Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

is the financial and industrial capital of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. , Karachi has an estimated GDP ( PPP) of $164 billion. The city accounts about half of the total collections of the Federal Board of Revenue, out of which, approximately half are

customs duty A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and po ...

and

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a gove ...

import An import is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. In international trade, the importation and exportation of goods are limited ...

s. Karachi produces about 30 percent of value added in large-scale manufacturing, 25% of the GDP, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

identified Karachi as the most business-friendly city in Pakistan. In 2010, research by the global human resources company Mercer found Karachi to be the most inexpensive city in the world.

GDP

A substantial chunk of Sindh’s GDP, around 95% is attributed to Karachi (the GDP of Sindh as a percentage of Pakistan’s total GDP has traditionally hovered around 25%/30%). Karachi’s GDP was estimate in 2015 to be around 25% of the total GDP of Pakistan. As of 2014, it was reported as $114 billion. A

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

study released in 2009, which surveyed the 2008 GDP of the top cities in the world, calculated Karachi’s GDP (PPP) to be $75 billion (projected to be $193 billion in 2025 at a growth rate of 5.5%). It confirmed Karachi’s status as Pakistan’s largest economy, well ahead of the next two biggest cities

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

and

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...

, which had a reported GDP (PPP) in 2008 of $40 billion and $20.5 billion, respectively. Karachi's high GDP is based on its large industrial base, with a high dependency also on the financial services sector. Textiles, cement, steel, heavy machinery, chemicals, food, banking and insurance are the major industrial sectors contributing to Karachi's GDP.

Revenue collection

In line with its status as a major port and the country's largest metropolis, it accounts for most of Pakistan's revenue generation. According to the Pakistan Federal Board of Revenue's 2006-2007 year-book, tax and customs units in Karachi were responsible for 70.75% of direct taxes, 33.65% of federal excise tax, and 23.38% of domestic sales tax. Karachi also accounts for 75.14% of customs duty and 79% of sales tax on imports. Therefore, Karachi collects a significant 53.38% of the total collections of the Federal Board of Revenue, out of which 53.33% are customs duty and sales tax on imports. Revenue collected from Karachi includes revenue from some other areas since the Large Tax Unit (LTU) Karachi and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Quetta cover the entire province of Sindh and Baluchistan. Karachi's contribution to national revenue is around 55%.

Business districts

I. I. Chundrigar Road I. I. Chundrigar Road ( ur, ), previously known as McLeod Road, is a road located in central business district of Karachi, Pakistan, and is named after former Pakistani Prime Minister Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar. The road serves as the spine o ...

(formerly McLeod Road), also known as the

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

of the city, remains the historical commercial hub of Karachi and is its main CBD. However over the years, notable business and trade activity has appeared in other conurbations of the city, including the Shahrah-e-Faisal thoroughfare, MT Khan road, Mai Kolachi road and the Clifton and Defence areas of the city.

IT trends

The recent trend of ICT (

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications ( telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

electronic media Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which today are most often created digitally, but do not require el ...

and

call centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone ...

s has become a significant part of Karachi business hierarchy. Call centres for foreign companies have been targeted as a significant area of growth, with the government making efforts to reduce taxes by as much as 80 percent in order to gain foreign investments in the IT sector. Even Dr.

Arif Alvi Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi (; born 29 July 1949) is a Pakistani dentist and politician currently serving as the 13th President of Pakistan, in office since 9 September 2018. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2 ...

, President of Pakistan, has launched an initiative to help promote education, research and business opportunities in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Cloud-based computing which will educate IT technology to 10,000 students annually. Karachi has more than 3000 Software Companies and growing day by day which accounts to almost half of the whole countries IT Industry.

Media

The city has also firmly established itself as the electronic media capital of the country; most of Pakistan's media television channels are headquartered here, including Abbtakk News,

CNBC Pakistan G News Network, commonly known as GNN, is a Pakistani 24-hour news and current affairs channel based in Lahore, Pakistan. It is owned and operated by Gourmet Foods. It was launched in 2005 as CNBC Pakistan under a license from CNBC Asia Pacifi ...

Dawn News Dawn News is one of Pakistan's 24-hour Urdu news channel. Based in Karachi, the station is a subsidiary of Pakistan Herald Publications Limited (PHPL), Pakistan's largest English-language media group. The test transmission of the station occ ...

, TV One, Indus Media Group,

ARY Digital ''ARY Digital'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani pay television network available in Pakistan, the Middle East, North America and Europe. The ARY Group of companies is a Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of ...

, BOL Network,

AAJ TV ''Aaj News'' () is a 24-hour Pakistani news television channel. It is a privately owned Urdu language TV station which covers national and international news. The channel started out as hybrid channel (news, current affairs and entertainment), ...

, KTN NEWS, KTN, KASHISH TV and

Geo TV Geo Television Network is a television channel based in Pakistan. It was established in May 2002 and is owned by the Jang Media Group. The channel began its test transmission on 14 August 2002, with regular transmission beginning on 1 October ...

