Business
How online trading apps are draining Pakistanis’ savings | The Express Tribune
KARACHI:
Pakistan’s financial regulators face a growing challenge from the rapid spread of unregulated online investment and trading apps. These apps promise easy profits but often result in financial losses, data theft, and negative impacts on the economy.
The proliferation of such platforms, many operating beyond the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), has raised serious concerns about investor protection and the integrity of the country’s financial system.
“With the increasing penetration of broadband internet service and its users, cybercrimes are on the rise in Pakistan and worldwide, causing monetary losses to consumers and building mistrust about legal digital services,” said Ibrahim Amin, a banking and financial expert.
The case of Ducky Bhai, a popular social media influencer, illustrates the issue vividly. Initially known for his humorous roasting videos, he transitioned to gaming and then family vlogging before venturing into app promotions, including investment and trading apps that turned out to be illegal.
When authorities discovered his involvement in promoting these platforms, he was apprehended. Officials stated that these apps, while appearing to offer investment opportunities, were often thinly disguised betting or gambling services.
According to the SECP, such promotions violate investment laws, particularly those prohibiting advertisers from guaranteeing or implying assured returns. Many influencers, however, continue to promote these apps under the guise of “financial opportunities,” often motivated by affiliate commissions or kickbacks.
This trend reflects a dangerous combination of financial illiteracy and misleading marketing, exposing millions of users to scams and unregulated investment channels.
Crackdown on illegal apps
In a major development, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) recently declared 46 mobile applications and websites, including betting, forex, and online trading platforms, illegal in Pakistan.
The list included popular global names like 1xBet, Aviator, Dafabet, and Bet365. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) subsequently blocked these applications to safeguard users from fraud, data theft, and identity misuse.
Unregulated investment apps continue to attract millions of Pakistani users. The allure lies in their convenience, easy-to-use interfaces, and promises of high returns with minimal effort. “These apps are designed to look simple and exciting – you just download and start earning. But what users don’t realise is that there’s no legal protection if things go wrong,” said fintech analyst Mutaher Khan, Co-Founder of Data Darbar.
The numbers are staggering. Olymp Trade, for instance, has amassed over 5.6 million downloads in Pakistan. Even if only 5% of these are active users, that still exceeds half the number of investors in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
Similarly, IQ Option has been downloaded 3.9 million times in Pakistan, placing the country sixth globally, behind India and Brazil. Binance, the cryptocurrency platform, has recorded 14.2 million downloads from Pakistan since 2017, making the country its second-largest market by downloads after India.
In the finance apps category, the most downloaded app is EasyPaisa with 12.1 million downloads, followed by JazzCash with 10.4 million, and Binance with 5.4 million – despite not being regulated in Pakistan.
In e-commerce, Temu is the most downloaded app with 8 million downloads in its debut year, followed by Daraz with 7.7 million. The irony, experts note, is that Daraz is a regulated platform, while Temu is not registered or regulated in Pakistan, which indicates the state of regulation in the country.
Such popularity reflects both the public’s interest in quick financial gains and the lack of accessible, appealing, and well-marketed regulated investment options. “The cybercrimes could be controlled through raising awareness among users and taking strict action against criminals within and beyond borders,” said Amin.
Deputy Chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) Sindh, Shabbar Malik, said scams have been reported nationwide and, in certain regions, have developed into “organised, patronised systems” that coordinate such activities.
Malik emphasised that tackling the issue requires joint responsibility between the government and the public. “Half the responsibility lies with the authorities, and the other half with citizens. People must be made aware and learn to be smart when using digital devices,” he said.
Experts warn that unregulated investment platforms pose not just individual risks but also macroeconomic threats. Since many of these apps facilitate trading in foreign assets or cryptocurrencies, they contribute to dollar outflows, a serious concern for a country with fragile foreign exchange reserves of less than $20 billion.
“When Pakistanis invest in offshore assets through these apps, it drains dollars out of the system. With reserves hovering around $20 billion, even modest outflows can exacerbate pressure on the rupee and the balance of payments,” explained an economist at a Karachi-based think tank.
