In this article, we take a look at the top 20 companies in Pakistan. You can skip our detailed analysis of Pakistan’s economic environment and go directly to the Top 5 Companies in Pakistan. The top companies in Pakistan mostly pertain to the petroleum, banking, construction, agriculture, and real estate industries.
Outlook of Pakistan’s Economy
Pakistan’s GDP in 2022 amounted to $376.5 billion, an 8.13% increase from 2021. Currently, the country is at risk of default due to a gradually worsening balance of payment crisis over the years. In March 2023, its dwindling foreign reserves reached the rock bottom of $9.76 billion. Consequently, the Pakistani rupee crashed to 288.6 to the dollar in April 2023, down from around 188 during the same time in the previous year.
The decreasing value of the rupee and the perceived risk of economic default have caused the Pakistani stock market to decline by 20% during the last year, and investors are not expecting their earnings to grow in the foreseeable future. According to a survey conducted by the Overseas Investment Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pakistan’s Business Confidence Index has decreased by 21% since June 2022, causing various industries and companies such as Airlift to cease their business operations within the country.
The failure of Pakistan’s economy was triggered by the recent wave of political instability, that started after ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from the government. The ouster resulted in mass rallies and protests across the country, which threatened the security of the public and halted business activity. The PDM government, which replaced Khan, assumed office amid sky-high inflation and a staggering external debt of $126.07 billion.
Pakistan’s economy is infested with structural issues such as excessive government interference in markets, existence of a large informal economy, insufficient investment in infrastructural and human resource development, inadequate tax revenue generation, and ineffectiveness of governance structures. These issues have led the country to slowed economic growth, high inflation, reduced investments, severe balance of payment crises, and rapidly diminishing foreign reserves.
Pakistan also ranks among the 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change, which also impedes economic development and is expected to diminish the country’s GDP by 18-20% by 2050. The 2022 monsoon floods, which inundated one-third of the country, inflicted a loss of $30 billion on the economy. As a result, the inflation rate rose to 48.7%, further damaging the purchasing power of an average citizen.
One silver lining for Pakistan in these bleak economic conditions is the rise of the e-commerce industry, which can help decrease the country’s balance of payment deficit. Less than three years after the launch of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Pakistani sellers earned a third rank among new sellers on the marketplace. Pakistan can further capitalize on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and increase its exports by $6 billion.
Seeing a potential for growth due to this rise in online transactions, Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) has also set up its office in Karachi, Pakistan. According to sources, Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) is seeking to increase its revenue by introducing innovative payment technology to Pakistani consumers.
Pakistan also has a tremendous potential to earn revenue through digital exports, since its software developers are considered profitable hires by American companies like Turing. To further develop this potential, tech companies like Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) have launched training programs for students. Additionally, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has also announced 1000 tech scholarships worth $500,000 for youth in the Pakistani province of Balochistan.
Even though giant companies like TikTok and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) are setting up their offices in Pakistan due to increasing consumer demand and legislative requirements, the companies are still displaying hesitance due to political instability and unreliable government policies.
Top 20 Companies in Pakistan
Pixabay/Public Domain
Our Methodology
For our list of the top 20 companies in Pakistan, we picked the biggest names from the Pakistan Stock Exchange and Economy.pk’s list of the largest companies in Pakistan, and ranked them in the ascending order of annual revenue. Most of these companies are publicly listed corporations. We collected the revenue figures from Datanyze and Pak Business World, among other sources.
Here are the top 20 companies in Pakistan based on their latest annual revenue figures:
20. The Hub Power Company Limited
2022 Revenue: $342 million
Hub Power Company, also known as HUBCO, is the biggest Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Pakistan, which can produce up to 3581 megawatts of power. Currently, HUBCO contributes a large portion of electricity in the national grid of Pakistan that is generated by a hydel power plant and three thermal power plants.
19. Bank Alfalah Limited
2022 Revenue: $834 million
Incorporated in 1992, this bank stands among the largest commercial banks in Pakistan. Bank Alfalah provides a range of services including investment banking, agri-finance, Islamic banking, and securities brokerage in more than 200 cities across the country.
