Growing, but at what cost

Ask an average person if Pakistan is getting more Islamic, and the answer will vary greatly. To the right(eous), the country couldn’t be more distant from religion, as evidenced by co-ed schools or girls being able to breathe. For others, it’s hard to miss the overdose of religiosity. While one can still debate about the country at large, the Islamisation project is hard to miss when it comes to our finance industry. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, deposits of Islamic banking reached Rs5.16 trillion as of December 2022, representing 23 per cent of the industry-wide total. Just for context, this share stood at 14.4pc back in 2017. During the same period, the share of Islamic branches in overall banking has gone from 17.9pc to 25.15pc. By the proponents, Islamic banking is considered an equaliser of sorts, which allows the predominantly Muslim population access to financial services while still being true to their beliefs.