Many times, just before checking out, I am presented with an option to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). I even saw a standee offering the same while checking out at my favourite store- offline.
This made me stop. Why is ‘qist’ payment so easy to access?
Of course the idea has… had its merits. Shopkeepers would offer it for electronic, high-ticket purchases, especially dowry items. The books would be maintained largely manually and people would honour their commitments. Yes, there was an element of interest.
This model evolved into a digital form, with the checkout screen approving your bills as long as you either attached a CNIC and bank account or promised to pay the instalments (for smaller limits). No one looked you in the face and judged you by asking uncomfortable questions.
Unless you were buying high-ticket laptops and smartphones. That is when the screen nudges you for residential details, employment details, social profiles and education details- the same deal that shopkeepers gave.
So if all high-ticket items require the same details, whether online or offline, what exactly changed?
Speed and access, in my opinion.
People who had to travel to access small credit now get it instantly, provided they pass the criteria set by the BNPL provider. Further, it changed who gets to participate in the credit economy. Traditional credit systems work around fixed salaries and long-standing relationships with banks, making the system pretty much elite and low acceptance. This also meant gig workers, freelancers and the younger demographic were left out, who then relied heavily on the old qist/khata system.
BNPL providers bypass those rigid systems for credit and work with a different set of data to open up small credit to millions.
And here lies the catch too.
As the BNPL market expands and more players decide to take licenses to operate, the management and reporting become a tangle.
As of Feb, 2026, the assets of lending NBFCs stood at Rs. 824B, but there is no exact figure pertaining to just BNPLs. BNPLs are regulated by the SECP. A whitelist of apps is also available. However, in the breakdown of the latest NBFI Sector Summary Report, BNPLs are not specifically categorized.
Surprised? Me too.
This opacity means somewhere consumer risk is growing fast. This also means the regulator is treating the high-velocity, impulse-driven BNPL the same way they treat traditional micro-financing; not a good approach, I’d add. A whitelist tells me who is legal, but it tells me nothing about how much consumer debt is being accumulated at checkout!
This debt continues to grow…
In a nutshell, the tech is moving fast, making small credit surprisingly accessible and integrated. The policy and frameworks to keep it honest- well, they are taking their sweet time.
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