ITeS export remittances surge to 20.75pc in 11 months

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances comprising of computer services and call center services surged to $1.11 billion at growth rate of 20.75 % over the first 11 months of Financial Year 2019-20 (July-May), in comparison to $917.875 million during the same period in Financial Year 2018-19.

According to performance report of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), an organisation under Ministry of IT and Telecommunication 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.

The Ministry of IT is taking all possible steps to ensure sustainable growth of Pakistan’s IT Industry and to ensure close coordination with the IT industry and associated stakeholders. The generous incentives from the government, and various projects to enhance capacity and capability of the IT Industry have resulted in strong industry growth rates.

Incentives to the industry include zero income tax on IT & ITeS exports till June 2025, tax breaks for PSEB registered IT start-ups for 3 years, up to 100% foreign ownership of IT & ITeS companies, up to 100% repatriation of profits for foreign IT & ITeS investors, tax holiday for venture capital funds till 2024 among other incentives.

On the direction of Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Ministry of IT and Telecommunication is continuing its efforts to enhance IT exports and encourage IT companies.

Secretary IT Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui said that PSEB has highly trained and experienced asset in the form of commercial counselors in important cities around the world and that they can contribute significantly in projecting Pakistan’s IT & ITeS sector around the globe.

He directed PSEB to engage and utilise the services of Pakistan’s commercial counselors to enhance Pakistan’s IT & ITeS exports and for facilitating Pakistan’s IT companies in the overseas markets.