Nishat is Pakistan's biggest industrial and financial conglomerate controlling assets worth Rs 192 billion and its Chairman, Mian Mohammad Mansha Yahya represented on the board of 45 companies is undisputedly Pakistan's richest individual.Pakistan's Robber Barons
Nishat
Mian Mansha has catapulated to the top of Pakistan's richest families from the 15th position in 1970 and 6th in 1990 because of combination of factors like his marriage to Naz, daughter of Yusuf Saigol, a lot of luck and bit of politics under Nawaz Sharif.
" Investing in the shares of Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) has been one of my biggest business slip ups. In hind sight, I should have never invested in this bank", Mansha told Ayesha Haroon of daily, The Nation, Islamabad when asked to comment on the general perception that MCB was privatized to him and his associates because of his friendship with Nawaz Sharif.
Windmills of God work in strange ways. In 1948 when Mansha's father Mian Mohammad Yahya and his three brothers incorporated a partnership concern, it was called Nishat Corporation after Nishat Haroon, the three year old grandson of Mian Mohammad Yaqub, eldest of the four brothers. The child who gave his name to the group has disappered in thin air and Mian Mohammad Mansha, Chairman Nishat Group is today on top of Pakistan's corporate world, boastfully accustomed to buying his casual outfit from Harbe Frog on Bond Street, shoes enevitably from Gucci, cardigons and overcoates from Burbery's.
Mansha was the only son of Mian Mohammad Yahya whose death in 1968 forced him to give up studies in UK to return home since several of his cousins, Abdul Aziz, Aftab Iqbal and Mian Mohammad Farooq were already entrenched in the family business. Nishat Haroon was born to Mian Farooq who was married to the daughter of Mian Fazal Rehman of United Textiel Mills, Multan.
Like several other Chinioti businessmen, Mian Yahya had a leather business in Calcutta, India before moving to Pakistan in 1947 and it was perhaps in Calcutta that he developed friendship with Yusuf Saigol that led to the marriage of Mansha and Naz Saigol sometimes around 1970.
In 1970, Nishat comprised 6 units in West Paksitan, namely Nishat Corporation, Nishat Sarhad Textile, Nishat Textile Mills, Faisalabad, Nishat Chemical Industries and Nishat Agencies, Kotri and Karimi Industries, Nowshera.
The units in East Pakistan included Nishat Jute Mills, Qadaria Textile Mills, Tangail Cotton Mills and Chemical Industries of Pakistan. The business in East Pakistan was headed by Aftab Iqbal, one of several cousins of Mian Mansha whose where abouts are not known today.
It is popular saying among the present day residents of Chiniot that the goddess of wealth is in love with the Chiniotis. But Mansha is perhaps being loved by both the goddess of love and lady luck since he has narrowly escaped the misfortunes that were the lot of the bulk of Pakistani Industrialists in 1970.
When divisions of Nishat group assets took place in 1969, Mansha bargained for Nishat Mills at Faisalabad for which he had to pay an additional amounts to his uncles but this saved him from losses in East Pakitan that became the lot of his uncles. Karimi Industries, Nowshera of Nishat group was nationalized and its nationalization is cited to argue that Bhutto's nationalization was an act of victimizing the opponents because it was too small to be nationalized. But loss suffered in Karimi Industries also came to lot of his uncles.
" I have had many lucky breaks. Luck has always been on my side. New projects just crop up before I have stopped doing the old ones", Mansha told Mahmood Awan of daily The Nation in 1990.
Mansha's rise begin in 1991 when within six week of coming into power Nawaz Sharif sold MCB to National group of 12 leading industrial families headed by him. The formation of National group itself was big strategic stroke of Mian Mansha against future reprisal by any govt since it would instantly alienate 12 leading industrial families of Pakistan.
According to group profile, Nishat comprised of five companies with assets worth Rs 2,480 millions in 1990 with plans for four new companies. Listed comapnies included Nishat Mills, Omer Fabrics and Raza Textiles while the only unlisted company was General Stitching company. Mansha had said in interview with Mahmood Awan that "for long-term investments, he had his eyes set on the food processing industry" but the privatization of Nawaz Sharif opened new doors for him and his dream to venture into food processing industry has not materialized to date. Instead, Mansha, his relativess and business associates emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the privatization under taken by Nawaz Sharif, ending up with five cement factories and a bank. Mansha claimed in a talk over telephone with the author that MCB helped the Employee Buyout of Millat tractors from the Privatization Commission.
Nishat currently comprises of 21 companies including 13 listed companies with manufacturing assets of nearly 27 billion and three of Mansha's close relatives, Saigols, Jehangir Elahi and S M Saleem of United Bank among the top 45 industrial families in Pakistan. Mansha has a daughter and two sons.
