House of Habib
The House of Habib is a prominent Muslim Khoja business family in Pakistan. The Habibs have spread their wealth over a large number of private companies. A profile of Rafiq Habib in an Economic Review stated that the Habib group has owned over 90 companies in its heyday.[1] The Habib group's most famous and successful subsidiary is its Banking and Finance division.
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[edit] History
The history of the House of Habib goes back to middle of the previous-to-last century when Esmail Ali of Jamnagar, India, set up a small utensil factory in Bombay. His son Habib Esmail, born in 1878, founded the House of Habib. Habib was very young when his father died, forcing him to join the business of his uncle Cassum Mohammad. Cassum Mohammad was the owner of Khoja Mithabai Nathoo, a merchant, and a manufacturer of copper and brass utensils. It was because of his association with Mithabai Nathoo that Habib Ismaeel came to be known as Seth Habib Mitha.
The House of Habib holds many distinctions in Pakistan's history. Habib Bank was shifted to Pakistan on the personal bidding of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He came to the aid of the nascent state "even before the Govt of Pakistan was ready to issue appropriate government paper" with a Rs 80 million loan when the Reserve Bank of India failed to deliver Pakistan share of Rs 750 million held by it. It is said that Mohammad Ali Habib gave a blank cheque on Lloyd Bank to the Quaid-e-Azam who wrote Rs 80 million in it. [2] [3]
The Habib family set up offices in Vienna and Geneva as early as 1912 and incorporated Habib and Sons in 1921, which dealt in brass, metal scraps and gold with "Lion of Ali" & Zulfiqar embossed on it. The Habib Bank still uses this as its insignia.[4]
[edit] Present day
The Habib group today consists of:
- Finance division - Bank AL Habib, Habib Metropolitan Bank, Habib Bank AG Zurich, Habibsons Bank, Habib African Bank, Habib Overseas Bank, Habib Insurance Limited, Habib Canadaian Bank, Habib American Bank, HBZ Finance
- Motors - Indus Motors Company and Agri Auto
- Manufacturing - Shabbir Tiles and Ceramics, Thal jute, AuVitronics, Thal Engineering, DYNEA Pakistan Limited, Baluchistan Laminates, Noble (PVT) Limited, Pakistan Papersack Corporation Ltd., Horn Plastics Canada
- Retail - Makro Habib Limited
- IT - Noble Computer services.
[edit] References
- ^ Economic Review, November 1984 (P 59) p 14
- ^ Editor of Dawn News, September 11, 1991
- ^ Habib Bank, Golden Jubilee Presentation
- ^ Business-Net (bnet). "AuVitronic Limited". Economic review. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb092/is_n7_v28/ai_n28693148/. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
