Time in Karachi

Karachi has used UTC+5 since 1951; before that it kept UTC+5:30, the offset India still uses. Pakistan has tried daylight saving three times in recent decades, in the summer of 2002 and again in 2008 and 2009, mainly to ease electricity shortages. Each time it was dropped, and since 2009 the clocks have stayed put.

UTC+5 is based on the 75th meridian east, but Karachi sits at about 67° east, at the far southwestern end of the country. The sun therefore runs half an hour behind the clock: solar noon comes around 12:30 PM, winter sunrise is as late as about 7:12 AM, and summer sunset is close to 7:24 PM. Lahore and Islamabad, nearer the reference meridian, reach solar noon about half an hour earlier on the same clock.

Karachi is Pakistan's commercial capital and main port. Offices typically work 9:00 to 17:00 Monday to Friday, with a longer midday break on Fridays for Jumu'ah prayers. The Pakistan Stock Exchange, headquartered in Karachi, trades from 9:30 to 15:30 Monday to Thursday and runs a split session on Fridays around the prayer break. During Ramadan offices close earlier in the afternoon.

Karachi is ten hours ahead of New York from November to March and nine hours ahead during US daylight time, so 8:00 AM in New York is 5:00 or 6:00 PM in Karachi, at the very end of the working day. London is five hours behind in winter and four in summer, which gives a comfortable overlap in the London morning. The PKT to EST page lists the full day, hour by hour.