Pakistan’s IT Exports Increase 15% in October 2023

The IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances comprising computer services and call center services increased by around 4.4 percent during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) and stood at $893 million compared to $855 million during the same period of last fiscal year. The official data showed that ITeS export remittances increased by around 15 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in October 2023 and stood at $238 million compared to $206 million in September 2023. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the sector export remittances increased by around 7.6 percent compared to $221 million in October 2022. It is pertinent to mention here that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has identified several constraints including inconsistency in policies, taxation issues, and banking hurdles which are hampering the country’s information technology sector’s export potential of $15 billion. Official documents revealed that over the past five years, phenomenal upward growth of 178 percent in IT and ITeS exports has been realized at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent, the highest growth rate in comparison to all other local industries in services and even higher than the textile sector which stands at 148 percent. However, a number of constraints and hurdles are hindering the growth of IT and ITeS exports. Inconsistency of policies has eroded the confidence of local and international investors, customers, and partners not to mention the trade bodies and government entities. Frequent changes in taxation policy on IT and ITeS export proceeds are one such example.