Karachi
UTC+5Pakistan · PKT
Sun, 9 Aug 2026
Timezone Guide
Karachi, Pakistan runs on UTC+5. This time zone stays fixed year-round at UTC+5 — daylight saving time is not observed. There is a 9-hour difference between Karachi and New York. Standard working hours don't overlap at all with New York, so meetings need an early or late slot on one side. There is a 4-hour difference between Karachi and London. Standard 9-to-6 working hours overlap for about 5 hours a day with London. A good time to connect: 13:00–18:00 in Karachi lines up with 09:00–14:00 in London. There is a 4-hour difference between Karachi and Tokyo. Standard 9-to-6 working hours overlap for about 5 hours a day with Tokyo. A good time to connect: 09:00–14:00 in Karachi lines up with 13:00–18:00 in Tokyo. This timezone is also shared with cities such as Astana. Keeping these offsets in mind makes it easier to schedule calls or travel to and from Karachi.
Practical Info
Karachi (Pakistan) is home to roughly 16.5M people. Today brings about 13.5 hours of daylight: sunrise at 05:48, sunset at 19:18. This time zone stays fixed year-round at UTC+5 — daylight saving time is not observed. It sits in the Northern Hemisphere, about 25° north of the equator. Traffic drives on the left.
Flag
Pakistan
Capital
Islamabad
Continent
Asia
Time Zone
PKT · Asia/Karachi
Coordinates
24.86°N, 67.01°E
Currency
PKR (₨)
Calling Code
+92
Driving Side
Left
Hemisphere
Northern
Language
Urdu, English
Measurement System
Metric
Did You Know?
Pakistan Tried Daylight Saving Three Times and Gave Up Three Times
Pakistan runs on UTC+5, all year, and has done since 2009. That flat statement conceals three separate attempts to do otherwise, each of which collapsed.
2002. Clocks went forward on 7 April and back on 6 October, on a cabinet decision made "to make maximum use of daylight and to save energy." It was discontinued after a single year. One reported reason: compliance was poor in rural areas, where people simply carried on with the schedules they already had.
2008. Reinstated in the middle of an acute power crisis. Pakistan was facing a shortfall of around 4,000 megawatts, driven partly by a 50% collapse in hydropower output as river levels fell. Urban areas were enduring eight to twelve hours of power cuts a day. Clocks went forward on 1 June, originally to run until 31 August, then extended to 1 November — an extension that pushed daylight saving straight through Ramadan, which began that September.
2009. One more attempt, 15 April to 1 November. Then nothing. Pakistan has not moved its clocks since.
The logic was always the same and always sound on paper: peak electricity demand in Pakistan falls between six and ten in the evening, when everybody comes home and turns on lights, fans and air conditioning. Shift the clock forward and you push some of that demand back into daylight. Three governments ran the experiment. Three times it was abandoned.
The clock: here is the detail that makes it genuinely strange.
During those daylight saving periods Pakistan moved from UTC+5 to UTC+6. India, immediately to its east, sits on UTC+5:30 and does not observe daylight saving at all.
Which means that for several months in 2002, 2008 and 2009, Pakistan was half an hour ahead of the country to its east. The sun reached India first and Pakistan got to the hour first. Karachi, at 67° east, was running roughly an hour and a half ahead of its own solar time.
Three times the country tried to borrow an hour from the evening. Three times it handed it back.
Sources
- Simple Wikipedia, *Time in Pakistan* (2002, 2008, 2009 tarihleri; Hindistan'ın yarım saat gerisinde kalması)
- Grokipedia, *Pakistan Standard Time* (2002'nin kırsal uyum sorunu nedeniyle bırakılması)
- timeanddate.com, *Pakistan turns to daylight saving to address power crisis* (4.000 MW açık; hidroelektrikte %50 düşüş)
- timeanddate.com, *Pakistan Extends Daylight Saving Hours in 2008*
- GeneralBlue, *Pakistan Summer Time* (akşam 18:00–22:00 talep zirvesi; 8–12 saatlik kesintiler)
Annual Daylight
Working Hours
4h overlap