Pakistan’s IT revenues cross $ 2 Billion

ISLAMABAD (APP): Pakistan's IT industry revenues have crossed US Dollar 2 billion while total exports crossed US Dollar 1 billion during last year. The growth in IT exports each of the last three years has been around 50 per cent while the domestic market has grown at the rate of 33 per cent per year, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) announced here Thursday. "Though the IT industry has made significant strides over the last few years, we are future-focused on the immense potential that yet needs to be realized and we must work hard with other government departments to continue to support the IT industry in areas like Human Capital Development, IT Park Construction and Marketing," said Managing Director, PSEB, Yusuf Hussain. Pakistan is now on the world IT map and more international customers can feel comfortable in out-sourcing work here," said Ashraf Kapadia, President Pakistan Software House Association (PASHA). These benchmarks were established following preliminary studies undertaken by PSEB and have been fully endorsed by its Board of Directors that includes President PASHA and leading IT industry's CEOs. More exhaustive studies on IT industry in collaboration with the Gartner Group, State Bank of Pakistan and Statistics Division are also underway.
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=bn&nid=447

I think system did work to put that news............

Great to see Pakistan moving forward in the IT field!

Good news. Keep it up Pakistan.

congratulations to Pakistan. keep up the good work guys :)

Just off the top of my head werent our exports meant to be $180 or so million this year but we are hearing abt $1billion.

We do need such achievement but achieveing them through number game is not good for us at all.

Do correct me if im wrong.

Splendid news it is great we are making good leaps in this field. Hope it keeps up.

Its just bad journalism. The report that had come out a month or two ago said about the industry size being a billion dollars but not the revenues. The exports were supposedly around 100 million dollars.

The news is correct. Hereis the official news from the Export Bureau itself:

Hmmmm. Interesting.. So its quite a puzzle. Revenues or market size? If pakistan has problem figuring out this simple issue, it definitely does not bode well.. Now all numbers released by your government will be suspected.

If u keep ur UGLY face out of this it would be fine. Y dont u just worry abt ur own country and the extreme poverty levels. leave pakistan to us to worry abt.

You are just jealous that Pakistan can actually get 2 billion dollars IT revenue!! And this is just the start!! It is my belief that Pakistan has much more talented people in IT than india and I am sure that in time they will prove it!

Sorry dude. I was definitely not jealous but was little sarcastic. But I broke a rule I set for myself - not to post into any topics that have nothing to do with India.

I feel that there is space for all of us. I wish that all south asian countries do better and we all will benefit if we can create a dynamic economic region. Okay, i am off this topic.

Thanks for clarifying.

This $2 billion figure is not convincing. It might be 2 billion rupees. Pakistani newspapers are notorious for getitng figures and currencies mixed up.

I wish it were $2 billion but it is very unlikely.

Dude as I said above this not from newspapers it is from EPB itself therefore it is right!! Why are you not convinced??

what companies are earning this money? Who are their customers? Where are the jobs?? Either this industry is extremely under-reported, or it is operating by stealth.

$2 billion exports is a huge number, where are the corporations?

There you go!! I suggest you do some research of your own and I am sure you will find the rest of the answers. And I would also suggest to have some more faith in our local talent.....we have some really ingenius people when it comes to IT.

I am a little confused. According to your PM IT exports are 100 mil. Did he miss a zero?

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?177477

And what are you on about?? Can't seem to hide your jealously!!

IT and IT-enabled Services export in the fiscal year 2005-2006 US$ 72.21 million

Percent growth in exports over the last one year 56%

Export targets for the current fiscal year 2006-2007 US$ 108 million

that makes more sense. The $2 billion figure is messed up.

Pakistan software export shows increase by 52%

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.

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.

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.

I noticed something interesting today- while browsing Dawn, I saw an add to check out their new 'e-paper' site:

http://epaper.dawn.com

Looks very nice- so I did some searching and discovered that it is an Indian software product

http://www.pressmart.net

It has been observed that in case of IT the export figure will always be low, because instead of showing to State Bank they will get through remittance as they do not have to pay taxes, which in case for export through SBP they have to pay taxes. That is the reason the remittance are increasing date by date, now I think it is $ 5 B. It is one of the industries, where they can hide from government for paying any tax, resulted in different figures.

great news!

Export of $72 million for the year is great news?

PSEB plans to increase IT sector size to $10b’

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has proposed a four-year draft strategic plan, which will increase the IT industry’s size to $10 billion in the year 2010, said Managing Director Yusuf Hussain here Thursday.

Addressing a Microsoft seminar on “Working Better Together”, Yusuf Hussain highlighted PSEB’s initiatives to promote this vital sector, which registered growth of 57 percent during last year.

Eight strategic areas with missions and annual targets have been identified which include facilitation, human resource development, industry finance, marketing, office space provision, public policy, quality and telecom bandwidth provision, he added.

Yusuf Hussain said many of the activities mentioned were already in full gear and the board had been able to help 125 local companies achieve ISO and CMMI certifications.

He said in addition to tangible benefits like higher revenue and growth, certified companies can also look forward to enjoying intangible benefits including as improved customer confidence, greater employee satisfaction and an increase in shareholder value.

He said the board has also launched apprenticeship and internship programmes for the development of human resource required by the industry and more than 2,500 students have already benefited from the programme.

He said that another area in which the board was aggressively working on was the setting up of IT parks in all major urban centres, including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

He said the PSEB had over 900 member companies and many of them have benefited from various PSEB initiatives, attracting international clients.

The other speakers including Michel Sengakis spoke on software asset management, ‘find, use and share information’ and Microsoft technology vision. APP

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p..._8-6-2007_pg5_7

More magical numbers from Shaukat & Co! What a farce. How does the media take such figures without questioning?

In the end , will someone tell me , purely for academic purpose, what is the result of discussion. What is thefinal figure, $ 100 mn or $1000mn. of export ?