Nishat Group Companies
| S. No | Name | Assets | Turn over in Million Rs. |
| 1 | Nishat Mills | 9,236 | 6,748 |
| 2 | Raza Textiles | 302 | 421 |
| 3 | Omer Fabrics | 854 | 629 |
| 4 | Nishat Chunian | 910 | 663 |
| 5 | Nishat Tek | 986 | 236 |
| 6 | General Stitiching | 78 | 68 |
| 7 | D G Khan Cement | 7,775 | 1,547 |
| 8 | Maple Leaf Cement | 6,686 | 1,030 |
| 9 | Nishat Fabrics | - | - |
| 10 | Gener Tech | 963 | 225 |
The Saigols moderately describe themselves as " an erstwhile family of traders " but they are Pakistan's Tatas and Birlas and have remained Pakistan's wealthiest industrial clan for last five decades despite the fluctuations in their fortunes and a brief interlude (1972-77) during which they tried their luck in Saudi Arabia.Financial Assets
S. NO Name Assets 11 Muslim Commercial Bank 163,325 12 Fidelity Investment Bank 1,502 13 Fidelty Leasing 318 Total Financaial Assets 165,145 Unlisted Companies 1- Nishat Finishing Mills
2- Nishat Capital Management
3-Trust Management Services
4-Chunian Fibre
5-Nishat Europe
6-Newbery Mansha
7-Maple Leaf Electric Company
8-D G Khan Electric Company
The Saigols
Wealth by itself is a curse. Yusuf Saigol, The Friday Times 20.5.93.
" The first LC for a textile mills at the State Bank in independent Pakistan was opened for Kohinoor Textile Mills" set up at an esteemed cost of Rs 8 million in 1948, Nasim Saigol said in an interview with the author.
Amin Saigol, the founder of Saigol dynasty hailed from village Khotian, now Saigolabad in Jehlum and had migrated to Calcutta in 1890 where he started a shoe shop which led tho Bihar Rubber Works in 1938, later christened as Koh-i-Noor Rubber Works. It was one of the biggest rubber manufacturing concerns of pre-partitioned India.
Amin Saigol had four sons, of which three- Yusuf Saigol, Bashir Saigol and Sayed Saigol migrated to Pakistan in August 1947 but fourth Gul Saigol stayed back in India taking care of the leftover business until it was expropriated by Indian govt, as enemy property in the 1965 war.
The Saigols have grown with country, setting up factory after factory, industry after industry. Their biggest project was Kala Shah Kaku Chemical Complex near Lahore which comprised five units namely Kohinoor Rayan Ltd, United Chemicals, Insecticides (Pakistan) Ltd, Kohinoor Oil Mills Ltd and Kohinoor Engineering Ltd. Starting with a textile mills in 1947, in less than two decades, they had their fingers in almost every business in Pakistan ranging from chemicals, synthetic fibres, cooking oil, sugar, engineering, construction and banking.
The Saigols launched United Bank in 1959 and when nationalized in 1974 it had 668 domestic and 31 overseas branches. All the five units of Kala Shah Kaku Complex were nationalized in 1971 and according to Nasim Saigol, the family lost 70% of its assets in Bhutto's nationalization.
Only textile wing escaped nationalization but as Pakistan People's Party manifesto had envisaged the nationalization of big textile units also, no new investment was made in the textile industries during the six years of Bhutto rule.
Like many other Pakistani industrialists, the Saigols lived out the Bhutto era abroad, in Saudi Arabia where they launched Conforce Construction Company in collaboration with Germany's Veba Group who is said to have put up nearly 100 million dollars for trading in cement and other construction material in the Gulf countries. The management was entirely left with Saigols but the partnership quickly fell through and the Saigols were put through the legal grinder.
In 1976 Saigols decided to split, apparently as a part of the strategy to spread the eggs in many baskets. The assets that had escaped nationalization comprising of textile mills at Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Quetta, sugar mills at Jauharabad, Conforce Limited and Saigol Brothers limited were divided among 15 male descendants of the founding fathers.
The Saigols are currently operating in three distinct groups headed by Nasim Saigol, Tariq Saeed Saigol and Rafiq Saigol.
Yusuf Saigol who founded Kohinoor Textile Mills and United Bank Ltd was the moving force behind the Saigol dynasty. Like John D Rockfeller who had six children , he had a big family, six sons and two daughters. Sons are Mohammad Rafiq, Mohammad Shafiq, Nasim, Javed, Azam and Aftab Saigol. One of the daughters Naz was married to Mian Mansha and the second to a cousin.
