Economy

Karachi is the financial capital of Pakistan. It accounts for the lion's share of Pakistan's GDP and generates 65 percent of the national revenues. Most of the public and private banks have their head offices in Karachi, and agglomerated on I.I.Chundrigar Road and Shahra-e-Faisal. Besides banking and the financial sector, Karachi also hosts central offices of foreign multinational corporations as well as corporations based in Pakistan. It is home to the largest stock exchange of Pakistan: the Karachi Stock Exchange. Karachi Stock Exchange achieved the milestone of the best performing stock market of the world in early 2005. This financial boom helped Pakistan to achieve its ambitious goal of over 8 percent GDP growth which is highest in Asia after China during fiscal year 2004-05.The recent trend of ICT (information and communications technology), electronic media and call centers are become significant part of Karachi business hierarchy. Call Centers for foreign companies are increasing by leaps and bound. The government has reduced tax by as much as 80 percent (compared to India and China) to lure foreign investments in the IT sector. Every year atleast 2000 IT students graduate from the NED University of Engineering and Technology, NUST FAST, and Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, the best IT institutions in Karachi.Karachi also has a huge industrial base. There are large industrial estates on most of the fringes of the main city. The main industries are textiles, pharmaceuticals, steel, and automobiles. Apart from these, there are many cottage industries in the city as well. Karachi is also known as software outsourcing hub of Pakistan. It also has a rapidly flourishing Free Zone having growth rate of nearly 15 percent per annum. An expo center has also been set up in Karachi and is now available to host many regional and International exhibitions. Currently, the Karachi Port is the only large port in Pakistan, and is central to all shipping in Pakistan. The airport of Karachi, Quaid-e-Azam International Airport is also the largest airport in Pakistan. For years it served as the gateway to Asia and significant route to Mid East and Central Asia. The airport is considered potential to act as the major logistic centre for the sub-continent.Karachi is the nerve centre of Pakistan's economy. The economic stagnation due to political anarchy, ethnic strife and resulted military operation during late 80s and 90s led to efflux of industry from Karachi. Despite this severe shock, Karachi claims highest per capita income in South Asia.During 1960s, Karachi was seen as an economic role model around the developing world, and there was much praise for the way its economy was progressing. Many countries sought to emulate Pakistan's economic planning strategy and one of them, South Korea, copied its Second Five Year Plan, 1960-65, not just that, World financial center in Seoul was designed and modelled after Karachi. And while in the early 1960s the per capita income of Pakistan was more or equal to Korea, the latter ended up among the more developed of the developing countries, with a GDP per capita greater than $8,000 today.