The study has been conducted to investigate the conditional effect of independent non-executive directors (INED) on dividend payout ratio (DPR) in Pakistani equity market when firms have concentrated ownership (CO) and are shariah-complaint (SC). The world has witnessed some huge financial debacles like Enron due to different agency problems. The study employed Hayes (2017) moderated moderation model to examine the conditional effect. The data included 250 non-financial firms 2010-2021 from Pakistan equity sector. Results suggest that INED negatively affects dividends, CO has a negative conditional effect on INEDs, and SC positively moderates the negative moderating conditional effect of CO on INEDs and DPR. Sectoral variations can introduce additional layers of complexity in the analysis and interesting outcomes. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should attempt to draw conclusions from different emerging sectors and economies such as China, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan etc.