Bashir Saigol was assigned the managing directorship of Kohinoor Textile Mills, Rawalpindi and Conforce Limited. He is survived by son Iqbal Saigol, who heads his own small group. After the division of the family silver, KTM Rawalpindi came to the lot of Tariq Saeed Saigol who is now heading his own Kohinoor group.
Saigol group headed by Nasim Saigol is perhpas Pakistan's biggest group in engineering goods industry with projects on the anvil for a car assembly plant with Daewoo and motorcycle assembly plant with Qingqi group of China. It is also the biggest manufacturer of air conditioners, deep freezers and electric good supplied to WAPDA.
Nasim Saigol group
| S.No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Kohinoor Indurties | 2,428 | 2,265 |
| 2 | Azam Textile | 407 | 462 |
| 3 | Saritow Spinning | 333 | 183 |
| 4 | Pak Electron | 1,589 | 1,309 |
| 5 | PEL Appliances | 349 | 360 |
| 6 | Kohinoor Power | 614 | 243 |
| 7 | Kohinoor Energy | - | - |
| Total | 5,720 | 4,822 |
| 8 | Union Bank | 8,832 |
| 9 | Union Leasing | 172 |
| Total | 9,004 |
| S. No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Mohib Textile | 3,206 | 1,429 |
| 2 | Kohinoor Sugar | 811 | 308 |
| 3 | Mohib Exports | 714 | 651 |
| 4 | Kohinoor Edible Oil | 639 | 897 |
| 5 | Security Safe Deposits | - | - |
| Manufacturing Assets | 5,370 | 3,797 |
| S. No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Kohinoor Textile | 1,843 | 1,078 |
| 2 | Kohinoor Gujar Khan | 372 | 418 |
| 3 | Samin Textile | 587 | 728 |
| 4 | Kohinoor Raiwind | 653 | 578 |
| 5 | Kohinoor Weaving Ltd | - | - |
| 6 | Kohinoor Genertech | - | - |
| Total Assets | 3,455 | 2,802 |
| S. No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Kohinoor Looms | 296 | 211 |
| 2 | Saitex Spinning | 157 | 183 |
| 3 | Sally Textile | 204 | 249 |
| Total | 657 | 643 |
Nasim Saigol
After the birth of Pakistan, three of the four brothers returned to native land and in 1951, incorporated a trading company namely Mohammad Amin, Mohammad Bashir Ltd for export of Cotton and imports. Bashir settled in Karachi, Amin managed the operations from Lahore and Shafi worked in a ginning factory in Sargodha. According to Emma Duncan, in " Breaking the Curfew", Crescent family was alloted an industrial unit sprawling over 125 acres in Faisalabad, in lieu of the property left over in India, which was to become the spring board of their growth and diversification.
By mid 1960s Fazal Karim also returned to Pakistan and the four brothers fondly known in the business community, as the " The gang of four" soon became Pakistan's biggest textile exporters. They were also joined in the business by their two cousins. Crescent, today has the largest number of listed companies (22) in its fold with assets exceeding Rs 10 billion. It is the soundest, if not the largest industrial conglomerate in Pakistan and last of the 22 families which has remained united through thick and thin, the best and the worst times for big business in Pakistan during last 50 years. Presided over by eldest member of the family, Mazhar Karim, the group has twenty working members and can be truely called a joint venture of uncles, cousins and nephews.
In a communication to the author in 1993, the group maintained that " there has been no split whatseoever and Crescent group exists in the same shape as it has always been since its inception" but there are recent indications that for administrative convenience rather than for some other reason the group has been subdivided.
Crescent has the slogan of " the people who care peopel" and belongs to the enterprising Chinioti community who have the general reputation of never transferring their money abroad. Crescent particularly has the reputation of being truly rooted and entrenched in the Pakistani Soil and is considered to be a conscientious tax payers.
An article in Weekly Friday Times in the first week of April 1993 described Crescent as " one of the oldest, largest and most distinguished business concerns in Pakistan, an exemplary tax payers and investors of every penny earned back into their business of the home country".
Crescent lost its shipping line with two vessels, Shams and Karim in Bhutto's nationalization and although Crescent Investment Bank was first private sector bank to start operations in 1990 and had set up a seperate division to take part in privatization, it did not bid for any unit during Nawaz Sharif's privatization. However it registered one of highest growth rate during Nawaz era and launched a large no of new companies particularly Modarba and leasing companies during 1990-93.