. They generate huge revenues for the city in advertising and provide jobs and entertainment. As a sign of the growing strength of the electronic media sector, GEO TV is planning to start an additional 10 channels and for this purpose is setting up a studio in the city.

Pakistan Stock Exchange

Pakistan Stock Exchange The Pakistan Stock Exchange ( ur, , abbreviated as PSX) is a stock exchange in Pakistan with trading floors in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. PSX was classified by MSCI as a frontier market on 8 September 2021. The PSX was established on ...

, formerly

Karachi Stock Exchange The Karachi Stock Exchange ( ur, or PSX-KSE) was a stock exchange located in Karachi, Pakistan. Since 1947, it has been located at the Stock Exchange Building on I. I. Chundrigar Road. It has now been consolidated in the Pakistan Stock Exchang ...

is Pakistan's largest and oldest stock exchange with at least 540 companies listed during 2020. It was declared the “Best Performing Stock Market of the World for the year 2002” with KSE-100 returning 112.2%. According to Bloomberg, Pakistan ranked third in 2014. And for the third consecutive year was among top 10 markets in the worl
(Source)
International magazine "Business Week" declared KSE as one of the Best Performing Markets of the world. Similarly, the US newspaper "USA Today" termed Karachi Stock Exchange as one of the best performing bourses in the world. By September, 2020, the year of global crisis and recession, PSX-100 was leading the global markets in correction with a return at 38.5% making PSX the best performer in Asia and fourth-best performing stock market in the world.

Industry

There are many

cottage industries The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...

in the city as well. Karachi is also known as software outsourcing hub of Pakistan. It has a rapidly flourishing 'Free Zone' with an annual growth rate of nearly 6.5 percent. An expo center has also been set up in Karachi, which hosts many regional and international exhibitions including the

IDEAS In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. ...

Defence Exhibition

Dozens of new manufacturing units are also being built near the Pakistan Steel Mill. Farm businesses line the SuperHighway route. The Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) in Manghopir is the biggest industrial area of Pakistan. Other industrial zones are located in Landhi, Korangi, FB Area, North Karachi and Port Qasim. Karachi is also home of major

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

manufacturing companies.

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

is in the process of increasing production capacity to over 120,000 units per annum.

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal co ...

Motor Company is also located in Karachi. The manufacturing plant located in Bin Qasim has a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year. Among others, Millat Tractors,

Daihatsu , commonly known as Daihatsu, is a Japanese automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers. The company's headquarters are located in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Historically, Daihatsu was ...

, HinoPak Buses and Trucks manufacturing plants are also located in Karachi. The now-defunct

Adam Motor Company Adam Motor Company, Ltd. is an automobile manufacturer and assembler based in Karachi, Pakistan. It produced Pakistan's first indigenous car ''Revo'', and currently produce rehabilitation products like walking sticks, walkers, stretchers and hosp ...

was formerly located in the city. Work is being done to promote the development of higher value added textile products, most notably by Ayesha Tammy Haq, an attorney who also has a television talk show. She set up Pakistan Fashion Week, a showcase for Pakistan's emerging fashion industry. The industrial estates in Karachi.

Banking sector

Karachi is the hub for Pakistan's banking and financial services sector and is home to Pakistan's

Central Bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a centra ...

, the

State Bank of Pakistan The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) ( ur, ) is the Central Bank of Pakistan. Its Constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until 1 January 1974, when the bank was Nationalized and ...

. Nearly all banks that operate in Pakistan have their corporate headquarters in the city. These include: * Arif Habib Limited * Atlas Bank *

Bank AL Habib A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

Bank Alfalah Bank Alfalah Limited, formerly Habib Credit and Exchange Bank, () is a Pakistani retail bank which is a subsidiary of the Emirati company Abu Dhabi United Group. It is one of the largest private Banks in Pakistan with a network of more than 850 ...

* Barclays Pakistan * Faysal Bank, Karachi * Habib Bank * Habib Metropolitan Bank * HSBC Ltd, Karachi *

JS Bank JS Bank Limited (JSBL) () is a Pakistani commercial bank headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. The bank is a prominent majority-owned subsidiary of JS Group. The bank was established in April 2007 as a result of the merger of two mega corporates, J ...

KASB Bank KASB Bank was a Pakistani bank which was founded by Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari. The bank was headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. I ...

MCB Bank Limited MCB Bank Limited () is a Pakistani multinational commercial bank which is based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The majority of shares are owned by Pakistani conglomerate Nishat Group and Malaysian bank Maybank. The bank has a network of 1,600 bran ...

(formerly

Muslim Commercial Bank MCB Bank Limited () is a Pakistani multinational commercial bank which is based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The majority of shares are owned by Pakistani conglomerate Nishat Group and Malaysian bank Maybank. The bank has a network of 1,600 ...

