–5,000/month equivalent), the sums are modest relative to the full cost of living, especially in urban areas. Beneficiaries sometimes report that additional assistance (e.g., for education, health) is still needed. For example:
> “The women who are receiving this ‘income’ usually belong to the most rural and downtrodden parts … for them this assistance is vital. But the amount alone isn’t enough to lift them permanently.”
Targeting and Inclusion Errors
As with many large-scale programmes, inclusion errors (non-eligible people receiving benefits) and exclusion errors (eligible people left out) remain concerns. Some beneficiaries note difficulties with registration, CNIC issues, asset disclosures or remote-location access.
Payment & Access Issues
Despite improvements, access remains a challenge for women in remote areas, elderly recipients or those unfamiliar with digital banking/ATMs. Some beneficiaries depend on intermediaries, which can introduce risk of loss or corruption.
Linkages to Livelihoods
Cash transfers provide a safety net but do not automatically translate into sustainable livelihoods. Many commentators emphasise the need for complementary interventions: vocational training, micro-enterprise support, education scholarships, skill-building programmes. For instance, BISP itself labelled 2025 as the “Year of the Benazir Hunarmand Programme” (skill-development component).
Fiscal Sustainability & Dependency
With large-scale coverage (10 million households) and rising benefit levels, the fiscal burden is significant. Ensuring sustainability, preventing dependency traps, and retaining incentives for self-employment and productivity are important long-term considerations.
—
Looking Ahead: 2025 & Beyond
Expansion & Refinement
Coverage: Sustaining approximately 10 million households, and continuing new registrations/re-certification through 2027.
Benefit increases: From Rs 13,500 (2025) to Rs 14,500 (2026) for Kafaalat quarterly transfer.
Delivery reforms: Scaling bank accounts for women beneficiaries; digital wallet pilots; retailer-based payment kiosks in remote areas.
Linking social protection with other sectors: Collaborations with education, health and nutrition conditional-cash transfer (CCT) schemes are being ramped up.
Broader Social-Protection Ecosystem
BISP is increasingly seen as a platform for integrating multiple social-protection programmes – cash transfers, skills training, conditional interventions, targeting energy subsidies to poor households through BISP framework (for example, the electricity subsidy reform announced along with the BISP budget).
Monitoring & Evidence
Ongoing monitoring, evaluation, audit and transparency remain essential. For instance, biometric verification, eligibility portals, public dashboards help strengthen accountability. But further independent evaluation of how transfers affect consumption, education, health outcomes and upward mobility will improve programme design.
Empowerment & Self-Reliance
While cash-transfer programmes deliver vital relief, the ultimate goal is a transition from dependence to self-reliance. Thus, BISP’s efforts to integrate vocational training (Hunarmand programme), link with microfinance, entrepreneurship and improved market access for women hold promise but will require sustained investment and coordination with provincial governments and private sector.
—
Conclusion
In 2025, the Benazir Income Support Programme remains a cornerstone of Pakistan’s social protection architecture. The increase in benefit levels, expanded coverage, modernised payment systems and initiatives to empower women reflect a maturing approach to poverty alleviation: not just relief, but building resilience and institutional capacity.
However, success will depend on how well the programme navigates key challenges — ensuring payments reach the truly poor, complementing cash transfers with skill and livelihood support, and evolving sustainably within fiscal constraints. With inflation and economic pressures mounting, BISP’s role is more critical than ever. If implemented effectively, it can significantly reduce vulnerability, enhance women’s agency, and contribute to Pakistan’s broader goals of inclusive growth and poverty reduction.