18. The Bank of Punjab
2022 Revenue: $521 million
Bank of Punjab is an international commercial bank with 780 branches across Pakistan. As per the directives of the Federal Shariah Court of Pakistan, the Bank of Punjab is considering to shift towards the interest-free Islamic banking model, which is also widely supported by the Pakistani public.
17. Nestlé Pakistan
2022 Revenue: $573 million
Nestlé Pakistan is a subsidiary of the Swiss company, Nestlé, that produces bottled water, juices, coffee, dairy products, infant nutrition products, and breakfast cereals. Because of its strong brand loyalty, the company was able to earn its highest-ever profit of $53.7 million despite the high inflation in 2022.
16. Nishat Mills Limited
2022 Revenue: $583 million
Nishat Mills is a textile company that produces cloth and fabric products from raw cotton and synthetic fiber. The company is a part of the Nishat Group, which is a conglomerate of public and private companies pertaining to textile, cement, paper, real estate, hospitality, power, automobile, and agriculture industries. The total assets owned by the group have a value of $28 billion.
15. Allied Bank Limited
2022 Revenue: $835 million
Allied Bank is a commercial bank that provides a range of banking services to individual consumers and businesses including consumer finance, trade services, corporate and investment banking, and home remittances. The bank has collaborated with Euronet Pakistan to launch a loyalty program that will offer reward points to its customers which can be redeemed at 1500+ global brands including Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
14. MCB Bank Limited
2022 Revenue: $864 million
MCB Bank is also a member of the Nishat Group of companies which has 4 subsidiary companies and 1600 branches established across Pakistan. In order to expand its customer base and to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), MCB Bank has collaborated with Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) to help these companies gain easy access to digital payments and business management solutions.
13. Meezan Bank
2022 Revenue: $887 million
Meezan Bank is Pakistan’s first Islamic commercial bank that has established a network of 890 branches since its incorporation in 2002. The bank earned a post-tax revenue of $55 million during the first quarter of 2023. Meezan Bank has collaborated with Fieldfisher Capital, a European law firm, to provide advisory services regarding Islamic finance to its clients in Europe and Middle East.
12. Oil & Gas Development Company Limited
2022 Revenue: $1.18 billion
OGDCL is an oil and gas exploration and production company that is dual-listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. The company is predominantly owned by the Government of Pakistan and its largest gas field is situated in Qadirpur, Sindh.
11. Engro Corporation Limited
2022 Revenue: $1.25 billion
Engro Corporation is a conglomerate that owns companies in the energy, food, agriculture, petrochemicals, and telecommunication sectors. Due to rising costs of business and inflation in Pakistan, Engro’s profit decreased by 41% in the first quarter of 2023.
10. Dawood Hercules Corporation
2022 Revenue: $1.26 billion
Dawood Hercules Corporation is an investment and holding company that manages investments for its subsidiaries and companies associated with it. The company has a market capitalization of $174.6 million.
9. Attock Petroleum Limited
2022 Revenue: $1.3 billion
Attock Petroleum is the third-largest oil marketing company in Pakistan in terms of market share and has more than 700 outlets across the country where liquid fuels and compressed natural gas (CNG) are sold. It also sells fuels and petroleum products to armed forces and manufacturing industries, and also provides refueling services to the aviation sector of Pakistan.
8. Shell Pakistan Limited
2022 Revenue: $1.46 billion
Shell Pakistan is a subsidiary of Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL), which has a century-long history of oil retail in the Asian subcontinent. It is widely recognized for its lubricant business, and also supplies jet fuel to various Pakistani and international airline carriers.
7. Habib Bank Limited
2022 Revenue: $1.7 billion
Habib Bank Limited is Pakistan’s largest banking network and also the first commercial bank which was established within the country after its independence in 1947. It has more than 1650 branches spread across the country and has a customer base of more than 27 million.
6. House of Habib Group
2022 Revenue: $1.8 billion
House of Habib is a Pakistani conglomerate that owns businesses in the banking, education, real estate, automobile, energy, and packaging sectors. The company makes a collective contribution of 1% to Pakistan’s GDP and owns net assets amounting to $1 billion.
