A disease Pakistan can do without
In this week’s cover story, we explore the advent of share buybacks in Pakistan’s capital markets, with major companies listed on the...
Automotive industry feels the pinch
Pakistan’s auto industry is the quintessential oligopoly, with only three major players assembling a handful of automobiles: Honda, Indus Motors (Toyota) and...
Breathing room to act
After months of speculation, at least we know where Pakistan stands: by the skin of our teeth, the country remains connected to...
Tax Refunds: To obtain or not to obtain, and if so, how?
Benjamin Franklin famously said that "n this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." His words are...
Reform! What, why and for who?
Pakistan was made with a commitment to democracy and development but soon after the founding generation succumbed to greed and politically expediency...
How not to hold businesses accountable
Business publications have a natural bias: we tend to be pro-capitalism, pro-free markets, and pro-entrepreneurship. What we at Profit try to do...
Political will or bad policy and reform design?
Reform remains an elusive and little understood concept in Pakistan. The word is seldom used on TV. It is used even less...
Time to deregulate oil prices
If there is one habit we wish the government of Pakistan would try to kick, it is the insane attempts to assert...
Our manufacturing opportunity
For the last 5 months, I have undertaken the arduous task of renovating my home. Much to the discomfort of family members,...
Dear CEOs, please stop whining
One of the professional hazards of being a financial journalist in Pakistan is that when you get to meet and talk to...
The real accountability
Accountability is a damaged word in Pakistan. Recent rains in Karachi brought out various aspects of public service delivery in this large...
Recipe for sustained growth of jobs in Pakistan to meet youth bulge
They ask me to give ideas for increasing employment in Pakistan. The answer they are expecting is build more industry, more industrial...
Can PTCL’s new CEO turn back the clock?
The market just isn’t big enough for these many players. This is a statement that is thrown around a lot these days,...
How do consultants, donors and Pakistani ministries solve problems?
The flood of 2010 showed me (I was Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commision then) how dysfunctional policy was in Pakistan and...
The meaning of culture
“I came to see during my time at IBM that culture is not just one aspect of the game, it is the...