Karachi is the financial capital of Pakistan. It accounts for the lion's share of Pakistan's GDP and generates about 70% percent of the national revenue. Most of Pakistan's public and private banks have their head offices in Karachi. Nearly all of these are located on I.I Chundrigar Road which is fast becoming home to the high rise headquarters of major corporations. The most notable of these are the Habib Bank Plaza which was the tallest building in Pakistan before it was surpassed by Muslim Commercial Bank's MCB Tower. Besides banking and finance, Karachi also hosts the 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.[8]. This financial boom helped Pakistan to achieve its ambitious goal of exceeding an seven per cent growth in GDP for the fiscal year 2004-05.The recent trend of ICT (information and communications technology), electronic media and call centers has become a significant part of Karachi business hierarchy. Call centres for foreign companies have been targeted as a significant area of growth, with the government making efforts to reduce taxes by as much as 80 per cent in order to gain foreign investments in the IT sector.
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 with an annual growth rate of nearly 6.5 per cent. 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.
Karachi is the nerve centre of Pakistan's economy. The economic stagnation due to political anarchy, ethnic strife and resultant military operations during the late 1980s and 1990s led to drops in industrial growth in the city.
