Home / Guides / Zakat in South Asia
Covers Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives and Bhutan. South Asia holds one of the world's largest Muslim populations, yet
Covers Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives and Bhutan. South Asia holds one of the world's largest Muslim populations, yet the way Zakat is organised differs sharply from country to country, from a state-run deduction system in Pakistan to entirely community-based giving in India.
Pakistan is the outlier. Under the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance of 1980, banks deduct Zakat at source from savings and profit-and-loss-sharing accounts on the first day of Ramadan, at 2.5% of the balance, and pass it to the Central Zakat Account at the State Bank of Pakistan. From there it flows to provincial Zakat councils and district committees. The State Bank even closes banks for public dealing on the deduction day. Current accounts and foreign-currency accounts are not deducted at source; holders assess those themselves. Anyone who does not wish to be deducted can file a CZ-50 declaration with their bank before Ramadan.
Elsewhere in the region there is no comparable state machinery. In India and Bangladesh, Zakat moves through mosques, seminaries and charitable trusts. Honest note: no single central Zakat collection body or national collection figure was verifiable for India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives or Bhutan in this guide's sources.
Pakistan's Ruet-e-Hilal Committee collects sighting reports from across the country and announces the start of Ramadan; in 2026 it received more than forty verified reports, mostly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the first fast fell on 19 February. Bangladesh's National Moon Sighting Committee meets at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka and makes its own announcement, which is why the two countries sometimes start on different days. India relies on regional Hilal committees, such as the committee in Hyderabad, so start dates can also vary within the country.
The silver Nisab is 612.36 grams of silver. At the silver price of US$1.58 per gram recorded on 1 November 2026, that is about US$968. In Pakistan the practical threshold is the officially notified figure: for the Zakat year 1446–47 AH the notified Nisab was Rs 503,529, and balances below it are not deducted at source at all.
Bangladesh publishes an annual range. Its National Fitra Fixation Committee, meeting at the Islamic Foundation in Dhaka, set Fitra for 1446 AH at a minimum of Tk 110 and a maximum of Tk 2,805 per person, the range reflecting different staple foods from wheat flour up to cheese. Honest note: no single national Fitrana figure was verifiable for Pakistan, India or the other countries in this region; local mosques announce their own amounts each Ramadan.
All prices and rates in this example are illustrative, not live rates.
A saver in Pakistan holds Rs 600,000 in a savings account on the first day of Ramadan. The balance is above the notified Nisab of Rs 503,529, so Zakat is due on the whole balance, not just the excess: Rs 600,000 × 2.5% = Rs 15,000. If the money sat in a current account instead, no bank deduction would apply and the same Rs 15,000 would be the payer's own responsibility to give.
Figures are those published for the year stated; always recheck the issuing body's current figure before paying.