South Asia Investor Review

Several Pakistani pharmaceutical companies have started domestic production of generic versions of GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) drugs Ozempic/Wegovy (Semaglutide) and Mounjaro/Zeptide (Tirzepatide). Priced significantly lower than the branded imports, these domestically manufactured generic drugs will increase Pakistanis' access and affordability to address the obesity crisis in the country, resulting in lower disease burdens and improved life quality and longer life expectancy. Obesity causes diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases (NCD) which are now among the leading causes of death in Pakistan.  Pakistan Pharmaceutical Companies BF Biosciences, Ferozsons, Getz Pharma and GD Searle Co are among the leading pharma producers of both injectable and pill versions of the GLP-1 and GIP drugs in Pakistan.  Over the last few years, these drugs have revolutionized treatment of diabetes and obesity. Now, Pakistani pharmaceutical companies have be...

The top 1% of Indians own 40.1% of the nation's wealth, higher than the 37% global average. This makes India one of the world's most unequal countries, according to the World Inequality Report. By contrast, the top 1% own 24% of the country's wealth in Pakistan, and 23.9% in Bangladesh. Tiny groups of wealthy elites (top 1%) are using their money to buy mass media to manipulate public opinion for their own benefit. They are paying politicians for highly favorable laws and policies to further consolidate their power. It is a phenomenon known as " elite capture ".  Wealth Inequality. Source: World Inequality Report 2026 "Extreme wealth inequality is persistent and increasing" in all parts of the world, says the report published by World Inequality Lab of the Paris School of Economics. This has serious economic, political and social implications. It is undermining democracies and empowering billionaires at the expense of the common people, including the mid...

Data Vault and Telenor Pakistan have launched the nation's first dedicated AI data center in Karachi. It is designed to support startups, researchers, and government agencies with high-performance computing and GPU-as-a-service offerings. It is equipped with more than 3,000 Nvidia's highest performance H100 and H200 GPUs for which the Trump Administration issued export licenses. These GPUs cost from $40,000 to $60,000 each, making the Nvidia chips the biggest chunk of the investment made in this AI data center. Other data centers in Pakistan also support  AI  workloads but this new data center in Karachi is specially designed for AI. It puts the country on a short list of only a handful of nations with locally hosted AI data centers. Pakistanis rank among the world's top five users of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, securing the fourth spot among 21 nations surveyed by the Schwartz Reisman Institute. The local hosting of data in Pakistan ensures data sovereignty to comp...

The World Bank researchers have recently concluded that 88 per cent live in urban areas. Their conclusion is based on satellite imagery and the Degree of Urbanization (DoU) methodology. The official Pakistani figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) put the current level of urbanization at 39%. The source of this massive discrepancy is the government's reliance on administrative boundaries rather than population density and settlement patterns, according to the World Bank working  research paper  titled  "When Does a Village Become a Town?".  Urbanization in Pakistan. Source: World Bank Urban areas are characterized by high population density, while rural areas are sparsely populated with more open space. Major differences include urban areas having more commercial development, diverse job opportunities, and a faster pace of life, while rural areas often focus on agriculture and have a slower pace of life with closer-knit communities but may face c...

The Indian government reported faster-than-expected GDP growth of 8.2% for the September quarter. It came as a surprise to many economists who were expecting a slowdown based on the recent high-frequency indicators such as consumer goods sales and durable goods production, as well as two-wheeler sales. At the same time, The International Monetary Fund expressed doubts about the Indian government's GDP data.  The IMF has recently expressed doubts about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government's GDP data. It has particularly questioned the government's statistical methodologies, inflation measurement, and the estimates of the informal economy used in reporting the country's gross domestic product. Professor Arun Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University believes the IMF's concerns are valid. He thinks the real size of India's economy is only half of what is officially claimed.  “The economy is almost 50% wrong – when the government says it’s $3.8 trillion, my...

Pakistan's benchmark index KSE-100 has soared nearly 40% so far in 2025, becoming Asia's best performing market, thanks largely to phenomenal growth of retail investors. About 36,000 new trading accounts in the South Asian country were opened in the September quarter, compared to 23,600 new registrations just three months ago, according to Topline Securities, a brokerage house in Pakistan.  Broad and deep participation in capital markets is essential for economic growth and wealth distribution in any country.  Pakistan's KSE-100 Index Chart. Source: Bloomberg Increase in trading accounts is helping inflows into local equity mutual funds as well. As much as 16% of total assets managed by asset management companies is now invested in stocks at the end of September, up from 9% at the start of the year, according to data from the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, as recently reported by  Bloomberg .  Pakistan Investment Accounts Growth. Source: Bloomberg Massive...

Pakistan recently held its second International Maritime Expo and Conference (PIMEC-25) in Karachi where it announced ambitious plans to expand its maritime sector and boost its blue economy. It is an initiative of the  Pakistan Navy , organized under the patronage of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs.  The country plans to invest a $100 billion in maritime development by expanding its national shipping fleet, building three new deep sea ports, adding a new shipyard at Gwadar, modernizing its fisheries, and upgrading maritime education. The plan called "Maritime @100" focuses on turning Pakistan into a regional maritime hub for trade, energy, food, and sustainability.  It aims to increase the sector's GDP contribution from the current 0.4%-0.8% to 4% by 2047. PIMEC 2025. Source: Lovin Karachi Pakistan has a 1,046 kilometers long coastline on the Arabian Sea with maritime sovereignty over 200 nautical miles deep Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and 150 nautical miles of C...