Crescent Listed Companies
| S no | Name | Assests | Turnover |
| 1 | Crescent Textile | 3,159 | 894 |
| 2 | Crescent Spinning | 582 | 209 |
| 3 | Shams Textile | 556 | 592 |
| 4 | Elite Textile | 161 | 297 |
| 5 | Crescot Mills | 122 | 324 |
| 6 | Jubilee Spinning | 680 | 322 |
| 7 | Surraj Cotton | 458 | 533 |
| 8 | Crescent Steel | 676 | 760 |
| 9 | Crescent Jute | 1,007 | 672 |
| 10 | Shakarganj Sugar | 1,630 | 1,090 |
| 11 | Crescent Board | 605 | 457 |
| 12 | Crescent Sugar | 950 | 958 |
| Total | 10,568 | 7,108 |
| S.No | Companies | Assets |
| 13 | Crescent Bank | 6,558 |
| 14 | Premier Insurance | 333 |
| 15 | First Crescent Modarba | 473 |
| 16 | First Elite Capital Modarba | 155 |
| 17 | First Equity Modarba | 355 |
| 18 | Crescent Leasing Corporation | 250 |
| 19 | Paksitan Industrial Leasing Corporation | 4,202 |
| 20 | Trust Investment Bank | - |
| Total Financial Assets | 12,353 |
| S. NO | Names | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Dewan Textile | 1,008 | 1,646 |
| 2 | Dewan Mushtaq | 268 | 270 |
| 3 | Dewan Khalid | 506 | 538 |
| 4 | Dewan Sugar | 708 | 1,055 |
| 5 | Ishtiaq Textile | 204 | 155 |
| 6 | Dewan Salman Fibre | 7,419 | 6,219 |
| Total Manufacturing Assets | 10,113 | 9,883 |
7- Metropolitan Bank ( With Gul Ahmad)
Unlisted Companies
The House of Ittefaq claims to have lost an industrial unit in East Pakistan, besides losing Ittefaq foundry to Bhutto;s nationalization. In the aftermath of nationalization Mian Mohammad Sharif tried luck in UAE where he set up a steel re-rolling mills. He is reported to have told his family that while leaving for UAE that he would not return till the mill was ready. The factory was therefore, completed on time but proved too taxing for aging Mian Sharif in an unfamiliar enviroment and therefore, he returned after operating it for about a year or two.
Lady luck smiled on the Sharif family when in late 1970's General Zia ul Haq returned them Ittefaq foundry and Nawaz Sharif was appointed finance minister in the Punjab cabinet. By that time the House of Ittefaq comprised of following five enterprises.
During first Benazir govt when Nawaz Sharif was the uncrowned King of the powerful Punjab province, the group started work on Brothers Sugar Mills and Ramzan Sugar Mills which turned out to be the last project set up under the banner of Ittefaq. As soon as Nawaz Sharif became Prime Minister in 1990, Mian Mohammad Sharif switched over to setting up projects independent of the other partners, thus laying the grounds for split.
It was said that when Nawaz Sharif became prime minister, the group took a decision to secure project loans from the foreign banks and only working capital was taken from the nationalized commercial banks. The project financing from foreign banks was ostensibly secured against the foreing currency deposits, a number of which were held in benamee accounts, as repeatedly claimed by Interior Minister Naseer Ullah Babar at his press conferences.
At a press conference in Islamabad, on August 3, 1989 Shahbaz Sharif was gave the assets of the group at Rs 3.6 billion, but the report of the Cooperative Scam Tribunal estimated the group assets in 1989, according to their own declaration at Rs 6 billion.
In 1992 when Salman Taseer, Information Secretary, PPP released an account of Nawaz govt's corruption in a booklet "The Plunder of Pakistan" a spokesman of House of Ittefaq said in a counter statement that the group has incurred loans worth Rs 4,420 million only from the commercial banks contrary to Salman Taseer 's claim of Rs 12 billion. According to the spokesman, the group comprised of only 14 companies in its fold with assets of 6 billion.
H U Beg Committee, set up by Nawaz govt in 1990 to investigate the allegations of concentration of wealth had identified 19 companies in the House of Ittefaq with assets worth Rs 10 billion and for the purpose of ranking in this book. I have relied on the estimates of the H U Beg Committee. However at a press conference in Islamabad, on March 2, 1994, Khalid Siraj, a cousin of prime minister claimed that the assets of the seven brothers were valued at Rs 21 billion.
The units in Ittefaq as identified by H U Beg Committee included three listed companies, 12 unlisted public companies and 4 private limited companies.
The Friday Time issue of April 25, 1997 reported that the Sharif group of Mian Mohammad Sharif has started work on Kashmir Sugar Mills and Bashir Sugar Mills for which it was seeking hefty loans from commercial banks. Work is also in progress over a sprawling New Sharif Medical City, opposite the big residential farm of the Sharif family on the Rai Wind Road. The group is also working on Yousaf Aziz Sugar Mills at Kasur and another at Shah Kot.
