New phase for the electronic food coupon: large stores must connect to the national system by late September, small ones by late December

Iran's electronic food coupon scheme has entered a new phase. According to Eghtesad Online on Tuesday, 28 July 2026 (6 Mordad 1405), citing ISNA, Yaghoub Andayesh, deputy minister for welfare and economic affairs at the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare, said chain stores, multi branch legal entities and outlets with more than one billion tomans of coupon sales a month have until the end of Shahrivar 1405 (22 September 2026) to connect to the retail system. Small shops with monthly sales below one billion tomans must install a store register by the end of Azar 1405 (21 December 2026).

He said dedicated software will be installed on point of sale devices so that purchased items are recorded by barcode, with the stated aims of logging exactly which goods are bought, curbing violations and speeding up settlement of shops' receivables.

The change follows delays in paying retailers. Some contracted stores had reported waits of more than two weeks, and in some cases about 25 days, and a number of shops had temporarily stopped accepting the coupon. Andayesh attributed part of the delay to incorrect IBAN numbers, mismatches between payment gateway holders and national ID records, and disruptions in banking systems. Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the coupon had been financially settled up to 16 July 2026 (25 Tir 1405), but that some stores had not yet received the money because of banking system problems.