Petrol Relief Scheme 9771: 12.7 Million Registered as Government and Jamaat-e-Islami Form a Committee to Widen It
12.7 million people have registered for petrol relief on 9771, the PM said on 27 October 2026. See what the new committee will study and what users do next.
Short answer: 12.7 million people have now registered for the Prime Minister's petrol relief scheme on code 9771, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday 27 October 2026. The same day the government and Jamaat-e-Islami agreed on a six-member committee to widen the scheme and draft a phased cut in the petroleum levy for the budget.
Nothing changes for token holders today. The SMS code, the token clock and the Rs 100 a litre relief stay as they are. What changed is the size of the scheme and the pressure to make it bigger. Below are the official figures, what the committee will look at, and what you should do now if you use 9771.
12.7 million people are now registered for petrol relief
The Prime Minister told a Jamaat-e-Islami delegation on 27 October 2026 that 12.7 million people had registered under the relief scheme for low-income groups. On 29 September the figure was about 7.6 million. That is about 5.1 million more people in four weeks.
The 12.7 million figure comes from the Prime Minister's own words, as carried by Radio Pakistan and the state news agency APP. At a news conference the same day, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal put it more loosely: the scheme "already benefits more than ten million people". The two figures do not clash. Registration and actually buying petrol with a token are different steps.
| Date | Official figure | Where it was said |
|---|---|---|
| 14 September 2026 | Rs 75 billion approved for the scheme | ECC meeting, Finance Division |
| 29 September 2026 | About 7.6 million registered, 7.71 million tokens redeemed | National steering committee chaired by Ishaq Dar |
| 27 October 2026 | 12.7 million registered | Prime Minister to the Jamaat-e-Islami delegation |
Our September report on the first 7.71 million tokens has the earlier review in full.
A six-member committee will look at widening the scheme
The government and Jamaat-e-Islami will form a committee of six, three members from each side. The government has named Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Rana Sanaullah, the Prime Minister's adviser on political affairs. Jamaat-e-Islami's three names were not in the official releases.
The committee has two jobs, according to Radio Pakistan and APP:
- Recommend how to widen the petrol relief scheme so more deserving people benefit.
- Draft workable proposals for a phased reduction of the petroleum levy in the budget.
No deadline was given for the committee. No new eligibility rule, new relief amount or new end date has been announced. So the second point is a proposal to be studied, not a cut.
The meeting followed Jamaat-e-Islami's campaign against higher petrol prices. The delegation, led by its Ameer Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, set out its position on ending the petroleum levy. The Prime Minister said the price rise came from world oil markets, not government policy, and that relief would continue "according to its financial capacity". Ahsan Iqbal linked the higher prices to the conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel and to disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.
The relief itself stays at Rs 500 a week for bikes
The rules have not changed. The Economic Coordination Committee approved the package on 14 September 2026: Rs 500 a week for two and three wheelers, which is 5 litres at Rs 100 off a litre, and Rs 1,000 for ten days for cars up to 800cc.
| Vehicle | Relief | Petrol covered |
|---|---|---|
| Motorcycle, rickshaw, other two and three wheelers | Rs 500 a week | 5 litres at Rs 100 off a litre |
| Car up to 800cc | Rs 1,000 every ten days | Based on 30 litres a month at Rs 100 off |
| Commercial vehicles | Not covered | Non-commercial users only |
The ECC also limited relief to one vehicle per user or owner and put the Ministry of IT and Telecom in charge of the Fuel Pass System that issues tokens. The SMS format, province codes and token rules are explained step by step in how to get petrol relief with code 9771.
The Rs 75 billion budget now covers far more people
The scheme was funded with a Rs 75 billion technical supplementary grant. A Finance Division release of 14 September called it a three-month programme. Spread over 12.7 million registrations, Rs 75 billion is about Rs 5,900 a person. That is our arithmetic, and it equals nearly 12 bike tokens of Rs 500 each.
Not everyone who registers takes a token every week, so the money goes further than that sum suggests. Even so, the growth matters. A wider scheme needs more money, and the IMF said on 7 October that Pakistan should phase this support out. That tension is set out in our report on what the IMF demand means for your 9771 tokens. Any widening will have to be squared with that.
A petroleum levy bill is on the National Assembly agenda today
The National Assembly's orders of the day for Wednesday 28 October 2026 list a bill to amend the Petroleum Products (Petroleum Levy and Climate Support Levy) Ordinance, 1961. Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz is to introduce it. The orders do not say what the bill changes.
The levy is the biggest single tax in a litre of petrol: Rs 80 a litre plus a Rs 5 climate support levy on OGRA's 17 October sheet, as we reported then. You can see what it adds to your own fill with the petrol and diesel tax calculator. We will report the bill's content once its text is published. Do not assume it cuts the levy; the committee's work on that is aimed at the budget.
What 9771 users should do now
Keep using the scheme as before. The committee's work does not stop tokens, and there is no new registration round to join, because registration was already open to everyone eligible.
- If you have not registered, check that the SIM you will use is registered on your own CNIC first. The SMS fails otherwise.
- Register once, then request a token only when you are ready to fill, because unused tokens expire.
- Use the full 5 or 10 litres in one fill.
- Ignore messages offering "extra relief" or a new code. No new code has been announced.
- Watch for the committee's proposals and the budget, where any levy change would appear.
Fake relief links spread fast whenever a scheme is in the news. The only code in the official releases is 9771.
Common questions
How many people are registered for petrol relief?
12.7 million, the Prime Minister said on 27 October 2026. The figure was about 7.6 million on 29 September.
Has petrol relief been increased?
No. Relief is still Rs 500 a week for bikes and Rs 1,000 every ten days for cars up to 800cc. A committee will only propose how to widen it.
Who is on the petrol relief committee?
Six members, three from each side. The government named Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal and Rana Sanaullah. Jamaat-e-Islami's names were not published.
Is the petroleum levy being cut?
Not now. The committee will draft proposals for a phased cut in the budget. No rate or date has been announced.
Do I need to register again?
No. Registration on 9771 is once only. If you are already registered, keep requesting tokens as before.
When does the petrol relief scheme end?
No end date has been announced. The Finance Division described it on 14 September as a three-month programme.
How we verified this
What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.
We read on 28 October 2026: Radio Pakistan's reports of 27 October on the Prime Minister's meeting with the Jamaat-e-Islami delegation and on Ahsan Iqbal's news conference; the APP report of the same meeting, which lists the government attendees and the committee's two tasks; the Finance Division press releases numbered 636 and 640 of 14 September 2026 on the ECC decision and the three-month programme; and the National Assembly orders of the day for 28 October 2026. The 29 September figures are from Radio Pakistan's report of the Dar review that day, as recorded in our earlier coverage, and the Rs 80 and Rs 5 levies from OGRA's 17 October price sheet as we reported it. We could not open the scheme portal on 28 October, so the token rules come from our September reading of it. We could not verify Jamaat-e-Islami's committee members, a deadline for the committee, or what the levy bill changes. The per-person figure is our own arithmetic.
About the author
Global Affairs & Political Economy Writer
Muhammad Hatim is a book lover who started writing because he enjoys it. At Pakistan Era he writes about international relations, geopolitics and the global economy, with a particular interest in South Asia and the forces behind current events.
