Pakistan software export shows increase by 52%


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...26-4-2007_pg5_9


By Romail Kenneth

KARACHI: The export of computer software and information technology services has gone up by 52 percent to $64 million in July-Feb 2006-07, as compared with $42 million in the same period last year.

According to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country received foreign remittances of $64 million till February 2007, as against $42 million received in July-Feb 2005-06.

“The data of the export of computer software and information technology services may be up,” said Ashraf Kapadia, President of the Pakistan Software Houses Association. “The country is on track for a year-on-year growth of 50 percent,” he added. He said the country might achieve its full year target of $108 million set by the government for 2006-07. As per statistics published by Pakistan Software Export Board (PESB), there are approximately 1,000 companies engaged in IT & IT-enabled services in Pakistan.

Talking on the software industry he said, there is a misconception that the software industry stands at $50-100 million. Actually the figure of $108 million is the amount of remittances received by the State Bank of Pakistan under the head of computer & information services. This only represents a small fraction of the total IT industry.

He further said that if we look at the total IT & IT-enabled services industry in Pakistan, estimates put the total industry at $2,000 million of which $1,000 million is export related.

[b]Statistics shows that the IT & IT-enabled services industry will continue to grow at 50% per year. As such, the target for remittances for the fiscal year 2007-2008 should be $162 million.[/b]

Ashraf said that the IT sector in the country is facing two main challenges that are infrastructure and human resource.

The first challenge is that office space in the urban centres of Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad has become a major issue. The second challenge is the availability of human resource. The IT sector relies heavily on trained human resource. With a growth rate of 50% year-on-year, the human resource has starts becoming a constraint and we need to address this issue immediately, otherwise it will become a major constraining factor to our growth.

Talking about IT parks, he said that presently there are three IT parks in Islamabad, two in Lahore, and two in Karachi. However, none of them are IT parks in the true sense. They are simply normal office space, where power and connectivity facilities have been enhanced.

In Lahore, the Punjab IT Board (PITB) has started construction of a purpose-built IT park, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. In Karachi, the 240-acre Korangi Creek Industrial Park being developed by the government of Pakistan will have 16 acres ear-marked for IT & IT-enabled services companies. However, a lot more needs to be done if the IT industry is to continue growing at this pace.

Ashraf informed that in recent years, India is one of the major players in IT & IT-enabled services and being recognised as a world leader. India claims that the IT & IT-enabled services exports from India are in the region of $27 billion.

Good news!