HYDERABAD: President of Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industry Mohammad Farooq Shaikhani said that the information technology industry has become so vast in today's era that any business of life in the world seems impossible without it.
He said that it is a pity that no special attention has been paid to this in Pakistan till now. Indian IT companies earn more revenue annually as compared to Pakistan whole foreign debt. The entire IT sector of Pakistan is not able to earn more than two, two and a half billion dollars per year. All sectors of Pakistan, including IT sector take the exports beyond 30-40 billion dollars even after pushing hard. India's top six IT companies have earned as much revenue in 2022 as Pakistan's entire industry has not been able to earn revenue in the last ten years.
He said the biggest hub of IT in the world is Silicon Valley in America. He said that if we don't compare ourselves with the population of India, then you can look at Bangladesh and Singapore. The population of Bangladesh is 170 million and its total exports are 52 billion dollars. Likewise, Singapore's population is only 5.4 million, but its exports have reached 626 billion dollars.
He said that only one Arfa Software Technology Park was established in Pakistan in thirty years, which is not enough for the population of Pakistan. The government of Pakistan should formulate the best comprehensive policy for the IT sector which can be run on a state basis. Government should also create more special economic technology zones in the country where the infrastructure and facilities are of the standard of international IT companies. Where electricity is not suspended even for a second and these Special Economic Technology Zones have high-speed fiber optic and wireless internet facilities, we should make a "thousand dollar plan" for the IT industry then three to four million young people should be trained for social media and if these young people start earning 1000 dollars per month, so you can estimate the recovery of Pakistan's economy.
Chamber president concluded his statement saying that all the developed countries of the world are far ahead in the IT sector but they do not have manpower and all those countries are expanding their industries by taking manpower from other countries while by the grace of Allah. Pakistan is a country that has immense potential and rich manpower. It is necessary to use this power in the right direction so the economy of the country may be taken on the path of unstoppable development.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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