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Punjab Restaurants QR Payment Prize Scheme LaunchedBusiness
Pay by QR code at a Punjab hotel or restaurant and you could win a prize, as the provincial tax authority moves to reward cashless payments.
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The Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) has decided to reward customers who pay their hotel and restaurant bills without cash. Under a new prize scheme announced on Friday, people across Punjab who settle their bills by scanning a QR code will become eligible to win prizes. The move is part of a wider effort to bring everyday spending into the digital payments system.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting on digital monitoring and databases, chaired by PRA Chairman Moazzam Iqbal Sipra. Officials at the meeting were briefed on priority steps to promote a stronger tax culture in the services sector and to encourage more people to pay electronically instead of in cash.
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According to a PRA spokesperson, the scheme is designed to shift customers away from cash and towards digital payments. The authority believes that when payments pass through banks and mobile wallets, transactions become easier to trace, tax collection becomes more transparent, and the public gains greater confidence in the tax system.
The spokesperson said customers who pay digitally for food, drinks or other services at hotels and restaurants will get a modern and fast payment facility, and will also qualify for the prizes on offer. The announcements so far describe the rewards as a range of prizes, but they do not name specific prize amounts, a start date, or how winners will be chosen. Those details are still awaited.
At the same time, the authority has warned businesses that refuse QR code payments. The PRA has told all hotel and restaurant owners that they must offer customers a digital payment facility. Any business that refuses a QR code payment, or pressures customers to pay in cash instead, will face strict legal action under the relevant laws.
The meeting also directed the relevant departments to give priority to complaints from customers about digital payments. The PRA will set up a monitoring system to deal with complaints from QR code users promptly, and an awareness campaign will be run to encourage digital transactions in the hotels and restaurants sector.
Strong revenue growth behind the push
The scheme comes as the authority reports strong growth in revenue. The PRA collected Rs114.76 billion in July and August 2026, up 31.6 per cent from Rs87.18 billion in the same two months last year. According to the Finance Department, the increase came from bringing previously untaxed service sectors into the formal tax net, rather than from adding to the burden on existing taxpayers. The government has set a tax collection target of Rs1,209 billion for the financial year 2026-27.
To keep that momentum, the PRA last week directed all hotels and restaurants in the province to install the electronic invoicing and monitoring system, known as E-IMS, so that tax is paid on time. The authority is also fast-tracking the registration of new businesses and the installation of the system across 14 designated sectors, and has warned that firms issuing fake receipts or tampering with records will face strict action.
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