KARACHI: Pakistan exports from information technology increased 41.43 per cent during the first eight months of the current financial year, while news agency services led the standalone increase in exports with an increase of 81 per cent during the period in review.
Pakistan’s information technology (IT) sector earned $1298.080million by providing different IT services in various countries during the eight months of the financial year 2020-21. This shows a growth of 41.43 per cent as compared to $917.840m earned through provision of services during the corresponding period of the fiscal year 2019-20, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
“The global market became very competitive, especially in IT,” Muzammil Aslam, CEO of Tangent Capital, said in a phone interview from Karachi. “The business will flow to the service provider with cheaper rates with required quality work.” The areas of content writing and news, web development with maintenance and phone call services, are potential growth areas for Pakistan.
Among the information services, the exports of news agency services increased by 81.03 percent, from $0.780m to $1.412m, whereas the exports of other information services also increased by 61.82 percent, from $0.660m to $1.068m.
The export of telecommunication services also witnessed an increase of 30.67 percent as these went up from $208.300m to $272.190m during the financial year under review, the data revealed.
Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centre services increased by 15.37 per cent during the period as its exports increased from $77.586m to $89.508m. In contrast, the export of other telecommunication services also increased by 39.76 per cent, from $130.714m to $182.682m during the period under review, the PBS data revealed.
During the period under review, the computer services grew by 44.53 per cent as it surged from $708.100m last year to $1023.410m during July-February (2020-21).
Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed an increase of 25.07 per cent, from $272.922m to $341.352m. In comparison, the export and import of computer software-related services also rose by 17.69 per cent, from $212.254m to $249.803m.
The exports of hardware consultancy services dropped by 78.82 per cent from $1.794m to $0.380m, whereas the exports of repair and maintenance services also declined by 70.31 per cent from $1.270m to $0.377m.
In addition the exports of other computer services rose by 96.26 percent from $219.860m to $431.498m.
Meanwhile, the export of information services during the period under review also increased by 72.22 per cent by going up from $1.440m to $2.480m.
