House of Habib


The House of Habib is a Pakistani conglomerate company which is based in Karachi, Pakistan. The group was founded by Habib Esmail in 1841.
It is a prominent Khoja business family in Pakistan.

History

The company has history going back to 19th century, when it started as Khoja Mithabhai Nathoo in 1841 based in then Bombay as a family business. In 1891, a family member named Habib Esmail helped the company to expand. From this, company became a major trading firm. In 1921, his four sons joined the business when he established Habib & Sons which went on to become today's HBL Pakistan or Habib Bank Limited.
The House of Habib holds an important place in Pakistan's early history. Habib Bank was shifted to Pakistan on the personal request of its first Governor General Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Mohammad Ali Habib came to the aid of the nascent state "even before the Government 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 900 million held by it. It is said that Mohammad Ali Habib gave a blank cheque on Lloyds Bank to Governor General Jinnah who wrote Rs 80 million in it.
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 and Zulfiqar embossed on it. The Habib Bank still uses this as its insignia. The house is ran by the Rafiq Habib family and not not jointly with the Dawood Habib family, who are confused to run the same lines of business; however, run the Dawood Habib Group of Companies.

Companies

The group owns following companies:

Automobile

,,,,,

Wholesale