Qist Bazaar financed products worth over Rs15bn since 2021

KARACHI: Qist Bazaar, Pakistan’s leading Shariah-compliant installment financing platform, has financed products worth over Rs15 billion since its launch in 2021, completing five years of operations with a network of more than 100 branches across over 18 cities and processing more than one million applications nationwide.

Qist Bazaar has financed many products, including smartphones, laptops, refrigerators, washing machines, motorcycles, and solar solutions. Backed by Bank Alfalah and leading venture capital firms, including Indus Valley Capital and Gobi Partners, the company has processed over one million applications nationwide.

This disciplined product selection, combined with its community-based approach to customer relationships and credit assessment, has helped the company maintain bad debt below 4 percent, despite financing customers largely underserved by traditional financial institutions.

Unlike conventional “Buy Now, Pay Later” models that often encourage discretionary spending, Qist Bazaar focuses on necessities rather than luxuries.

Arif Lakhani, co-founder of Qist Bazaar, has said that Qist Bazaar has made a conscious decision five years ago to finance necessities, not luxuries. Combined with our community-driven model, this has helped us keep bad debt below 4 percent, proving that financial inclusion and commercial discipline can go hand in hand, he added.

“I am incredibly proud of what our team has achieved, but it feels like we are only getting started. ‘Necessities First, Payments Later’. That’s not just our tagline. It’s how we do business,“ he said.

He said that building on its established branch network and customer data, Qist Bazaar is now expanding its Point-of-Sale (POS) partnerships with independent retailers and distributors.

Beginning with smartphones and laptops, the initiative will make Qist Bazaar’s financing available directly at participating retail outlets, creating a new distribution channel without relying exclusively on branch expansion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026