PSEB Sees $1 billion software exports by 2005 | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

PSEB Sees $1 billion software exports by 2005

KARACHI: Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) said on Sunday it had envisaged $1 billion software exports by 2005 – the year when all kinds and styles of trade worldwide enter into a new regime of World Trade Organization (WTO).

Suhail Shahid, Managing Director, PSEB while speaking on “PSEB Projects for Boosting Software Exports of Pakistan” at the third session of the two-day ITCN Asia 2002 Conference held here, said the PSEB projected software exports of $1 billion by 2005.

“By that time, the world IT market will soar to $865 billion,” the PSEB MD said. At present, the market is estimated at about $554 billion. If Pakistan managed to achieve $1 billion target by 2005, it would be contributing around 0.1 per cent to the world IT market. Shahid said the PSEB in order to achieve the export target was focusing on four core areas. (i) Customized software (ii) IT-enabled services (iii) IT products and (iv) Multinational Companies (MNCs).

“For customized services, we expect $250 million worth of export-oriented businesses in that length of time,” he said.

He said the PSEB, for MNCS, started tapping North America, the Middle East, @r East, China and Japan. “In these markets, the opportunities are in abundance and all we need to tap them smartly and skillfully,” he said.

Shahid said the PSEB was seeking ’channels’partners’worldwide. He told the participants of the conference the PSEB had inked a partnership accord with a North American firm, namely Kingslade Solutions.

“We are expecting more decent deals with the British IT houses, firms and entrepreneurs,” said the MD PSEB.

hi addition to the aforesaid four core areas, the PSEB especially targeted ‘industrial automation’ within the country, he said.

The project has been bifurcated into two main areas: (a) Insurance sector, banks, fast moving consumer goods, schools, hospitals, etc. (b) Manufacturing units whether large or small.

“The IT is the need of the day, the manufacturers would have to embrace it and the sooner they do the better,” he remarked. “The PSEB will fulfill software requirements of 500 companies under the industrial automation project,” he said.

He said some 550 companies related to information technology had acquired the PSEB’s membership and the number would cross 800 mark within a short span of time. He further said the PSEB was striving hard for ISO certification of its members. The PSEB had asked 80 member companies for the ISO certification. Some 68 software companies had applied for and the PSEB selected 30 companies for the certification.

He said the PSEB had started internship projects for fresh graduates willing to make the IT a career. Some 100 applicants from Lahore and Islamabad qualified and they were getti]3g training and experience besides Rs4,000 a month honorarium for each trainee.

“The PSEB will soon start a similar project in Karachi for 4001 graduates,’ he said.
Source: The News
Date:8/12/2002