A comparison of 45 groups in 1997 and 1970 reveals 24 new names which means 24 shining stars of the 1970 have disappeared from the corporate horizon without leaving a trail. Those who have disappeared or do not rank among the top industrial families now, include Adamjee, Fancy, Valika, Isphani, BECO, ARAG, Hafiz, Karim, Milwala, Hyesons, Hussain Ibrahim, Maula Baksh, Adam, A K Khan, Ghani, Rangoonwala, Harijan, Shafi, Fakir Chand, Hasham, Khyber Textile, Hoti, Noon and Dost Mohammad.

The new entrants who have replaced them are, Ittefaq, Dewan, United, Saphire-Gulistan, Atlas, Chakwal, Fecto, Hashwani, Gatron, Lakson, Rupali, Tawakkal, Fatima, Servis, Ibrahim, Sargodha, Elahi, Schon, Kohistan, Fazalsons, Sitara, Nagina, Tata, Shahnawaz and Zahur.

The 42 groups ranked by White in the 1970 included 24 Karachi-based groups, 12 from Punjab and five from NWFP while I could not place whether Dost Mohammad was based in Karachi or Punjab. On the other hand, the 1997 ranking include 24 groups based in Punjab, 18 based in Karachi and three based in NWFP. At least 15 of Punjabi groups were Chiniotis while there were nine Memons, three Ismaeeli Khojas but not a single native Sindhi or Baluchi group. In fact, it is difficullt to identify more than a dozen companies on the KSE except for a few sugar mills headed by a sindhi or for that matter a Baluch Chief Executive.

The Karachi-based based groups have not only gone down in number but also in ranking. Except for Maula Baksh, Adamjee and Noon, all the families disappreaing from the 1970 list were headquartered in Karachi. Adamjee, at number 3 in 1970 do not appear in the ranking based on manufacturing assests, Dawood, no 1 in 1970 has gone down to14th position, Habib at no 1 in 1990 has relegated to sixth position, Bawany and Gul Ahmad have fallen from commanding heights in the 1970 to the bottom of the list in 1997.

Three top and seven of the top ten positions in 1997 are held by business groups from Punjab but a fundamental and structural change that has taken place between 1970-97 is the fall of Memons and the rise of Chiniotis.

In 1970's every fourth company in Pakistan was owned by the Memons but in 1997 one in every seven companies listed on KSE belonged to Chiniotis. The two business communities of Chiniotis and Memons together own 206 of the 725 KSE companies.

The top 44 business groups of 1997 include 15 Chiniotis, 9 Memons, Three Ismaeelis, One Khoja and three Pathans from the NWFP.

As stated earlier in the chapter, ranking based on the listed companies does not reflect their actual economic muscle since they have consciously take steps to appear small, hiding a big part of their wealth in private and unlisted public limited companies. Although Ittefaq group has only four listed companies and Monnoos have none, it was possible to rank them because of govt. reports and estimates of the assets given out by the group members, in interviews or statements.

The main monnoo group headed by Jehangir Monnoo has up to 20 textile and sugar mills, big live stock and poltry forms. Several of Pakistan's biggest industrial families like the Tabanis, the Haroons, Kasim Dada, Chaudrys of Gujrat, Raja group of Industries and Jaffer Bros have none or just one listed company but their wealth is legendary.

Tabanis do not appear in ranking of the rich of the rich families either in the 1970 or 1990 but with an origin going back to early 19th century they are undoubtedly one of the richest families of Pakistan today. According to a group profile Tabanis had opened their offices in Japan, Singapore and London, as early as 1920. The group currently has ten companies its fold including a private airline and is general sale agent for Uzbekistan Airline and is also sole agent for Ukraine Airways, Turkmenistan Airways, Kazakhstan Airways and Volga Dnepr. The group enjoys monopoly in barter trade with the former Soviet Union and its exports in 1992 were valued at 300 million dollars. It owns and operates a hotel in Tashkent, is setting up a garment factory in Uzbekistan and a cigarette factory in another Central Asia Republic. However, it does not have a single company listed on the Stock Exchange.

Fazal (Fatima) group based in Multan is ranked at number 37 on the basis of five listed companies but comprises of 24 industrial units.

The House of Habib is corporate enigma. As stated in last chapter, its Habib Bank had provided a loan of Rs 80 million to Pakistan govt. in 1947, Pakistan's first industrial unit, Dentinic limited was launched by Habibs, none of its manufacturing units was lost in Bhutto's nationalization or seperation of East Pakistan and in 1984, it comprised 90 public and private limited companies. Judged by the yardstick of known assets, Habib group comes at number 7, even after Dewan and Saphire who were born as recently as 1970s and 1980s. Perhaps the low ranking of the House of Habib, dispropotionate to the image of the Habibians can be explained by an article in the Souvenir published on the occasion of 50 years of Habib Bank which had observed that Habibian make considerable effort to " hide the light under a bush, in the religious belief strongly held that to win the pleasure of Allah is worth infinitely more than to seek the plaudits of the public."

Hashwani's Hashoo group is at 21 in the national ranking of the top 44 companies but the assets acquired by the group during first two years of Bhutto govt. and the no of private and public companies in its fold tell another story. His catapulation under Benazir Bhutto is comparable to that of Mian Mohammad Mansha under Nawaz Sharif.

Adamjee, one of the biggest names of the 1970s could not end up at the bottom of the 45 families. But has the group realy gone down, considering that it has 15 private limited companies but only 4 listed companies in its fold? The group operates Pakistan's biggest insurance companies with assets of over Rs 3 billion.
 

Big and Beautiful

Table of Contents

22 Families over the years

Robber Barrons of Pakistan