According to agreement reached in Lahore High Court by members of the family sometimes in 1996, the House of Ittefaq has split in two groups. The first comprised of the families of Mian Mohammad Sharif, Mohammad Shafi, Barkat Ali, Yousaf Aziz and Idrees Bashir while the second group comprised of the families of Meraj Din and Siraj Din. Members of the Ittefaq group are currently operating in three groups namely Sharif Group, Ittefaq Group and Haseeb Waqas Group. The three groups have only four companies listed on the KSE.
Listed companies
| S. No | Names | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Ittefaq Textile Mills | - | - |
| 2 | Brothers Textile Mills | 262 | - |
| 3 | Khalid Siraj Textile Mills | 228 | 239 |
| 4 | Haseeb Waqas Sugar | 1,163 | 901 |
According to Business Recorder of February 8, 1998 the group was facing fraud charges in the Special court of crimes in Banking Circle, Karachi for defrauding National Investment Turst (NIT) to the tune of Rs 288 million by showing inflated value of Chakwal Cement to get NIT units. Khawaja Mohammad Javed is the chairman of the group and is related by marriage to Mian Mohammad Mansha and Tariq Saeed Saigol.
Listed Companies
| S. No | Company | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Amin Spinning Mills | 280 | 201 |
| 2 | Kohinoor Spinning | 1,232 | 799 |
| 3 | Chakwal Spinning | 731 | 103 |
| 4 | Yousaf Weaving | 1,052 | 961 |
| 5 | Dandot (Chakwal) Cement | 1,297 | 762 |
| 6 | Dhan Fibre | ||
| 7 | Kohinoor Fibre | ||
| Total | 4,592 | 3,026 |
8-Platinum Bank 5,530
Unlisted Companies
| S No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | SaphireTextile | 1,791 | 3,416 |
| 2 | Saphire Fibre | 1,223 | 1,830 |
| 3 | Appolo Textile | 295 | 363 |
| 4 | Gulistan Textile | 1,852 | 1,340 |
| 5 | Paramount Textile | 584 | 441 |
| 6 | Gulshan Spinning | 1,090 | 820 |
| 7 | Gulistan Weaving | 377 | 334 |
| 8 | Reliance Cotton | 371 | 360 |
| Total Financial Assets | 7,583 | 8,904 |
Unlisted companies
Habibs have spread their wealth over a large number of private and public companies and a profile of Rafiq Habib in Economic Review, Novemer 1984 (P 59) said that Habib group had 90 companies it its fold. I could identify only half of them.
The history of House of Habib goes back to middle of the last century when Esmail Ali of Jam Nagar, India set up a small utensil factory in Bombay. A son born to him in 1878 was given the name Habib who was to found the dynasty of House of Habib. Habib Ismaeel lost his father at an early age and circumstances forced him to join the business of his uncle-Cassum Mohammad, owner of Khoja Mithabai Nathoo, merchant and manufacturer of copper and brass utensils. It was because of his association with Mithabai Nathoo that Habib Ismaeel came to be known as Seth Habib Mitha.
The House of Habib hold many distinctions in Pakistan's history. Habib Bank was shifted to Pakistan on the personal bidding of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and came to the help of the nascent state " even before the Govt of Pakistan was ready to issue appropriate govt paper", with a Rs 80 million loan when the Rserve Bank of India failed to deliver Pakistan share of Rs 750 million held by it. It is said that Mohammad Ali Habib had presented a blank cheque on Llyod Bank to Quaid-e-Azam who wrote Rs 80 million in it. (An article in Habib Bank Golden Jubilee Presentation and a letter to the Editor in daily Dawn, September 11, 1991).
The Habib family is known to have set up offices in Vienna and Geneva as early as 1912 and incorporated Habib and Sons in 1921 which was dealing in brass, metal scraps and gold with " Lion of Ali " embossed on it which is till today the insignia of the Habib Bank.
Habib Bank was incorporated in 1941, as First Muslim Bank in India and was using its own assayed gold medallions. It is said that Mohammad Ali Habib ensured that these medallions were purer than the assayed stamp showed there were stories of customers finding out that the medallions were worth more the bargain.
Seth Habib had four sons and Aziz Haji Dossa, a reader of daily Dawn recalled in a letter to the editor on September 11, 1991 that " I used to watch the four sons of Habib Seth, namely Mohammad Ali, Ahmad, Dawood and Ghulam Ali drive every morning sharp at nine o'clock wearing silk yellow Sherwanies and caps, parking their cars in front of the Mohammad Shah Pir Graveyard and standing in line offering Fateha".
