IT firms exploring local, global markets aggressively
By Muhammad Yasir
KARACHI: Pakistan’s local information technology (IT) companies have enhanced their productivity standards and output at par with global level, which showed its increasingly penetration in the local market that reached up to 40 percent share in the country’s largest financial sector in providing applications, solutions and services.
Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and IT-enabled Services (P@SHA) Chairman Nadeem Elahi said this while talking to journalists at the sidelines of press conference held for the launch ceremony of research study ‘Pakistani Women in Technology’.
Pakistan’s IT companies and software houses are aggressively capturing the opportunities of local businesses, which were earlier imported and provided by multinational IT-based companies, P@SHA chief said.
The local IT companies are actively participating in the emerging branchless banking of country whereas it provided different out-of-box solutions of remittances receipts from abroad through various software solutions.
The contribution of the IT stood at 1.2 percent or $2.8 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP), which is much lower as compared with India and Philippine standing at 4.36 percent or $60 billion and 4.8 percent or $90 billion, respectively.
Elahi pointed out the government negligence towards understanding importance of information communication technologies (ICTs) in the economy and business is the main reason toward the slow pace of IT industry growth whereas the private sector is working hard to flourish their businesses locally and globally on the basis of help yourself without government assistance.
The local IT companies are thriving consistently their business to North America, in Middle East and Africa that increased the exports to more than $217 million per annum by 2011. The volume of exports could easily be pushed to $10 billion mark by improved policies and support.
Elahi urged the government to lay its focus on ICT in the economy through e-commerce and e-governance models, which will not only introduce transparency in the systems but the industry can generate hundreds of thousands of employments to the youth of the country.
The private sector itself is working for the development of the industry rather than the government, which has due role to facilitate technology producers of the industry at global level, he remarked.
Around 70 percent population of Pakistan consists of people under 30 years age bracket and ICT is the sector, which can engage the huge workforce as potential manpower, P@SHA chief said.
This sector offers handsome salary packages to its professional that enlarge the base of middle class in the society, he pointed out and said the ICT is the need of every sector whether it is agriculture, e-governance, banking and finance, textile and etc.
There is a need to understand the ICT in true letter and spirit in order promote it at local level, he concluded.
” 
” 
” 
” 
