ISLAMABAD: On Pakistan’s 78th Independence Day, the Economic Policy & Business Development (EPBD) think tank launched the country’s Wealth Perception Index 2025, a ranking of the country’s 40 leading business groups across both the public and private sectors. The index reveals ten publicly listed companies each valued at over $1 billion, with the Fauji Foundation topping the list at $5.9 billion, followed by some corporate giants. The EPBD index highlights 20 prominent public-listed conglomerates and 20 high-performing private business groups, spanning key industries including banking, cement, fertilizers, diversified manufacturing, real estate, FMCG, IT, and media. This landmark report comes at a time when Pakistan is wrestling with severe economic challenges, plummeting industrial output, dollar shortages, and rising energy costs. Amid these difficulties, clout of these top-tier Pakistan Army led enterprises reflect deeper structural realities about wealth and power in the country.
Pakistan’s army, long regarded as the guardian of the state, has quietly transformed itself into the country’s largest business conglomerate, wielding remarkable influence across virtually every economic sector. The scale, power, and privileges enjoyed by its business empire, known commonly as “Milbus”, have made it a parallel state within a state, often benefitting its officers at the cost of ordinary Pakistani citizens. As of 2025, foreign estimates place the military’s business footprint at tens of billions of dollars annually, a staggering sum for a country grappling with persistent poverty and economic crisis. The Pakistani military’s ventures are not confined to the defense industry. Entities such as the Fauji Foundation, Army Welfare Trust, and Defence Housing Authority (DHA) command assets in banking, agriculture, manufacturing, real estate, education, and retail. These organizations benefit from tax exemptions, privileged access to state land, and regulatory protections that insulate them from normal market competition. The result is vast concentration of resources and profits in the hands of serving and retired military officers, while civilian business faces constant constraints.
Military-run conglomerates hold sway over at least 12% of Pakistan’s land, much of it prime real estate in major cities. Analysts from international outlets such as DW and Reuters report that this dominance actively warps urban property prices and blocks working-class families from home ownership, driving up inequality and deepening the economic divide. Officially, Pakistan’s defense budget for 2025 rose 20%, reaching 2.55 trillion rupees (approx. $9 billion), even as poverty, inflation, and unemployment soar. By comparison, the country’s spending on health and education remains among the lowest in the region, barely scraping a fraction of GDP. The army’s claim on economic resources consistently crowds out investment in critical infrastructure and social development, undermining the prospects for broad-based growth and stability.
Foreign media such as Reuters report that rising defense spending in 2025 prompted direct cuts to civilian budgets in the latest cycle, amplifying the hardships faced by the vast majority of citizens, particularly amidst double-digit inflation and a shrinking job market. With essential sectors underfunded, and stringent IMF-imposed austerity restricting public expenditure, common Pakistanis bear the brunt of a system designed to serve a military elite.
Perhaps the most consequential impact of Milbus manifests in the real estate sector. The Defence Housing Authority (DHA), a major military-run real estate developer, controls prime land in every major city. Foreign analysts highlight this monopoly as a major driver of urban inequality, making home ownership an increasingly distant dream for many Pakistani families. Scandals around land grants and profiteering fuel resentment but rarely face judicial or democratic accountability, given the army’s grip over the political system. The ongoing privatization of state-owned assets, prompted by international lenders, illustrates how military businesses continue to expand their market share. In 2025, Reuters revealed that army-affiliated companies were frontrunners in bidding for assets such as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), demonstrating that “privatization” in Pakistan often translates into further consolidation of military economic power.
Pakistan’s civilian markets struggle to compete with military-owned firms, many of which enjoy regulatory immunity and access to state contracts. This dominance undermines entrepreneurship, blocks meritocratic competition, and discourages foreign investment. The army’s hold on business is mirrored in its political power; according to foreign media, parliament and judiciary rarely challenge Milbus’ privileges. The result is a hollowed-out civil society. Ordinary citizens suffer under collapsing schools, underfunded hospitals, and a dearth of public services, while military officers enjoy concentrated wealth and social advantage. Press freedom and civic activism are routinely suppressed, as the army shields its operations from scrutiny and dissent. Political reforms that challenge Milbus are often silenced or diluted before reaching the public sphere.
The collusion between the Pakistan Army and Chinese interests in the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has profound implications for the country. As the military assumes a critical role in CPEC’s development and security, it effectively becomes the gatekeeper of one of Pakistan’s most important economic lifelines, often prioritizing its own strategic and financial interests above national welfare. This arrangement deepens Pakistan’s reliance on both China and its own army, reducing civilian oversight and fueling concerns about eroding sovereignty and transparency. Military-led management of CPEC can result in exclusion of local communities from decision-making, increased debt vulnerability, and a militarized approach to protests or dissent, risks that may hollow out the broader economic benefits promised to ordinary Pakistanis.
Pakistan’s middle class, once a bulwark of social stability, has been eroded by stagnant wages, rising prices, and declining economic opportunity, direct outcomes of misplaced national priorities. With business, land, and government dominated by the army, avenues for advancement are blocked. Over 40% of Pakistanis remain below the poverty line, stuck in a system designed to protect privilege rather than promote broad-based progress.The Pakistan Army’s role as the country’s foremost business conglomerate constitutes a parallel economy, one that diverts resources, distorts markets, and crowds out opportunity for ordinary citizens. The privileges of Milbus are shielded by the rhetoric of national security, but their real cost is measured in stalled human development, systemic inequality, and a hollowed-out economy. No sustainable future awaits Pakistan unless there is accountability, transparency, and a rebalancing of priorities from military privilege to civilian welfare.
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