Pakistan computer industry has the potential to assist the government in achieving the set target of $3,774.285 million IT services exports in the next five years through broader consultations among the stakeholders covering tax policy, rationalisation of tax rates and addressing issues of computer hardware industry.
While, speaking on the occasion,Munawar Iqbal, President Pakistan Compute Association (PCA) said the tax policy must be drafted in consultation with the industry to maintain a balance between direct and indirect taxation on the industry particularly customs duty at the import stage. In the absence of a realistic tax policy for computer industry, the revenue collection cannot be increased due to irrational applicability of taxes on the computer sector.
Pakistan’s IT industry has been growing steadily and its export figures crossing over 2 billion dollars a year in revenue, which was less than a billion dollars few years ago and the current growth rates indicate that the industry will exceed US $11 billion mark within the next five years. But the development of the computer hardware industry could provide a robust boost to the economic revival of the country both in terms of its contribution to the national exchequer as well as towards creating new employment opportunities in the country.
He said that Pakistan computer industry appreciates the infrastructure development plans of the government, but the same vision needs to be replicated for the computer industry also which offers huge potential. Munawar Iqbal further stated that the government has set the target US $3,774.285 million IT services exports in the next five years, the collaborative efforts on the part of government and the IT industry have to translate the expected target into reality.
Pakistan computer industry has the potential to produce even much better results provided the government comes up with a more viable policy for the growth of the industry. He said that the computer industry could assist the government in reducing growing unemployment in the country by offering skill-enhancement training facilities to youth and generating more employment in the wake of new opportunities in the local and international job markets.
The PCA president urged the government to initiate and facilitate broader consultations among the stakeholders of the computer hardware industry by involving relevant government departments to maximise the prospects of overall growth of the IT industry in the country.