Mohammad Ali Habib who founded Habib Bank on August 7, 1941 had four sons, Suleman, Habib, Rafiq and Hyder and it is the group headed by Rafiq M Habib which is today known as House of Habib. The second group comprised sons of late Rashid D Habib but A G Zurich Bank incorporated as Habib Bank Ltd in Geneva, in 1967, is a joint venture of all Habibians and in keeping with the family traditions is still issuing its own gold medallion embossed with the Lion of Ali.
The group headed by Rafiq Habib is using five stars and holy Kalma as its insignia while Rashid Habib group is using lion and Sword of Ali as its insignia.
Rafiq M Habib grou
| S No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Thal Jute Mills | 354 | 448 |
| 2 | Pak Jute and Synthetics | 112 | 181 |
| 3 | Pak Paper Sack | 428 | 827 |
| 4 | Shabbir Tiles | 180 | 216 |
| 5 | Dyno Pakistan | 272 | 234 |
| 6 | Indus Motors | 2,318 | 4,722 |
| 7 | Gypsum Corporation | - | - |
| 8 | Baluchistan Foundary | - | - |
| 9 | A U Vitronics | 125 | 182 |
| 10 | Agri Autos | 313 | 248 |
| 11 | Baluchistan Concrete | - | - |
| Total Manufacturing Assets | 5,707 | 7,058 |
| 12 | First Habib Modaraba |
| 13 | Habib A G Zurich |
| 14 | Habib Sugar | 833 | 876 |
| 15 | Habib RKD | 326 | 403 |
| 16 | Baluchistan Particles | 146 | 104 |
| 17 | Habib Insurance | 199 | - |
| 18 | Baluchistan Glass Particles | 379 | 183 |
| 19 | Habib General Limited | - | - |
| 20 | Baluchistan Concrete and Block Works | - | - |
| 21 | Hydri Construction | 22 | - |
| Total Manufacturing Assets | 1,905 | 1,566 |
| 22 | Bank Al-Habib | 4,657 |
Rafiq M Habib
Like several other Karachi-based groups of post-1947 era, Gul Ahamad has not added any single manufacturing units to its fold since 1971, except for the 150 MW Gul Ahmad Power commissioned in September 1997 and fairly unknown Ghafooria Industries. However Security Investment Bank and Metropolitan Bank have been set up in collaboration with two other leading industrial groups. The group chairman, Ali Mohammad was appointed vice chairman of Export Promotion Bureau by caretaker govt of Moeen Qureshi.
Al-Karam, however is operating nearly a dozen industrial and commercial units including one of the biggest synthetic units, Pakistan Synthetic listed on KSE.
Gul Ahmad / Alkaram
| S. No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Gul Ahmad Textile Mills | 2272 | 2493 |
| 2 | Globe Textile | 742 | 853 |
| 3 | Globe Textile (OEO) | 147 | 232 |
| 4 | Zaman Textile | 177 | 186 |
| 5 | Pak Synthetic | 1443 | 1224 |
| 6 | Chilya Corrugated | 20 | 19 |
| 7 | Nakshbandi Industries | 419 | 454 |
| Total Manufacturing Assets | 5220 | 5451 |
| 8 | Security Investment Bank | 997 |
| 9 | Metropolitan Bank | 11,825 |
Maratib Ali family was entrenched in the import-export trade and was a supplier for the British Army and Indian Railway before the partition. The first foreign joint venture launched by the family, after the creation of Pakistan was a soap factory with Lever Brothers. However, the group has grown around Packages Limited and according to an anecdote Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) helped Maratib Ali family in launching this packaging units. It is said that PTC had imported a packaging plant for its cigarette manufacturing facility but because of some difficulties encouraged Packages to venture into the field by loaning the later the imported plant.
Maratib Ali had nine children and two of them, Syed Amjad Ali and Babar Ali served as Finance Ministers while two of his grandchildren, Syed Fakhar Imam and Syeda Abida Hussain have also served as federal ministers. Syed Amjad Ali served as Pakistan's first ambassador to the United Nations. Another scion of the family is Syed Mohsin Ali of the Mitchelles Ltd.
The chairman of Packages group, Syed Babar Ali was the eighth of nine children born to Syed Maratib Ali and Mubarak Begum. He served as chairman of National Fertilizer Corporation under Z A Bhutto and is also chairman of the Board of Directors of Hoeist Pakistan, Lever Brothers and Seimen. The group owns 20% equity in the newly set up Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Ltd, a trilateral project of Singapore-based Fraser & Neaves (C & N), Packages and Coca-Cola Private Ltd. The newly set up company has acquired Coca Cola plants in Karachi and Hyderabad and would be taking over all the 11 franchises of Coca-Cola in Pakistan.
