ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: On the direction of the Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication to promote Pakistan’s IT industry and to enhance its exports, all possible steps are being taken to ensure sustainable growth of Pakistan’s IT Industry including strong incentives, tax breaks, capability and capacity improvement of the IT industry among others.
The IT & IT enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances comprising of computer services and call center services have surged to US $1.003 billion at a growth rate of 23.42% over the first 10 months of FY 2019-20 (July – April), in comparison to US $812.648 during the same period in FY 2018-19, according to performance report of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), an organization under Ministry of IT and Telecommunication.
The IT Industry has been a star in Pakistan’s economy and has achieved positive year on year growth as a result of strong government support, skilled entrepreneurs and a talented workforce.
Over 6,000 Pakistan based IT companies are providing IT products and services to entities in over 100 Countries.
Strong inventive are being provided to the IT industry and there are several projects intended to facilitate and assist IT Industry in its growth trajectory and to ensure continued upward momentum in local and export earnings.
Pakistan was ranked the 3rd most popular country for freelancing in the world and Pakistani IT companies are providing products and services to world’s largest companies.
Pakistan’s ICT Industry has been a resounding success story for Pakistan, having achieved a stellar remittance inflow growth rate and being the largest net exporter in the services sector.
As of April 2020, IT & IT enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances, including telecommunication, computer and information services have surged to US $1.177 billion at a growth rate of 20.85% over the first 10 months of FY 2019-20, in comparison to US $973.760 million during the same period in FY 2018-19.
In view of the possible fallout of COVID-19 pandemic, the Secretary IT directed to ensure close coordination with the IT industry to minimize the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the IT Industry and to take all possible steps to ensure maximum facilitation and assistance to the industry during these challenging times.