Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies: Industrial Development — Revision Notes

These notes condense Section 5 Industrial development of Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies 0448 Paper 2. You need the key terms, the products, locations and location factors of ten listed industries, the formal–informal contrast, government support including export processing zones, and an assessment of call centres and tourism as routes to development.

Syllabus coverage

0448 Paper 2, Section 5 (2026 syllabus)

• 5(a) Raw materials, refined, processed, manufactured, value-added; infrastructure and services; primary, secondary, tertiary
• 5(b) Cement, cotton (ginning to clothing), sugar refining, crafts, fertiliser, iron and steel, brick, oil refining, sports goods, surgical instruments, tourism: scale definitions; products and markets; locations and location factors; formal and informal sectors; capital and labour; government promotion; EPZs and industrial estates; call centres; tourist attractions and the feasibility of tourism

Definitions to learn word-perfect

Term	Definition
Primary industry	Obtains raw materials from the land or sea
Secondary industry	Processes or manufactures goods
Tertiary industry	Provides services
Large-scale industry	Big factories, many workers, heavy capital investment
Small-scale industry	Small units with few workers and modest capital
Cottage industry	Production at home by family members using simple tools
Formal sector	Registered, taxed, regular wages and conditions
Informal sector	Unregistered, untaxed, irregular work
Value-added	Increase in value through processing
Infrastructure	Roads, railways, power, water, telecommunications
EPZ	Export processing zone: an area with tax and customs concessions for export production
GNP / GDP	Value of output of a country’s people, including income from abroad (GNP), or produced within the country (GDP)

The cotton chain (ginning to clothing)

Raw cotton → ginning (separating lint from seed) → spinning (yarn) → weaving (grey cloth) → dyeing and printing → garments, towels and bed linen. Value is added at every stage. Ginning takes place close to the cotton fields; spinning and weaving cluster in Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore and Multan.

Location factors checklist

Capital, Site (flat land), Raw materials, Power, Water, Labour, Communications, Government policy, plus Market. Use them like a checklist when explaining any location.

Industry quick table

Industry	Location	Main factor
Sugar	Beside cane fields	Bulky cane, which loses sugar content quickly
Cement	Near limestone (Salt Range, north-west, Sindh)	Heavy raw material
Fertiliser	Near gas fields and pipelines	Gas is feedstock and fuel
Iron and steel	Pipri near Port Qasim	Imported ore and coking coal
Oil refining	Karachi; Attock near Rawalpindi; near Multan	Imported crude; local crude; market
Sports goods, surgical instruments	Sialkot	Skilled labour and tradition
Brick	Edges of towns	Clay and local demand
Textiles	Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan	Cotton supply, labour, port

Informal sector: pros and cons

Advantages: many jobs for unskilled workers; little capital needed; cheap goods and services; flexible; recycles materials. Disadvantages: low, irregular pay; no job security or safety rules; child labour; no tax revenue; poor quality control.

Government promotion

• Infrastructure and industrial estates (SITE Karachi, Hattar).
• EPZs (Karachi EPZ; also Sialkot, Gwadar) with duty-free imports and tax concessions.
• Loans and credit for small industries; training; incentives for foreign investment.

Tourism and call centres

• Tourism attractions: natural (Hunza, Swat, Naran–Kaghan, K2, beaches) and cultural (Mohenjo-daro, Taxila, Lahore Fort, Badshahi Mosque).
• Benefits: jobs, foreign exchange, rises in GNP and GDP, improved roads.
• Limits: access, security concerns, seasonality, environmental damage, lack of hotels in remote areas.
• Call centres: need fast internet, stable power, English skills; held back by power cuts and patchy broadband.

Sources of capital and labour

• Capital: private savings and family businesses; bank loans; government development finance; foreign direct investment, including investment linked to CPEC; remittances from overseas workers that families invest in small workshops.
• Labour: a large, young workforce; cheap unskilled labour from rural–urban migrants; skilled craft labour passed down in families (Sialkot metalwork, carpet weaving); shortages of trained technicians and managers.

Worked example

Question: Explain why sugar mills are located close to the areas where sugar cane is grown. [3]

Model answer: Sugar cane is bulky and heavy, so it is expensive to transport long distances [1]. Cut cane starts to lose its sugar content within a short time, so it must be crushed quickly [1]. Locating the mill near the fields reduces transport costs and keeps the sugar yield high [1].

Common mistakes and exam traps

• Defining the informal sector as “illegal”. It is unregistered, not necessarily illegal.
• One factor only. Location questions usually reward several linked factors.
• Mixing up GNP and GDP. GNP includes income earned abroad (such as remittances); GDP is output within Pakistan.
• Generic tourism answers. Name a natural and a cultural attraction and say why each draws visitors.
• Forgetting the market. State whether products go to domestic or export markets when asked.

How is this section examined?

This content is examined on Cambridge Paper 2, The environment of Pakistan (1 hour 30 minutes, 75 marks, 50% of the qualification). You answer three questions from a choice of five; each is worth 25 marks and has four parts, (a) to (d), built around resources such as maps, graphs, tables and photographs. Part (d) specifically tests analysis and evaluation, so finish every revision topic by practising a judgement: for example, how sustainable a resource or a policy is, with evidence for and against.

Frequently asked questions

Which industries are mainly for export? Sports goods, surgical instruments and much of the cotton textile output; cement also has some exports.

What makes an industrial estate different from an EPZ? An industrial estate provides serviced plots and infrastructure for any industry; an EPZ adds tax and customs concessions for firms that export their output.

Related pages

• Industrial Development study guide
• Industrial Development practice questions
• Agricultural Development revision notes

Source: Cambridge International, Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies 0448 syllabus for examination in 2026, Paper 2 Section 5.