New Delhi: The festive spirit roared through India’s automobile market this Dhanteras, as automakers clocked record-breaking deliveries, crossing the 100,000 mark within just 24 hours, according to industry sources. Driven by robust festive demand and the positive impact of GST 2.0 reforms, the auto sector saw one of its strongest single-day performances in years.
According to industry estimates, these deliveries translated into sales worth Rs 8,500–10,000 crore in a single day, based on an average vehicle price of Rs 8.5–10 lakh. Leading carmakers including Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, and Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) reported record sales this festive season, as consumer confidence hit a high gear.
Amit Kamat, Chief Commercial Officer at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd, said that this year’s Dhanteras and Diwali deliveries were spread over two to three days, aligning with auspicious muhurat timings.
“Overall demand has been robust, and the GST 2.0 reform has further provided positive momentum. We expect to deliver over 25,000 vehicles during this period,” he noted. Echoing the sentiment, Tarun Garg, Whole-time Director and COO of Hyundai Motor India Ltd, said the company witnessed strong customer demand, with deliveries expected to touch around 14,000 units — nearly 20 per cent higher than last year.
The broader festive season has also fuelled consumer spending across other sectors. Gold and silver sales surged over 25 per cent in value, while overall Dhanteras trade was estimated to have crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, according to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).
The All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC) reported strong buying activity following a sharp correction in gold prices. “We expect festive sales to cross Rs 50,000 crore this season. Despite high gold and silver prices, consumer sentiment is upbeat, driven by early wedding purchases and strategic festive buying,” said GJC Chairman Rajesh Rokde.
From automobiles to jewellery, the Diwali season has brought a wave of optimism to India’s retail landscape. Experts say the combination of festive spirit, economic recovery, and tax reforms under GST 2.0 has reignited consumer sentiment — making this one of the most buoyant festive seasons in recent memory.
Mumbai: The RBI is likely to go in for another policy rate cut before the end of the year, which, along with fiscal consolidation and domestic regulatory easing, would lead to a gradual recovery in credit demand, according to a Goldman Sachs report.
“We expect an additional policy rate cut before year-end, and the recent GST simplification signals that peak fiscal consolidation is behind us. We expect this, along with domestic regulatory easing, to foster a gradual recovery in credit demand,” the report said.
The report observes that the recent measures announced by the RBI should ease supply-side credit conditions; however, the extent of incremental lending will depend on the demand situation in the broader economy.
External headwinds continue to weigh on India’s outlook, including tighter US immigration costs for H-1B visas that affect Indian IT services, in addition to elevated US tariffs on Indian goods and “these factors could temper credit demand alongside broader macro uncertainty”, the report states.
India’s inflation rate based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined to an over 8-year low of 1.54 per cent in September this year. This gives the RBI more space to focus on reducing the policy rate and injecting more liquidity into the economy to promote growth.
The RBI has raised its projection of India’s GDP growth rate to 6.8 per cent for 2025-26 from 6.5 per cent earlier, as the implementation of several growth-inducing structural reforms, including streamlining of GST, is expected to offset some of the adverse effects of the external headwinds, Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra said earlier this month.
He pointed out that India’s GDP recorded a robust growth of 7.8 per cent in Q1:2025-26, driven by strong private consumption and fixed investment. On the supply side, growth in gross value added (GVA) at 7.6 per cent was led by a revival in manufacturing and steady expansion in services. Available high-frequency indicators suggest that economic activity continues to remain resilient.
Rural demand remains strong, riding on a good monsoon and robust agricultural activity, while urban demand is showing a gradual revival, the RBI Governor further stated.
Becky MortonPolitical reporter
BBCThe government is looking at the possibility of cutting the rate of VAT on energy bills, Ed Miliband has suggested.
The energy secretary said he would not speculate ahead of the chancellor’s Budget in November.
But asked if the government would consider scrapping the 5% rate, he told the BBC the country was facing a “cost-of-living crisis that we need to address as a government” and “we’re looking at all of these issues”.
The government is under pressure to reduce household energy costs and before the election Labour pledged to lower average bills by £300 a year by 2030.
