Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul-Haque said Pakistan has achieved another breakthrough by exceeding the objective of two billion dollars IT sector exports during the last fiscal year.
In a press release, he said the ICT export remittances, including telecommunication, computer, and information services surged to 2.123 billion dollars, at a growth rate of 47,43 percent during last fiscal year, as compared to 1.440 billion dollars during the previous year.
He expressed confidence that the target of five billion dollars in IT sector exports would be achieved by 2023. The minister congratulated the Pakistan Software Export Board and IT companies’ management for the historic increase in exports.
Pakistan Aims to Double IT Industry in Two Years With Tech Zones
Pakistan is seeking to increase its IT industry in two years by setting up dedicated tech zones across the country, after missing out on tech booms that helped nations like India and Bangladesh become the outsource operators for the world.
The world’s fifth-most populated country awaits to open a dozen such zones by next year, said Amer Hashmi, who heads the government body responsible for developing science and technology zones. “It’s offering a 10-year waiver on corporate tax and imports of any equipment or building material needed for the areas, which will give Pakistan’s IT industry a “catapult push” that could double its size to as much as $6 billion in two years, he added.
The ambition first emerged after Prime Minister Imran Khan queried answers at a meeting last year as to why Pakistan was missing out on the tech boom. Drawing on his own experience as an entrepreneur, Hashmi told the prime minister that the South Asian nation lacked a tech ecosystem or an enabling environment.
About 10 global companies and 50 domestic firms have signified importance in setting up in proposed zones, Hashmi said, adding that as much as $1.5 billion of private investment will pour into these projects over the next two years.
He is also influencing the government to spend millions of dollars on technology-based projects to give more contracts to local companies. TPL Corp. is building one such tech zone in commercial capital Karachi.