) *

MyBank EBA Clearing is a provider of pan-European payment infrastructure wholly owned by shareholders that consist of major European banks. It owns and operates major payment infrastructure in Europe for Euro payments between banks. This includes EURO1 ...

NIB Bank NIB Bank was a Pakistani bank which was based in Karachi, Pakistan. It was formed in 2003 as a result of merger of IFIC Bank and the National Development Leasing Corporation (NDLC), and this newly formed entity was called the NDLC-IFIC Bank (NIB) ...

* SAMBA Bank Limited * Silkbank Limited *

Soneri Bank The Soneri Bank Limited is a Pakistani bank based in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Its head office is located in the PNSC Building. It is a mid-sized bank having about over 400+ branches country-wide. Soneri Bank started its operation in the year 1 ...

* RBS Pakistan * The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Limited *

United Bank Limited United Bank Limited (UBL) () is a Pakistani multinational commercial bank which is a subsidiary of British company Bestway Group. It is based in Karachi, Pakistan. It is one of the largest banks in the Pakistani private sector, with over 1,400 br ...

Trade Logistics

Despite the growth and development of transport infrastructure elsewhere in the country, Karachi remains the country's transport hub. The city's two ports,

Port of Karachi The Port of Karachi ( ur, , ''Bandar gāh Karāchī'') is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum) located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is located on the Kar ...

(Pakistan's largest) and

Port Qasim The Port Muhammad Bin Qasim ( ur, ''Bandar-gāh Muhammad bin Qāsim''), or Qasim Port Authority ( ur, ), also known as Port Qasim, is a deep-water seaport in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, on the coastline of the Arabian Sea under the administra ...

, are central to nearly all shipping in Pakistan. The airport of Karachi,

Jinnah International Airport Jinnah International Airport ( ur, جناح بین الاقوامی ہوائی اڈا) , formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi Civil Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017 ...

(also known as Quaid-e-Azam International Airport) is the largest and busiest airport in Pakistan and handles 6 million passengers a year. The airport also receives the largest number of foreign airlines; a total of 27 airlines fly to Jinnah International, predominantly from the Middle East and South East Asia. All of Pakistan's airlines use Karachi as their primary hub, including

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Aviation Secretary of Pakistan, Secretary to the Governme ...

, Aero Asia International and

Airblue Airblue Limited (stylized as airblue) is a private Pakistani airline with its head office on the 12th floor of the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) Towers in Islamabad, Pakistan. Airblue operates scheduled domestic and international flights, th ...

Fisheries

Karachi is the biggest

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, ...

hub in Pakistan. Fisheries play an important role in Karachi's economy. They provide employment to about 300,000 fishermen directly. In addition, another 400,000 people are employed in ancillary industries. It is also a major source of export earning. The

Karachi Fish Harbour Karachi Fish Harbour is located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Over 90 percent of the Pakistan's fish and seafood catch and exports pass through the harbour. In 2020, Kemari District was carved out from Karachi West District. So Karachi Fish Harb ...

and

Korangi Fish Harbour Korangi Fish Harbour is located in Chashma Goth, Deh Rehri, Korangi District, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is managed by Federal Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Government of Pakistan. The purpose for establishment of KoFHA was to exploit deep s ...

are two major fish harbours in Karachi.

Fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

are one of Karachi's main

exports An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

Challenges

Karachi is allegedly the worst affected by controversial population census '17 placing it at 14.91 million, whereas all estimates and reality checks point above 30 million. With about 1100km² of city proper, the population density would stand beyond 30,000 per km², thereby ranking it at least 6th most dense city proper. The courts have been moved on the matter of 5% census audit. As of Q1-2021, even 2017 census is not published due to controversies and litigation. That alone causes a spread of issues branching from flawed allocation of funds and representation in Parliament to housing, to mass transit, to environment and just about every facet of life in urban and suburbs. Beyond that the city faces governance crisis bound by provisions of 18th Amendment in Constitution of Pakistan, giving all local body formation powers in hand of Province, with absolutely no room for intervention by federation; Rendering it a provincial dictatorship. Sindh Local Government Act 2013, thereby took away major municipal authorizations from

Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Karachi Metropolitan Corporation () is a public corporation and governing body to provide municipal services in Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan. History 1852 Karachi Conservancy Board was established to control cholera epidemics in Kara ...

under Mayor's Office, including planning and development, building control, solid waste management, water supply, sewerage and the like. Beyond centralizing powers, the city, formerly a district, was declared a division, towns abolished in favor of independent districts, the count standing at 7 as of September 2020. This, along with presence of 6 cantonment boards covering allegedly at least 60% of city, introduced a divide in city's management and thence centralizing the co-ordination in hands of provincially administered bodies; The damage of which was evident from chaos prevailing after August 2020 record rains and urban floods bringing commercial activity and peace to a halt, killing over a 100 and displacing thousands.

References

{{Karachi topics

GDP