Business

Pakistani fashion boutiques are springing up in and around Toronto bringing latest fashion from Karachi and Lahore to the streets of Canada. Pakistani women in Toronto commonly refresh their wardrobes with 10 to 15 new casual and formal outfits a year. It’s a passion that is giving the more established clothing stores on Gerrard St. [...]

Pakistan has been ranked at number 20 on the 2009 A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index of the most attractive outsourcing destinations in the world. Pakistan went from 30th in 2007 to 20th in 2009 on the report released May 18th. There are plenty of companies in the Middle East, for instance, that outsource work [...]

Despite continued uncertainty, the world’s largest dollar bond investors are continuing to maintain holdings in Pakistan. According to HSBC, Pakistani bonds have returned 35 percent this year, the best performance in Asia among dollar debt indexes compiled by London-based HSBC. ING Groep NV, Erste Sparinvest KAG and HSBC Holdings Plc, which oversee more than $800 [...]

In addition to being 4th heaviest user country of SMS, yapping Pakistanis have taken an unusual lead in telecommunication: the largest text messaging growth in Asia Pacific. With Pakistan’s 763 million messages sent during the “festive seasons”, the top five countries with the highest SMS traffic processed over the festive season were the Philippines, again [...]

Pakistani modern art market is soaring, thanks to recent boom in economic activity, rising incomes, investor interest and a line-up of upcoming artists – plus increasing corporate and Arab patronage. Pakistan’s art market has gone crazy over the past year, with prices multiplying 10 to 20 times over. And famous artists are not the only [...]

It’s being called Pakistan’s ‘unsinkable’, virtually floating ship which aims to give people a taste of sailing or cruising without actually going anywhere. Spread over 55,000 square feet, the ship is currently ‘anchored’ at the shores of Clifton Seaview Beach in Karachi. The ship’s entrance resembles a departure terminal, and its separate decks have been [...]

Swiss dairy giant Nestle has made Pakistan the home of world’s largest ever milk production plant. The 2 million-litre-a-day Punjab-based milk processing facility will rise to over three million liters in coming years. Pakistan is the world’s fourth-largest milk producer, and Asia’s second-largest, behind India, so the location of Nestlé’s latest investment is fitting. Since [...]

The Karachi Stock Exchange recorded a new all-time high amidst growing hopes among investors to pump more money into Pakistan after reportedly successful elections. The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange index of 100 shares rose around 1 percent or 142 points to close at 14,972 points, a new all-time high, on the back of growing political [...]

Recent events have not dampened Pakistan’s continued banking and financial sector expansion. The latest development follows a spate of purchases by overseas banks looking to expand in Pakistan. In the latest deal, Saudi Pak Commercial Bank (SPCB) is due to be bought in a $200m deal. Standard Chartered in 2006 became the first international bank [...]

U.S. based Aerion announced its first customer, Pakistan-based Princely Jets, after opening its order book at the Dubai Airshow. The futuristic supersonic business jet appears to be gaining altitude, with its US manufacturer saying it has letters of intent worth $US1.5 billion from customers interested in its $US80 million plane. The supersonic jet, capable of [...]