ISLAMABAD: The Board of Directors of the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) on Thursday decided to waive fee for registration with the Board for Information Technology and IT-enabled services companies, including call centres and IT startups, belonging to underserved areas of the country.
Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque chaired the 45th Board of Directors meeting of the PSEB, held here on Thursday. IT Secretary, Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, and PSEB Managing Director Osman Nasir were also present in the meeting.
The meeting unanimously decided to waive fee for registration with the PSEB for the IT and ITeS companies, including call centres and IT startups, belonging to underserved areas of the country. The meeting also confirmed the minutes of 44th Board of Directors meeting of the PSEB.
Osman Nasir gave detailed briefing about the performance of the PSEB during the first three months of the financial year 2020-2021. The IT and ITeS export remittances comprising computer, and call center services, surged to $379.251 million at a growth rate of 43.55 percent during the first quarter (July-September) of fiscal year 2020-2021 compared to $264.187 million during the same period of 2019-2020.
The meeting was informed that the Ministry of IT and Telecom was committed to increasing the IT exports, and making special efforts in this regard. Incentives to the industry included zero income tax on IT and ITeS exports till June 2025, tax breaks for the PSEB-registered IT start-ups for three years, up to 100 percent foreign ownership of IT and ITeS companies, up to 100 percent repatriation of profits for foreign IT and ITeS investors, tax holiday for venture capital funds till 2024, among other incentives.
A spokesperson of the ministry told Business Recorder that more than 6,000 Pakistan-based IT companies were providing IT products and services to the entities in over 100 countries. Pakistan was ranked the 3rd most popular country for freelancing in the world, and Pakistani IT companies are providing products and services to the world's largest companies.
The government has set a target of $ 5 billion for export remittances through information technology and IT-enabled services during the next three years. The meeting was also apprised about future plans and initiatives of the PSEB.
The Federal Minister for IT appreciated the performance of the PSEB and gave direction for taking more steps for increasing IT exports. Meanwhile, federal minister for IT chaired Annual General Meeting of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP). Matters related to revival of the TIP were discussed during the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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