Babar Ali is also one of the founders of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
Packages Group Companies
| S. No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Packages | 2696 | 2330 |
| 2 | Zulfikar Industries | 171 | 497 |
| 3 | Milk Pak | 945 | 2000 |
| 4 | Treet | 313 | 326 |
| 5 | Mitchelles | 113 | 96 |
| 6 | Wazir Ali Industries | 311 | 1036 |
| 7 | Tri Pack Films | 619 | 317 |
| Total Manufacturing Asssets | 5168 | 6602 |
| 8 | IGI | 177 |
| 9 | Interbank | 738 |
| S. No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Atlas Honda | 1896 | 1836 |
| 2 | Atlas Cars (Pak) Ltd | 2016 | 1301 |
| 3 | Atlas Battery | 134 | 260 |
| 4 | Alwin Engineering | 313 | 283 |
| Total | 4359 | 3680 |
| 5 | Muslim Insurance | 90 |
| 6 | Atlas-Bot Leasing | 2206 |
| 7 | Atlsa Bank Investment | 659 |
| Total | 2955 |
After the nationalization of cotton and rice trade, Hashwani brothers moved into hotel industry and today Sadruddin Hashwani operating the chains of Marriot and Pearl Continental Hotels is known as the Hotel King of Pakistan.
In 1985 when PIA decided to sell its 51% shares in Pakistan Services Limited , operating chain of Intercontinental hotels, Sadruddin Hashwani " walked away with the spoils", according to New York Times. The Rs 130 million bid money came from Investment Corporation of Pakistan (ICP) which was allegedly written off by Zia ul Haq.
In 1984 Haswnai defeated Lakhanis in the bid for Premier Tobacco but the two Hashwnai Brothers, Sadruddin Hashwani and Akbar Hashwani were arrested in 1986 when customs raided their tobacco factory, following seizure of several trucks loaded with cigarettes without payment of duty. The Hashwanis always suspected Lakhanis to have tipped the customs about the tax evasion, (The daily Dawn 24.5.86).
The Haswanis are currently operating in three seperate groups known as the Hashoo group of Sadruddin Haswani, Haswani group of Akbar Ali Hashwani and Hassan Ali Hashwani group comprised of the companies owned by the children of late Hassan Ali Hashwani.
Hashoo Group
| S NO | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Pakistan Services | 3364 | 1846 |
| 2 | Exide Battery | 296 | 513 |
| 3 | Automative Battery | 131 | 176 |
| 4 | Hahsoo Steel | 130 | 308 |
| 5 | Souvenir Tobacco | - | - |
| Total | 3921 | 2843 |
| 8 | New Jubilee Insurance | 590 |
| 9 | Regent Textile | 230 | 192 |
| 10 | Landmark Spinning | 100 | - |
| Total | 330 | - |
| S No | Name | Assests | Turnover |
| 1 | General Tyres | 1183 | 1935 |
| 2 | JDM Textile | 98 | 81 |
| 3 | Babri Cotton | 106 | 166 |
| 4 | Bannu Woolen Mills | 184 | 184 |
| 5 | Gandhara Nissan | 611 | 756 |
| 6 | National Motors | 692 | 271 |
| 7 | Ghandhara Industries | 102 | 756 |
| 8 | Gammon Pakistan | 152 | - |
| TOTAL | 3128 | 3393 |
| 10 | Chemni Leasing | 581 |
| 11 | Universal Insurance | 56 |
| S No | Names | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Kohat Textiles | 216 | 256 |
| 2 | Saif Textile | 462 | 616 |
| 3 | Lucky Cement | 678 | - |
Dawood group was founded by Ahmad Dawood but currently stands split among three Dawood brothers namely Ahmad, Sadiq and Suleman Dawood who are heading Dawood, BRR and Descen groups respectively. Not so well known, Ghani group was also carved out of the main Dawood group and is based on the shares held by in-laws of Ahmad Dawood in the parent group.
Dawood family members were put on exit control list and once they managed to leave the country, they lived out the Bhutto era in exile in Europe and United States. However Razak Dawood s/o Suleman Dawood shifted to Lahore and developed a group of Construction/ Engineering Companies today known as the Descen group.
Ahmad Dawood was born at Batva, Kathiawar in a Memon family. When partition took place, he had already set up a cotton ginning factory, an oil mill and vegetable ghee factory in India. He is reported to have told reporters that it was on the suggestion of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah that he had migrated to Pakistan and incorporated Dawood Corporation for import and export trade.
Dawood Cotton Mills was set up in 1951 but business grew in leaps and bounds when Ahmad Dawood was associated with Muslim League and his brother Sadiq Dawood was a member of national assembly and treasurer of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League during the military rule of Field Marshal Ayub Khan.
