Business

Bosch opens its doors in Pakistan

German envoy speaks of country’s potential as company inaugurates office in Lahore

Our Correspondent February 09, 2016

German envoy speaks of country’s potential as company inaugurates office in Lahore. PHOTO: AFP

LAHORE: Bosch, a global supplier of technology and services, inaugurated its first office in Pakistan. Expanding the Bosch Group’s operations in the region, the office based in Lahore will serve as the liaison office for the company’s automotive aftermarket, power tools and security systems business divisions.

German Ambassador to Pakistan Ina Lepel, along with Steven Young, president, Bosch Turkey and Middle East, and Volker Bischoff, general manager of Bosch Middle East, attended the event.

Pakistan will prove to be a big market for global manufacturers: BoI

Lepel said with a young and growing population of nearly 200 million people, Pakistan is an interesting market, which cannot be ignored in the long-run by multinational companies. “Bosch’s latest venture is an important milestone in our bilateral economic relations with Pakistan.”

She added that Pakistan is expected to register a steady GDP growth rate of 4.5% over the next two years according to the International Monetary Fund and lower inflation rate positively affects domestic purchasing power.

Reflecting on Pakistan’s economic growth, Young said, “We are keen to be part of Pakistan’s rising growth story. The strongly developing middle class rising consumer demand and the growth of manufacturing and automotive sectors are very positive indicators.”

Bischoff said the country is a crucial market for the sustained growth of Robert Bosch Middle East. “We are keen to develop direct relationships with our local customer’s and support the industry with our expertise.”

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LCCI visit

The German Ambassador also met Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Almas Hyder and said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would make Pakistan an attractive business destination.

She said that strong liaison between Chambers of Commerce and Industry and business institutions of the two countries would definitely enhance the mutual trade.

The German ambassador said that Pakistan’s exports were enhancing after the GSP plus status but Pakistani businessmen would have to adopt an aggressive strategy as customers in the EU were not only quality conscious but also very selective.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2016.

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COMMENTS (41)

Talha | 8 years ago | Reply Soon Islamabad will have the largest airport of Pakistan and it'll be the hub of all airlines of Pakistan..... I'm scared that what will be the reaction of karachiites on this

Syedpk | 8 years ago | Reply @Malik Saab You are right nobody is complaining that why Punjab govt is inviting investments its their right and I am more than happy that Lahore atleast is getting developed under Shahbaz shareef. What we (me and most probably Human) are complaining is that Federal govt is also marketing and bringing investments to Lahore. Federal govt should be neutral.and support all sections of the country specially the place which is also (along with Lahore) an investment magnet and is stuck under the rule of a Sleeping beauty, because of no fault of their.Karachi doesnt vote PPP, and PPP has all the power in KArachi. We expect atleast the Federal govt to support the city.

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Namuh | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Please read all the responses in this thread to your comments very carefully, because then I hope you will talk based on practical economic sense instead of the provincial ethno-racist blackmail that is so typical of you people and the petty pygmy politicians you keep electing.

Animal | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Want to know why Bosch is investing in Lahore and not Karachi? Because it has come to INVEST in this country, not LOSE A FORTUNE in regular payments to the extortion rackets that YOU keep voting into power in your city and province all the time.

Pessimist | 8 years ago | Reply @Xnain Having big industrial states (by size, by number and also by no. of units) doesnt matter, high ratios of Industrial output doesnt matter, Then can you please elaborate what is your criteria for consider an area as Industrial hub ? So far the only criteria I can see from your posts is any area which is not Karachi can be dubbed industrial hub.

