Federal Minister for Information Technology, Mrs. Anusha Rehman Khan chaired the 39th meeting of the Board of Directors of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) here in Islamabad today. Federal Secretary IT Mr. Aamir Ashraf Khawaja, Chairman Pasha Mr. Barkan Saeed, Acting MD PSEB Syed Ali Abbas Hasani and other Board members were also present in the meeting. Anusha Rehman said that Pakistan has entered in the era of digitization through revolution and not through an evolution, hence a lot more work needs to be done to keep up pace with technology includong amendments in Rules of business , framework and laws to take reap full benefits of what technology offers for development and growth. The Digital Pakistan policy gives a framework and is being presented to the cabinet tomorrow for its approval. Due to strenuous efforts of our Government and particularly Ministry of IT and PSEB Board, Pakistan’s IT & ITeS Sector has developed exponentially helped by generous incentives and facilitation granted to the IT & ITeS sector and announced by the Honourable Prime Minister last week that includes, 1- cash reward on IT/ ITeS exports 2- extension of tax holiday on IT/ ITeS exports till 2025 3- sales tax on IT/ ITeS reduced to 5%in Islamabad Capital Territory. 4- Will work with State Bank to ensure long term financing for IT/ ITeS at 5% interest rate 5- bringing new legislation for Tech SEZ / new IT parks. Already exisitng benefits announced in previous couple of years include100% repatriation of capital and dividends, 3-year tax exemption for IT startups, and tax holiday for venture capital funds till June 2024 among others. She said that it's our biggest pride that the growth rate of IT & ITeS exports have jumped to 125% over the last five years. The Minister further said that we always assigned utmost priority to IT sector and adopted all possible measures to enhance growth of the IT Industry of the country . As a result, IT industry is not only growing in terms of the number of companies, revenue, but also in exports and workforce on yearly basis. She said that these are major achievements however there is much more work to do to reach the present government’s target of $10Billion in IT and ITes exports by 2020. She directed Pakistan Software Export Board authorities to enhance participation in key international trade fairs to increase contribution of IT sector to Pakistan’s economy through foreign exchange earnings and job creation and take all possible aggressive measures to brand Pakistan as an ideal IT destination for IT outsourcing and extend maximum possible facilitation to the IT Industry of Pakistan with particular focus on start-ups. She appreciated the working of PSEB during last 5years to achieve all the targets, assigned to them by the board. The Board lauded the kind patronage, constant support and vision of the Minister to take this sector forward, and also gave their commitment to continue to work to get Pakistan recognised as an IT hub InshaAllah.
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