Muhammad Asad Tahir Bhawana

The software development strategy for 2023-2027 developed by the Pakistan Software House Association and the Ministry of Commerce  will help increase the export of IT-related services, said Baseer Ahmed, data engineer at Teradata GDC Pakistan, while talking to WealthPK. The local software market presents substantial business opportunities for companies that provide corporate software products, such as financial management and business forecasting, online IT training portals, e-commerce, e-payment, embedded tools, and other web-based applications, he said.

“The strategy builds on the ongoing initiatives to develop the private sector. This will integrate regions, and bring investment in youth’s economic empowerment,” he said. “Pakistan's IT services sector has many fundamentals in place to drive faster growth. The recent rapid increases in export earnings indicate the sector's strong export potential in the medium term, as well as its financial attractiveness, existing market entry to major importing nations, and available talent pool. Building on this will require tackling some key growth and competitiveness challenges,” he added.

“The investment climate in Pakistan is not yet conducive to attracting talent to work and stay in the country. Apart from this, Pakistan has cybercrime laws but cybersecurity is still lacking. Pakistan lags behind a wide range of countries in competitiveness, cybersecurity, and innovation. China and the UAE scored high on cybersecurity, while Pakistan has a low score of 64.9. Both countries have invested heavily in cybersecurity. This is the reason for the low growth of the computer industry in Pakistan.”

The latest data shows that IT and ITES export earnings increased from $1.8 billion to $2.3 billion in FY 2021-22. Despite its original target of $3.5 billion, the industry was expected to reach $5 billion by 2023. The Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) has registered over 28,604 IT companies, providing services to more than 100 countries. The industry body reports that more than 300,000 IT professionals are employed (of whom 14 percent are women). As a result, this industry is an important source of employment for people with knowledge of current and emerging technologies if they are provided with the proper resources.

Further, the Software Development Export Strategy is aimed at establishing a program to place university graduates into IT firms, including the expansion of internships, announcing 1,000 internships program and obtaining a commitment from at least 20 software firms to accommodate 10 interns a year, and conducting outreach in the provinces to onboard candidates. Moreover, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training conducts and publicizes a skills survey on emerging skill requirements of software firms in order to reduce skills mismatch, inform youth education choices and influence tertiary institutions’ curricula, and provide continual industry guidance/input on the curriculum to ensure industry relevance and employability. These steps will precisely bring a robust increase in IT-related exports from Pakistan.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk