Pakistan Has 21,678 ATMs and 1,896 Cash Deposit Machines, SBP Report Shows

Short answer: Pakistan had 21,678 ATMs and 1,896 cash deposit machines at the end of June 2026, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) says. ATMs rose by 1,428 in a year. Cash deposit machines nearly doubled, but they still take only 2 per cent of cash deposits.

The numbers come from the SBP's Annual Payment Systems Review for FY26, released on 6 October 2026. The press release did not mention ATM counts. The full 42 page report does, in Table A-1, Table A-4 and Table A-5.

We opened the full report on the SBP website on 12 October 2026 and read those tables. The FY26 figures are marked provisional, so the SBP may revise them.

Pakistan added 1,428 ATMs and now has 21,678

The number of ATMs grew from 20,250 in FY25 to 21,678 in FY26, a rise of about 7 per cent by our arithmetic. Four years earlier, in FY22, the count was 17,133. ATM growth is steady, not sudden.

Branches also grew, from 19,347 to 20,454. Branchless banking agents, the shops that handle cash for wallets, grew from 731,814 to 837,244. So the country has about 40 agents for every branch.

Cash deposit machines nearly doubled to 1,896

Cash deposit machines, or CDMs, rose from 1,038 to 1,896 in one year. The SBP's table counts them together with cash and cheque deposit machines. They are still few: there are about 11 ATMs for every deposit machine.

People are not yet using them much. Of about 280 million cash deposits in FY26, the report says 98 per cent, nearly 273 million, went through branches and banking agents. Only 2 per cent, about 7 million, went through deposit machines.

Customers made about 1,064 million ATM cash withdrawals

ATMs paid out cash 1,064.1 million times in FY26, worth Rs 17,781.6 billion, according to Table A-5. That is an average of about Rs 16,700 a withdrawal by our division. It works out to roughly 134 withdrawals a day from each machine.

The report gives a second, slightly different figure in its text. It says more than 1,056 million card transactions at ATMs were worth Rs 18.4 trillion, counting domestic and international use from the card issuer's side. The two figures count different things, so we quote each with its source.

Most cash still leaves through machines, and goes in through branches

About 84 per cent of the 1,268 million cash withdrawals went through ATMs and cash deposit machines. The other 16 per cent, about 204 million, went through branches and agents. For deposits it is the reverse: counters and agents dominate.

The report does not explain why. One visible fact is that deposit machines are few, 1,896 against 837,244 agents, so agents and branches are far more widely available than machines. The machine count is growing fast from a small base.

ATMs do more than pay out cash

ATM Table A-5 shows 14.2 million interbank fund transfers worth Rs 676.7 billion and 4.5 million transfers within the same bank. It also shows 1.2 million utility bill payments and 6.7 million cash or instrument deposits worth Rs 749.5 billion at ATMs.

Deposit counts are small beside withdrawals. If your bank's ATM takes deposits, it can save a trip to the branch, but ask the bank how soon the credit shows. Our guide to ATM cash withdrawal limits by bank lists the daily caps, and there is a separate tax rule for non-filers in our note on the cash withdrawal tax.

1. Check your bank's daily ATM limit in its app before you plan a large withdrawal.
2. Count the cash at the machine and keep the slip or the SMS.
3. If the machine takes your card or gives no cash, call the bank helpline printed on the machine at once.
4. Write to the bank the same day and keep the complaint number.

What to do when an ATM does not pay out

If the account is debited and no cash comes out, report it to your bank straight away and keep the receipt. Our guide on getting your money back when an ATM gives no cash sets out the steps and the time banks have to reverse the debit.

The 1LINK network, which links shared ATM use between banks, was notified by the SBP as a Designated Payment System from 20 August 2025. The report says this puts it under closer oversight. It does not set a new customer rule.

Common questions

How many ATMs does Pakistan have?

The SBP counts 21,678 ATMs at the end of FY26, up from 20,250 a year earlier. The figure is provisional.

How many cash deposit machines are there?

The SBP counts 1,896 cash deposit machines, which includes cash and cheque deposit machines. The count was 1,038 a year earlier.

Where do most Pakistanis deposit cash?

At branches and with banking agents. The report says they handled about 98 per cent of cash deposits in FY26, against 2 per cent through deposit machines.

How many ATM withdrawals happen each year?

Table A-5 shows 1,064.1 million cash withdrawals worth Rs 17,781.6 billion in FY26. The report's text gives a card based figure of more than 1,056 million, which counts differently.

Can I complain to the SBP about a faulty ATM?

Yes, for urgent matters such as an ATM problem, after you have complained to your bank. Our guide on the SBP Sunwai complaint portal shows how to lodge it.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

We read the SBP Annual Payment Systems Review FY26, published 6 October 2026, on the SBP website on 12 October 2026. Read the full SBP report for the tables. Averages, daily rates and growth percentages are our own arithmetic on SBP figures. The report gives no list of ATM locations by city, so we cannot say where the new machines are.