Profile: Muhammad Ali — Pakistan’s caretaker Minister for Energy, Power and Petroleum

Mr. Muhammad Ali has taken charge as the caretaker Minister for Energy, Power & Petroleum.

Mr. Muhammad Ali has over 30 years of domestic and international work experience in the public and private sectors, including as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. He also chaired the Committee on Power Sector Audit, Circular Debt Resolution and Future Roadmap which prepared a detailed report for reforming Pakistan’s power sector, and was member of the negotiation team which successfully negotiated revised power tariff and signed the MoUs with private power producers.

Mr. Ali is founder of some of the leading companies in Pakistan including Inbox Business Technologies, Converge Technologies, Elixir Securities and Al-Shaheer Corporation (Meat One is the consumer brand). He has also worked and set up firms in the USA, Canada and UAE, and served on Boards of leading Pakistani corporates, stock exchange, credit rating agency, Federal Board of Revenues’ Tax Advisory Group and Government of Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet. He also Chaired the Committee on Power Sector Audit, Circular Debt Resolution and Future Roadmap which prepared a detailed report for reforming Pakistan’s power sector, and was member of the negotiation team which successfully negotiated revised power tariff and signed the MoUs with private power producers.

From 2011-2013, Ali served as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the apex regulator for the corporate, insurance and financial sector of the country other than banking, where he successfully revamped the capital market and corporate governance landscape of Pakistan by ensuring successful passage and implementation of various laws through the country’s Parliament. He is credited with the development of a revised and fully automated capital gains tax regime in capital markets. In 2019, the Government of Pakistan tasked Ali to head a Committee to undertake a detailed audit of the power sector of Pakistan, consequent to which he also helped in the successful re-negotiation of power purchase agreements between the Government and the Independent Power Producers, which is expected to lead to substantial savings of public money and lowered power tariffs in the country. 

Ali is an MBA from IBA, University of Karachi, LLM from University of Toronto and a Mid-Career MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.