Ahmad Dawood is now living a retired life and his business is being looked after, by son Hussain Dawood.
Ahmad Dawood Group
| S No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Dawood Hercules | 2025 | 1615 |
| 2 | Dilon Limited | 155 | 76 |
| 3 | Dawood Cotton | 541 | 173 |
| 4 | Burewala Textile | 599 | 545 |
| 5 | Lawrence Woolen Mills | 329 | 248 |
| Total Manufacturing Assets | 3649 | 2657 |
Ahmad Dawood
The present day Monnoo dynasty was founded by two Monnoo brothers namely Dost Mohammad Monnoo and Nazir Hussain Monnoo who migrated to Calcutta in the 1940s where they set up Olympia Rubber works. At the time of independence the rubber works was exchange with a textile mill owned by a Hindu in Nabiganj, Dhaka. The new factory was christened as Olympia Textile Mills. The name Olympia has been omenous for the Monnoos and that is why a number of their units have been named Olympia.
Kaisar Monnoo Group
Munir A Monnoo Group
Munir A Monnoo migrated from East Pakistan in 1971 and set up looms in Faisalabad. His first industrial project was Olympia Textile in the name and style of the factory he had left in East Pakistan.
Ghulam Mohammad A Fecto, the founder of Fecto group was known as Ghulam Mohammad Adamjee in East Pakistan but while setting up the business in West Pakistan, now Pakistan, he dropped the name Adamjee in fovour of the acronym Fecto and thus from Ghulam Mohammad Adamjee he has become Ghulam Mohammad A Fecto.
Fecto is a Memon group and Ghulam Mohammad A Fecto had migrated from Bombay to Dhaka in 1947 where he set up Far East Commercial and Trading Company dealing among other things, in electrical and home appliances. It entered into a joint venture, Fecto-Yamagen Electronics Ltd, with Toshiba in 1961 for the manufacture of Radios in East Pakistan. At the time of birth of Bengladesh he was managing director and director in at least ten companies including Fecto Ltd, Fecto-Yamagen Electronics , Dacca Radio Electronic Company, Fecto Agencies Ltd, Chaudary Fishing Company, Fecto Industries and Fecto Trading.
In the 1970 while other Memon groups were switching from industries to trading Fecto decided to venture into manufacturing by acquiring Adamjee Sugar Mills changing its name to Fecto Sugar Mills, followed by the setting up of another sugar mill and a tractor manufacturing unit. Presently the group has 14 companies in its folder including three listed on KSE.
| S No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Fecto Cement | 2,471 | 1,376 |
| 2 | Baba Farid Sugar | 326 | 506 |
| 3 | Fecto Sugar | 744 | 528 |
| TOTAL | 3,541 | 2,410 |
Sultan Lakhani is the eldest of the four brothers who have partnership in the group with units manufacturing detergents, soap, surgical instruments, paper and board, as well as food. Lakhanis claimed to have an annual turnover of 200 million dollars in 1990 and if ranked by turnover should come among the top ten but it would be mainly because of the sizable turnover of the Premier and Lakeson Tobacco. The group has recently won the coverted franchise for McDonalds Fast Food in Lahore.
Listed Companies
| S No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Premier Tobacco | 442 | 2,206 |
| 2 | Lakson Tobacco | 511 | 2,405 |
| 3 | Century Paper | 1,117 | 1,104 |
| 4 | Merit Packaging | 73 | 197 |
| 5 | Clover Foods | 72 | 24 |
| 6 | Tritex Cotton | 253 | 291 |
| 7 | National Detergents | - | - |
| 8 | Colgate | 408 | 1,347 |
| TOTAL | 2,876 | 7,574 |
| 9 | Century Insurance |
| S No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Fateh Textile | 2,170 | 2,123 |
| 2 | Fateh Sports Wear | 420 | 157 |
| 3 | Fateh Industries | 253 | 240 |
| TOTAL | 2,843 | 2,520 |
" I used to roam on bicycle from village to village, collecting skins for the tanners, earning a profit of One Anna (4 paisas) per skin", he was reportedly fond of telling his visitors.
Currently the group is facing litigation from Al-Mashriq Bank for default in the payment of a Rs 120 million loan.
| S No | Name | Assets | Turnover |
| 1 | Shahzad Textile | 379 | 401 |
| 2 | Shaheen Cotton | 327 | 394 |
| 3 | Shadab Textile | 85 | 142 |
| 4 | Sargodha Spinning | 695 | 253 |
| 5 | Sajjad Textile | 512 | 215 |
| 6 | Husein Sugar | 358 | 560 |
| 7 | Shadman Textile | 387 | 394 |
| TOTAL | 2,739 | 2,359 |