Miliband told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme he stood by that promise but the reason bills were so high was “because of our dependence on fossil fuels”.
He added: “There is only one route to get bills down, which is to go for clean power, home-grown, clean energy, that we control, so we’re not at the behest of the petrol states and the dictators.”
Pressed over whether the government was considering scrapping the 5% VAT rate on energy bills in November’s Budget, Miliband said: “The whole of the government, including the chancellor, understand that we face an affordability crisis in this country.
“We face a cost-of-living crisis, a longstanding cost-of-living crisis, that we need to address as a government. We also face difficult fiscal circumstances… so obviously we’re looking at all of these issues.”
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We do not comment on speculation.”
Scrapping VAT on domestic energy bills would save the average household £86 per year and cost an estimated £2.5bn per year to implement, according to the charity Nesta.
There was a rapid spike in energy prices in 2021, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and although costs have gone down, they have remained high by historical standards.
This month bills went up by 2% for millions of households, under the energy regulator Ofgem’s price cap.
It means a household using a typical amount of energy will pay £1,755 a year, up £35 a year on the previous cap.
Earlier this week Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC she was planning “targeted action to deal with cost-of-living challenges” in her Budget next month.
The BBC understands this could also include reducing some of the regulatory levies currently added to energy bills.
Levies known as “policy costs” – which are used to fund environmental and social schemes such as subsidies for renewables – made up around 16% of the average electricity bill and 6% of the average gas bill last year.
Some energy bosses have argued green levies are partly to blame for rising bills and the government’s independent adviser, the Climate Change Committee, has long recommended removing policy costs from electricity bills to help people feel the benefits of net-zero transition.
Asked whether these could be funded through taxes rather than coming off energy bills, Miliband said: “That’s always a judgement for the chancellor, but let’s be honest we know we’ve got really difficult fiscal circumstances that we inherited… but absolutely we look at those things.”
He argued the government had to invest in “aging electricity infrastructure” but there needed to be a “balance between public expenditure and levies”.
The cost of household energy bills has become a major political battleground, with the Conservatives and Reform UK blaming net-zero policies for higher prices.
The Conservatives have said they would scrap the Climate Change Act, which legally requires the UK government to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050, as well as ditch carbon taxes on electricity generation and cut a funding scheme for renewables.
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said her party’s plans would cut electricity bills for everyone by 20%.
“[The public] care about climate change but what I don’t think they are signing up for is much higher bills and jobs being lost to countries abroad,” she told the BBC.
In an interview with the same programme, Green Party leader Zack Polanski argued nationalising energy companies would help cut costs for customers.
His party has also proposed a new tax on carbon emissions to drive fossil fuels out of the economy and raise money to invest in the green transition.
Challenged over whether businesses would simply pass on these costs to customers, Polanski rejected this and said the tax would be “vital for tackling the climate crisis”.
“What we need to be doing is finding other ways to support particularly small and local businesses… We know the big corporations are destroying our environment, our democracy and our communities,” he said.
“They can make a profit, sure, but this isn’t about squeezing out every single profit they can make.”
Man United’s statement win at Anfield plunges Liverpool into crisis
Astrid & Miyu expands US footprint with new NYC store
Sarah Ferguson struggles privately as Epstein scandal take emotional toll
-
Tech1 week agoAustralian airline Qantas says millions of customers’ data leaked online
-
Tech7 days agoUK police to upgrade illicit asset recovery system | Computer Weekly
-
Tech1 week agoGear News of the Week: Intel’s New Chips Arrive, and Apple May Debut iPads and MacBooks This Month
-
Tech1 week agoAustralia’s March Toward 100 Percent Clean Energy
-
Entertainment1 week agoKaty Perry and Justin Trudeau are dating: Report
-
Fashion1 week agoZombie statistics distort fashion’s sustainability story
-
Business1 week agoEnvironment minister Bhupender Yadav heads to Brazil: India engages in pre-talks ahead of COP30; climate finance and adaptation on agenda – The Times of India
-
Entertainment1 week agoPrince Harry releases statement after King Charles, William’s strong message