News & Updates > The Surge of Hire Purchase - The Expanding Frontier
The Surge of Hire Purchase - The Expanding Frontier
When Hulas Finserv Hire Purchase Ltd reported a staggering 141% jump in its loan portfolio in the financial year ending mid-July 2025, it was clear this was not just a good year for the well-run lender. It signaled a structural shift inside Nepal’s Hire Purchase sector.
For most of its existence, the Hire Purchase industry has operated as a quiet appendage of the automobile trade. Typically, a business group secures a vehicle dealership and establishes a
Hire Purchase arm to finance its buyers. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement: simple, contained and largely invisible to the broader financial conversation. While that model is here to stay, it is rapidly evolving and the change is being driven by an unlikely catalyst: the smartphone.
Several Hire Purchase companies have begun offering loans for smartphones, consumer electronics and home appliances. While this shift is modest in absolute terms, it reveals a telling story about where the sector is heading and the unique risks it is taking along for the ride.
Managed Portfolios Surge to Rs 24.4 Billion
The combined managed portfolio of major Hire Purchase companies has expanded sharply in recent years, growing from Rs 9.21 billion in 2021/22 to Rs 24.40 billion in 2024/25. While the sector enjoyed steady growth between 2021/22 and 2023/24, with the aggregate portfolio rising from Rs 15.86 billion to nearly Rs 19.90 billion, the sharpest spike came in 2024/25. This surge was primarily driven by Hulas Finserv, whose portfolio more than doubled from the previous year to reach Rs 8.03 billion. Sipradi Hire Purchase also remained a key player, reporting Rs 3.98 billion in the first nine months of 2024/25 alone.
Newer entrants have grown just as aggressively. Venture Hire Purchase grew exceptionally from Rs 319 million in 2020/21 to Rs 2.59 billion in 2024/25. Agni Hire Purchase expanded from a negligible Rs 1 million to Rs 1.49 billion over the same period. M.A.W. Hire Purchase climbed to Rs 3.69 billion in 2024/25 from Rs 2.37 billion in 2022/23.
By contrast, established players like Omni and Batas have stagnated or shrunk. The overall picture reveals an industry in rapid expansion, driven by rising vehicle financing demand and the expanding footprint of non-banking intermediaries in consumer and commercial asset lending.
A Sector Built on Group Loyalty Of the 10 Hire Purchase institutions licensed by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) under the Policy and Procedural Framework for Licensing Hire-Purchase Credit Companies, 2013, every single one is tied to an established business house rooted in the automotive sector.