DreamBig, a fabless semiconductor company founded by NED University alumnus Sohail Syed, has been acquired by Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) for $265 million. The Silicon Valley-based startup is developing networking chips for data centers, with hardware specifically designed to run AI applications. The startup  does not manufacture its own chips but instead licenses its designs to other semiconductor companies. It has had a partnership with Samsung’s foundry division to bring its hardware to market.  Sohail Syed, Founder and CEO of DreamBig Semiconductors Here's how DreamBig Semiconductor describes itself on its  website : "DreamBig Semiconductor is a chiplet-based networking company dedicated to providing comprehensive, high throughput solutions for the AI, Datacenter, edge compute and Automotive markets. Headquartered in San Jose, CA, USA, we have over 200 employees globally and partnerships with the largest semiconductor companies in the world.  Founded by RDMA exp...

"Ana minkum wa alaikum" declared Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City in his victory speech on November 4, 2025. The phrase translates to "I am from you and  and I am with you".  "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant", he added. Mamdani is the first Muslim and first immigrant of South Asian descent elected  New York City Mayor. At 34, he is not only the youngest but also the first mayor of the Big Apple who was born in Africa.  Zohran Mamdani Speaking Outside the Bronx Islamic Center With his landslide victory in the mayoral race, Mandani will join London Mayor Sadiq Khan to become the second Muslim mayor of a major western city.  Mamdani became the first New York mayoral candidate to win over a million votes since the 1960s — more than Rudy Giuliani or Mike Bloomberg ever received. Mamdani has received 50.4% of the votes counted so far. Cuomo is at...

Pakistan is emerging as a major arms supplier to developing countries in Asia and Africa. Azerbaijan, Myanmar, Nigeria and Sudan have all made significant arms purchases from Pakistan in recent years.  Azerbaijan expanded its order for JF-17 Thunder Block III multi-role fighter jets from Pakistan from 16 to 40 aircraft. The recent order extends a 2024 contract worth $1.6 billion to modernize Baku’s airborne combat fleet to $4.6 billion. This makes Azerbaijan the largest export customer of the Pakistan-made warplane. Bangladesh is negotiating purchase of up to 32 JF-17 Thunder Block III aircraft from Pakistan.  Pakistan PFX Concept Fighter. Source: Raksha Anirveda In Africa, Pakistan has recently signed a $1.5 billion contract to supply combat drones and military trainer aircraft. The order includes 150 armored vehicles, 220 drones and 10 K-8 Karakorum trainer/light attack aircraft.  Earlier in 2021, Pakistan sold three JF-17 Thunder fighter jets and ten Super Mushsha...

HS-1 is Pakistan's first hyper-spectral  satellite which is equipped with advanced hyperspectral imaging sensors capable of capturing data across hundreds of narrow spectral bands.  The satellite lifted off from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on a Kinetica-1 rocket. It is expected to boost Pakistan's national capacities in areas such as precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, urban planning, and disaster management. Its high-resolution data will support improved resource management and strengthen Pakistan’s resilience to climate-related challenges.  Though the HS-1 satellite is primarily aimed at civilian applications, it will also have significant intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability for military applications. It is much more advanced than Pakistan's PRSS-1 satellite launched in 2018 which senses objects on earth in the optical RGB (Red-Green-Blue) range. The HS-1's high-resolution data will support improved resource manag...

The F-1 visas for Pakistani students are soaring amid a global decline, according to the US government data. The US visas granted to Pakistani students climbed 44.3% in the first half of Fiscal Year 2025 (October 2024 to March 2025) with warming relations between the governments of the two countries. The number of visas granted to Indian students declined 44.5%, compared to  20% fewer US visas given to students globally in this period.  The number of US visas granted to Pakistani students in the current year is on track to reach 5,800 which will be an all-time high.   F-1 Student Visa Trend For Pakistan 2018-2025. Source: ApplyBoard In Pakistan, 3,322 F-1 student visas were granted in fiscal year 2023. The number of F-1 visas issued in the first half of fiscal year 2025 was 1,928, an increase of 44.3% compared to the same period in the previous year. While the final numbers for fiscal year 2025 are not yet complete, Pakistan is on track to issue a high numb...

"We are not proxies for India in the US", wrote Suhag Shukla, co-founder and executive director of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in a recent article for  The Print , an Indian media outlet.  This was written in response to Indian diplomat-politician Shashi Tharoor's criticism that the Indian-American diaspora was largely silent on the Trump administration policies hurting India.  After a meeting with a US congressional delegation in September 2025, Tharoor had questioned why the Indian diaspora appeared apathetic to US policies affecting India, including H-1B visa fees and tariffs. Suhag Shukla (L) and Shashi Tharoor The HAF is seen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's critics and human rights advocates as an American proxy for the Hindutva movement and its Hindu Supremacist ideology. HAF spun off in 2003 from the American branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an organization with ties to anti-Muslim violence in India. HAF co-founder Mihir Meghani published a...