Syedpk | 8 years ago | Reply @Xnain Guess you have a comprehension problem. 30% of the countries production in 1 city, says otherwise. So you say Interior Sindhs single Industrial Estate is bigger than 12 karachi Industrial states combined, that would roughly translate into more than 30% of the country's production, and if going by your earlier comment, KPK also has larger Industrial state tahn Karachi , then there also production would be more than 30%. Rounding them up, 30% (karachi) + 30% (InteriorSind's just one Industrial Estate), + 30% KPK = 90%, so your arguments imply that Punjab, Interior Sind (Excluding that one so called Giant Industrial Estate) and Baluchistan together account for only 10% of the industrial manufacturing of the country ?? Back to school dude. Statistics and common sense suggest that 30% of the industrial manufacturing in one city would qualify it as the industrial Hub. (30% figure is from Asian Development bank , It didnt come out of thin air like yours)

Xnain | 8 years ago | Reply @Syedpk: Having industrial estates means nothing, Even interior Sindh has more industry of larger scale than combined Industrial units of Karachi but would someone call Interior Sindh as Industrial hub? Seriously.

naeemhussain | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: You can never get rid of your bias against Punjab it is real shame.

Saad | 8 years ago | Reply Bosch opening a liaison office in Pakistan is news? Wow!

Syedpk | 8 years ago | Reply @Xnain, I mentioned industrial estates to prove my point that there is manufacturing sector here, Secondly to be exact KArachi has 12 Industrial Estates (refer to Wiki for list). Thirdly The size of industrial states also matter most of which are huge. again I mentioned that because you said there is no manufacturing in KArachi, Industries do manufacturing, its common sense. Also refer to ADB report about Karachi, 30% of the countries Production is done is Karachi. (which is approx 10% of the population), so on average 3 times more production than the national avg. Dont know where you are getting information from.

Xnain | 8 years ago | Reply @Syedpk: Manufacturing the the backbone of Karachi economy. Services sector such as telecom are mostly headquartered in Punjab. probably you should have first hand knledge of economy of Karachi first.

Xnain | 8 years ago | Reply @Syedpk: by that sense KPK has 5-6 industrial estates. Having industrial estates does mean investor come there.

Shakil Ahmed Khan | 8 years ago | Reply One comment and Pakistanis start fighting, may be that was the purpose of that comment! Its good that any international company come to Pakistan, Siemens has already good presence in Pakistan since a very long time, Bosch is part of the same group. Karachi, Lahore, other cities all part of Pakistan look at bigger picture. Bosch will not be selling its services and products only in one place but will be across the country! I hope its not just their consumer products but also their automotive branch.

Syedpk | 8 years ago | Reply @ Xnain, You must be joking. If not than open some books and do some studying, Karachi is home to atleast four industrial areas/Cities including the biggest one in Pakistan(SITE Area). Industries do not provide services they manufacture. Manufacturing the the backbone of Karachi economy. Services sector such as telecom are mostly headquartered in Punjab.

syedpk | 8 years ago | Reply Its not a coincidence that all the investments during NS tenures come directly to Lahore. To most of the commentators above, yes its up to Bosch to decide where and when to establish their office, the problem is the Lahori new era mughals aka NS market only Lahore for investment. The state of affairs of Karachi are not that bad that they dont even mention it, to be fair most of the multinational companies are still there, if it was so bad , they would have all moved out from there. And yes we karachiites vote MQM and PTI to some extent, because we know that NS will for sure neglect us as usual, (an elected priminister's responsibilities does not end with the area of his support, he has been entrusted with the responsibility of whole Pakistan not just his constituencies), and we dont vote PPP because we dont want the state of affairs of Karachi to be like PSM or PIA, (which unfortunately still is because the control is still in the hand of PPP, because they dont want census taking place which would show that atleast half the population of Sind is resident of Karachi).

maL | 8 years ago | Reply Very strategic pick of the city in Pakistan by Bosch.

Xnain | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Punjab remains the manufacturing hub of the country. Karachi, on the other hand, is dominated by services and financial industry. So you see new retail brands, food chains and IT firms setting up shops in Karachi as opposed to Lahore. Germans are engineers so it makes sense for them to setup shop in Lahore. Had they been, burger sellers, lawn boutique or an IT firm, you would have seen the first outlet opened in Karachi.

ali | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: its up to Bosch not what you think. get some live..

crafts | 8 years ago | Reply Creating chaos in city in jealousy that is why every one is going there. Telenor is building it's new office there. Yesterday, Malindo Airlines announces its flight from Lahore, now this.

optimist | 8 years ago | Reply The reason for selecting Punjab could be close links of Sialkot with Gernmany. . Many German citizens have married Pakistanis and live (even in vallages) of Punjab. . Sialkot exports surgical instrument which is then named as Made in Germany and exported throughout the world.

