Karachi Division

Karachi | ReNews Pakistan
Electricity consumption by industries supplied by K-Electric reached a record 6.08 billion units during the financial year 2025–26, marking the highest annual industrial power usage in the company’s history.
According to the latest data released by K-Electric, the industrial sector consumed 5.04 billion units of electricity in FY2024–25. This represents an annual increase of approximately 20 percent.
The previous record for industrial electricity consumption was set in FY2021–22, when usage stood at 5.84 billion units. The latest figures show that this record was surpassed during FY2025–26.
Industries falling under the B3 consumer category recorded the highest electricity consumption. This category includes industrial consumers with power requirements ranging from 501 to 5,000 kilowatts, including steel, cement, textile and other energy-intensive manufacturing units.
On a monthly basis, industrial electricity consumption peaked in June 2026, followed by April 2026. However, the figure of 6.08 billion units represents total consumption for the entire financial year rather than usage in a single month.
K-Electric said 349 new industrial electricity connections were activated during the financial year, while the sanctioned power load of 273 existing industrial consumers was increased. These developments added a combined 168 megawatts to industrial demand on the company’s network.
The company said industrial feeders have been exempt from load-shedding since 2013. A comparatively higher electricity bill recovery rate among industrial consumers has also been cited as a key reason for maintaining uninterrupted power supply to the sector.
The significant increase in industrial electricity consumption is being linked to a recovery in manufacturing activity in Karachi, the addition of new industrial connections, higher power loads at existing factories and a government policy encouraging industries to obtain electricity from the national grid instead of operating their own power generation facilities.

Karachi | ReNews Pakistan
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reaffirmed that the Prime Minister’s Apna Ghar Scheme is open to all eligible citizens who do not own a residential property in their name, highlighting the government’s efforts to broaden access to affordable housing finance and encourage home ownership across the country.
Speaking at a workshop on the scheme, SBP Executive Director of the Islamic Finance Group, Ghulam Muhammad Abbasi, said the programme is designed to accommodate applicants from all professional backgrounds, including journalists, lawyers, judges, policymakers, government employees, military personnel and members of the private sector. He added that overseas Pakistanis are also eligible to apply under the scheme.
Abbasi explained that the programme offers flexible eligibility criteria to help more families qualify for financing. Applicants may submit a joint application with up to three additional individuals to strengthen their repayment capacity. Elderly applicants who may not have sufficient income can also apply jointly with employed and earning family members.
He further noted that the scheme is open to both salaried individuals with documented income and self-employed or informal-sector workers who do not possess conventional salary slips, provided they can satisfy banks' financing requirements through other acceptable means.
Providing an update on the programme's performance, Abbasi said commercial banks have received more than 107,000 applications since the scheme was launched in March 2025. Nearly 80% of these applications were submitted after the government revised the scheme in September 2025, making it more attractive by increasing the maximum loan amount to PKR 10 million and fixing the subsidised markup rate at 5% for the first 10 years.
According to the latest figures, more than 27,000 applications have been approved, while approximately 13,000 were rejected after assessment. As of June 30, 2026, banks had disbursed over 6,000 housing loans worth more than PKR 26 billion, with the average financing amount standing at approximately PKR 4.8 million.
The federal government has set an ambitious target of disbursing 150,000 housing loans during FY2026-27 and has allocated PKR 71 billion in the federal budget to subsidise financing under the programme.
Abbasi also clarified that applicants are not required to pay any processing fee when applying for loans under the scheme. However, borrowers opting for the maximum 20-year repayment period will pay the subsidised 5% markup during the first decade, after which the remaining tenure will be financed at prevailing market-based interest rates.
The SBP official said the initiative is intended to make home ownership more accessible, particularly for low- and middle-income households, while supporting the government's broader objective of reducing Pakistan's housing shortage through affordable and inclusive housing finance.

Karachi | ReNews Pakistan
Commercial banks have approved housing loans worth Rs160 billion under the Prime Minister's Wazir-e-Azam Apna Ghar Programme, with loan disbursements to successful applicants now underway as the government steps up efforts to expand affordable homeownership across Pakistan.
The announcement was made by Adviser to the Finance Minister Adnan Pasha while addressing the First International Insurance Conference in Karachi. He said the programme is designed to address Pakistan's estimated housing shortage of around 10 million housing units by making home financing more accessible to low-income families.
Pasha said eligible borrowers can obtain housing finance at a concessionary markup rate of 5%, significantly reducing the cost of home ownership and enabling families with limited financial resources to build long-term assets.
To encourage greater participation by financial institutions, the Ministry of Finance is underwriting up to 10% of potential loan losses incurred by participating commercial banks. In addition, the government is providing a markup subsidy for up to 10 years, helping keep monthly repayments affordable for beneficiaries.
While highlighting the programme's progress, Pasha acknowledged that it currently lacks a dedicated insurance component to safeguard homeowners against climate-related disasters and other unforeseen events. He invited the insurance industry to develop suitable products for the scheme and assured stakeholders that the government would support such initiatives through an enabling regulatory framework.
During his address, Pasha also outlined other government initiatives aimed at improving financial inclusion and economic development. He announced plans to accelerate the adoption of electric mobility by introducing two million electric motorcycles through subsidies and zero-markup financing. He noted that Pakistan's nearly three million registered motorcycles consume fuel costing the country an estimated $8 billion annually, making electrification an important economic priority despite existing production and supply challenges.
He further highlighted the recently launched Zarqaizi Scheme, a digital agricultural financing initiative being implemented through 21 commercial banks in collaboration with the Pakistan Banks Association and SUPARCO. The programme uses satellite monitoring and real-time data to improve transparency and ensure agricultural loans are utilised for their intended purposes.
Speaking at the conference, Insurance Association of Pakistan Chairman Shoaib Javed Hussain said insurance penetration in Pakistan remains significantly below regional and international levels. He noted that insurance contributes only 0.9% of Pakistan's GDP, compared with around 4% in neighbouring countries and approximately 6% in developed economies.
He called for greater innovation, stronger public-private collaboration, and faster regulatory reforms, particularly in the areas of crop and health insurance, to expand insurance coverage and strengthen financial resilience across the country.