Pakistan gearing up to be a major destination for out sourcing of IT: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that Pakistan, by focusing on development of human capital, better infrastructure, establishment of SEMEWE 4 and an enabling environment for investors is gearing up to be a major destination for out sourcing IT enabled services.

He was talking to Mr.W. Lance Anderson, President & CEO Nova Star Financial and Mr. Tom Slone, Chairman & CEO, Touchstone Communications, who called on him along with a delegation at the PM house here on Friday.

The PM said as a result of economic reforms introduced by the government, investment friendly policies and availability of human capital, privatization and opening up of the telecommunication sector to the private sector has stimulated phenomenal growth, the number of cellular phone users has risen from 2.5 million to 20 million users in a period of three years also attracted an investment of over US$ 2 bn creating over 10,000 jobs.

The Prime Minister appreciated the performance of Touchstone Communications saying that such companies are government’s ’strategic partner’ in the growth of IT&Telecom sector and govt will take all steps to facilitate their business in Pakistan.

Mr. Tom Slone and his delegation appreciated the investment policies of the Pakistan govt.

The meeting was also attended among others by Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, M/o Privitization&Investment, Mr. Owais Ahmad Khan Leghari,M/o IT& Telecommunication, Mr. Rehan Dawer, Executive Vice President, Guidance Finance and senior officials.

In another meeting with Mr. Graham Ward, President International Federation for Accountants (IFAC), PM said, " Accounting and auditing system should have the capability to fix responsibility and ensure transparency".

Mr. Shaukat Aziz said that public sector accounting system in Pakistan should be modernized in line with international standards and internationally accepted best practices in government accounting should be adopted.

American IT firms mulling investment



By Our Staff Reporter


LAHORE, Feb 2: Some American Information Technology (IT) companies are likely to invest in Pakistan during the next six months in response to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s recent visit to the US.

This was stated by chief executive officer of an IT company Salim Ghauri, who was part of the official delegation during the prime minister’s visit, while speaking to reporters.

“There are clear signals that some big names from the US IT sector are planning to establish their facilities in Pakistan six months down the line,” he said.

“Many international brands in the IT sector like SAP from Germany are thinking of shifting their businesses from India owing to high labour cost, a trend which opens up a new venue for Pakistan’s IT sector,” he added.

He said it was for the first time that the prime minister included IT people in his delegation that showed that the government had started giving weight to this sector as well.

According to him, the prime minister chaired two different sessions on IT with the American as well as US-based Pakistani entrepreneurs and briefed them about the business-friendly environment in Pakistan for investing in the IT sector.

“Issues like human resource shortage, infrastructure problems, internet connectivity, Pakistan’s country perception, travel issues, IPRs, cost of land and extremism were discussed during the two sessions,” Mr Ghauri said.

He said the premier pleaded Pakistan’s case very well and told the US audience that the government had set up a Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and announced tax exemption for the IT companies to encourage investment in this sector.

He said Pakistan had introduced visa relaxation for businessmen from certain countries including the US to make convenient their travel to Pakistan.

He said his company had also assisted the prime minister on projecting positive image of Pakistan. “I made it clear to the US IT companies that the issue of land cost was specific to major cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad but still a vast area of land was available on very cheap rates around these major cities,” he said.

He said he also informed the US entrepreneurs that the IT companies were producing a good number of IT professionals besides a good number of professionals from the call centres and Business Process Outsourcing.

Mr Ghauri said it was high time for the government to address the concerns expressed by the US IT businessmen and suggested that the government should arrange frequent visits of the Pakistan-based IT companies’ delegations to the US and the western countries, hire international consultation firm for building the country’s image and invest more on research.

Similarly, he said, the local IT companies should ensure quality, improvement in the middle level management, R&D and introduction of training courses.

He urged the media as well to focus on the IT industry like it once focused on the textile sector and disseminate awareness about IT among the masses.

“The government, the IT industry, the IT institutes and media should join hands in building up the IT sector in Pakistan as a catalyst of economic change,” he said.

-Dawn

Pakistan seems to be a good choice for IT businesses to open up. However it has to start playing in its own league, providing IT services and support to Pakistan for customers of major players and then expand, not just not start comparing to other countries. It may sound a bit harsh, but it is the reality. No country can start as a big player in any industry.

for example SAP employes more than 4000 people in India and to say that SAP is thinking of moving its operations from India to pakistan seems a bit far fetched. where will all the qualified manpower come from? and remember, SAP is not MS windows where you can employ anyone and they can start being productive. All the SAP consultants have atleast a few years of industrial and technical experience under their belts and then go on to become SAP consultants and get compensated very well.

Even for SAP developers, you cant start next day as the language SAP uses to develop is unique to SAP and the developers themselves need a fair bit of industry and business knowldge before they start working on SAP. There is no statement made by SAP about folding its operation from India, which is next to impossible anyway, but there are no media or SAP internal reports suggesting that, and trust me if there were, I would know.

And do not forget about SAP customers in India. There are more than 1000 SAP customers in India. where do you think they will go if, repordetely, SAP folds up from India?

However, I am sure Pakistan will do well in IT industry as time goes on. Moreover, not everything is about a direct, cut throat compatetion with others as it harms both players in the market one way or the other . If Pakistani market increases, it will absorb lot many people anyway, and having good, healthy competition helps, just so that we do not relax and take things for granted.

daZoy

local market in IT may be developing quite well but the export market is stagnant. The PSEPB has again failed to hit its export target for the year which was $50 million only.

The way the exports are promoted in Pakistan seems to be flawed and the PSEPB seems to have no answers to its problems.