Temur | 8 years ago | Reply @Human Germans are savvy investors. One of their major companies will never open its office in a city that can be brought anytime to a standstill at whim of a British citizen.

Shahid Akram | 8 years ago | Reply I wish that Bosch can open R&D center in Pakistan as well !

Insider | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Its just the opening of head office or first branch. And secondly why do you have to play Sindh card or talk against Punjab as if latter is like switzerland. huh. out of 11 million punjabis, 10 million are poor just like rest of Pakistan. And on top of that, Its the German company's decision not Shahbaz Sharif's. They do their own market and customer research.

Malik Saab | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Do you know recently i was travelling in Germany and i met one delegation from Punjab government. Do you know Shahbaz Sharif can even speak German and he is in constant contact with German officials. They were like knocking at every door of German officials to brief them about the opportunities in Punjab. That is how you get the investment. Where is the Sindh government?. Do not blame Germany for it. Punjab government try hard to bring investment in Punjab. It is a high time to start competing against Punjab, rather than complaining all the time. Kindly agree that Punjab is becoming competitive. Also according to my information Punjab government is in talks with Paypal, Audi, Google, Microsoft and from many fortune 500 companies to set up their offices in Punjab. So where you are governments?. Kindly Compete and Stop Complaining..

Rameez | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Keep voting for MQM.

Shakeel | 8 years ago | Reply Good for Pakistan. Maybe in the future we can get Bosch to manufacture or assemble some of their products here.

Unknown | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Why dont you ask the party of your city to stop taking "Bhatta". Even the settled business are moving from there and you are asking for new players to enter. Its too risky, I wouldnt invest there at all

Karachiite | 8 years ago | Reply @Human - I'm from Karachi, and take it from me, we honestly don't care. And it's the company's decision to open up offices wherever they want and deem a good market, after all, they know where it's more profitable and where it's not.

Hyde | 8 years ago | Reply Kindly keep your biased words strictly with you because it's not doing any good to the country

Antiq | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Please refrain from playing the province card. Khi or Lhr at the end of the day our own country is benefiting from the cause

Syed | 8 years ago | Reply Govt. gave them a biased report to open doors in single province

U-turn | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: It doesn't take a rocket scientist for anyone to know why Karachi isn't being visited. Stop electing corrupt leaders, then not only will the crime rate go down, but investing will start pouring in in the most attractive city of Pakistan.

Patriot | 8 years ago | Reply @Human, then elect talented people in your votes not Baba's and Saaayein's

TN | 8 years ago | Reply How many times the CMs of other provinces have visited Germany? CM, Punjab visits to Germany among other countries are paying dividend. By the way our CM speaks German and this a big advantage. Maybe other CMs should start marketing their respective provinces.

UT | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day.

SKN | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: Someone's investing in Pakistan and you are being ungrateful. That's inhuman.

SKN | 8 years ago | Reply @Human: You are so naïve. Businesses go where they see a good ROI. This is not Pakistani govt where you can always whine why are you doing this in Punjab and not in Sindh. Lets stabilize our Karachi first by getting rid of the two mafias clad as political parties.

Rumormonger | 8 years ago | Reply Siemens has sold off most of its assets in Karachi.

Syedpk | 8 years ago | Reply @Human Not her fault, its our government who shows that Pakistan is limited to these two cities. All the investment historically during NS multiple tenures have been "mysteriously" going to Lahore only, for some reason.

Human | 8 years ago | Reply Amazing that Miss Lepel has never visited other areas of Pakistan except Lahore and Islamabad, and yet she talks about cooperation two countries.

Human | 8 years ago | Reply Germany has been mostly investing in the single province of the country. It would've been more productive if Bosch had opened its office in the largest city 'Karachi' to attract mass population. Very sad!

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