From wish to wallet: How credit card EMIs are reshaping consumption in Bangladesh

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For many middle-class families, a high upfront cost used to be a barrier to upgrading phones, buying furniture, or investing in professional equipment. EMI spreads that cost over months, allowing people to maintain liquidity for rent, healthcare, or emergencies while still fulfilling their aspirations

Ariful Hasan, a young salaried worker, lingers over the latest smartphone, running his fingers across the screen, hesitating at the price tag. A few minutes later, he walks out carrying the box without having paid the full amount. The difference between walking away and buying, in many such cases, is three simple letters: EMI.

Equated Monthly Instalments (EMI) have transformed how Bangladeshis consume, sell and finance goods. In an economy pressured by inflation, stagnant wages and rising aspirations, credit card EMI facilities have emerged as a financial bridge connecting what people want with what they can realistically afford. For consumers, sellers and banks alike, it has become a rare financial arrangement where everyone gains, albeit in different ways.

Buying without breaking the bank

For consumers, EMI works as an antidote to sticker shock. Instead of paying Tk80,000 upfront for a smartphone or Tk1.5 lakh for a sofa set, buyers break the cost into smaller, predictable monthly payments. This is particularly appealing to Bangladesh's growing middle class, whose purchasing power often struggles to keep pace with rising urban living costs.

The attraction lies not only in affordability but in liquidity. By spreading payments over six, nine or 12 months, consumers preserve cash for emergencies, rent, education or healthcare. In a country where household savings are thin and unexpected expenses are frequent, this flexibility matters.

"No-cost EMI" options have further fuelled this trend. When banks and merchants absorb the interest component, buyers pay the sticker price, just not all at once. For disciplined users, this also builds a positive credit history, strengthening their relationship with formal banking at a time when financial inclusion remains uneven.

The impact goes beyond consumption. Mahfuza Khanam Prottassha, a homemaker-turned-entrepreneur, credits credit card facilities for helping her scale a backyard baking hobby into a small catering business. By purchasing professional kitchen equipment on EMI, she avoided draining her working capital. "Without that flexibility, I would have stayed small," she says. For micro-entrepreneurs like her, EMI is not indulgence- it is leverage.

Turning hesitation into sales

For sellers, EMI has become one of the most effective tools to convert hesitation into purchase. In a challenging retail environment shaped by inflation and cautious spending, lowering the upfront price barrier can mean the difference between stagnant showrooms and steady footfall.

Imran Hossain Shuvo, co-owner of Apple Gadget Limited, has seen this shift first-hand. During periods of economic uncertainty, he noticed customers delaying upgrades, even when they needed new devices. Offering EMI, sometimes paired with small incentives like free accessories or prize draws, changed that behaviour. "Many people simply cannot pay the full amount at once," he explains. "EMI gives fixed-income customers the confidence to upgrade."

Furniture retailers echo the same logic. Kamal Majumder, director of marketing at Bengal Furniture, says their six-month 0% interest EMI plan has opened the door for middle-class families to buy complete furniture sets instead of postponing purchases indefinitely. The strategy does not merely increase sales volume; it raises the average value of each transaction, as customers are more willing to choose premium options when costs are spread out.

At the upper end of the market, Ahmed and Co has institutionalised EMI as a core sales strategy. Owner Amir Rahman Bafil notes that partnering with 20 banks ensures that nearly every cardholder entering their showroom has access to instalment plans. This wide banking network, he says, has played a major role in the market dominance of brands like Ahmed and Co, where affordability is engineered not through discounts, but through payment flexibility.

For retailers, EMI also reduces online cart abandonment and speeds up inventory turnover. Goods move faster, capital circulates more quickly, and businesses stay agile in a volatile market.

Why banks are all in

Banks, meanwhile, are not offering EMI out of generosity. It is a carefully designed growth engine. While no-cost EMI plans exist, many instalment options carry interest rates that generate steady income over time. Add to that one-time processing fees for converting purchases into EMI, and the revenue potential becomes significant when scaled across millions of transactions.

Beyond direct income, EMI locks customers into longer relationships. A cardholder repaying a 12-month instalment is more likely to remain loyal to that bank, using the same card for daily spending, bills and online purchases. Each transaction adds to a growing pool of consumer data, allowing banks to understand spending patterns and design more targeted financial products-from personal loans to lifestyle offers.

In a banking sector facing pressure to diversify income streams beyond traditional lending, EMI-backed card usage provides both volume and stability.

A quiet reshaping of consumption

What makes the EMI phenomenon particularly significant in Bangladesh is how seamlessly it blends aspiration with constraint. It does not eliminate economic pressure, but it softens it. Consumers gain access, sellers gain momentum, and banks gain engagement.

Yet this ecosystem also demands responsibility. For buyers, disciplined repayment is crucial; EMI can empower, but it can also trap the unwary in cycles of debt. For banks and merchants, transparency around fees and terms remains essential to sustaining trust.

Still, in a country where the desire to move forward often outpaces immediate financial capacity, EMI has become more than a payment option. It is a quiet enabler of mobility, economic, professional and personal. From smartphones and sofas to ovens and office equipment, the instalment model is steadily rewriting how Bangladesh buys, sells and grows, one monthly payment at a time.