KARACHI: Pakistan’s information technology (IT) sector expects exports to reach $4 billion in the current fiscal year and seeks regulatory reforms and a 10-year tax holiday to sustain growth momentum, said the country’s top software association on Saturday.

The IT sector is one of Pakistan’s priority industries as the country looks to boost export revenues and stabilize its external accounts.

Under the government’s “Uraan Pakistan” initiative, launched last year in December, Islamabad aims to raise IT exports to $10 billion by 2029.

Industry leaders say IT remains one of the few sectors capable of exponential growth despite the broader economic challenges.

“Muhammad Umair Nizam, Senior Vice Chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), has apprised that information technology has become the fastest growing export industry of Pakistan – and, the country is set to achieve $4 billion in its IT exports for the FY25,” the software association said in a statement, adding that Pakistan’s IT exports stood at $3.2 billion in the last fiscal year with the prospect for a 25% year-on-year growth.

However, P@SHA warned regulatory bottlenecks and inconsistent tax policies were hampering the sector’s expansion at a time when new tech sub-sectors were emerging.

The association said it had also submitted detailed budget proposals to the government, seeking a facilitative framework that includes streamlined foreign exchange regulations, banking sector support, removal of sales tax anomalies and accelerated development of special technology zones and IT parks.

Pakistan’s IT industry is the only sector with a trade surplus of around 75%, the statement said, underlining its potential to create jobs, develop skilled human capital and reduce the trade deficit on a sustainable basis.

The software association also raised concerns over income tax disparities between salaried employees and freelancers, saying the current structure discourages formal employment and needs urgent correction in the upcoming federal budget.

KARACHI: Markets and businesses remained shut in Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi on Saturday in response to a nationwide strike called by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) religious party to express solidarity with the people of Gaza, amid renewed Israeli military strikes in the Palestinian enclave.
The strike was widely supported by various organizations representing traders, lawyers and people from different walks of life, and there was no major commercial activity in the southern Pakistani port city.
It followed massive Gaza solidarity marches in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad this month, which were attended by tens of thousands of Pakistanis who demanded the world stop Israeli military actions.
“Today, there is a strike throughout Karachi,” JI Karachi chief Monem Zafar Khan said, noting the strike was not only supported by Karachi’s business community but also by professionals and civil society groups.
“It is a shutter-down strike, and the entire business community of Karachi, the lawyers of Karachi, the students of Karachi, the scholars of Karachi, the civil society of Karachi — all of them are supporting this.”

The strike was largely observed in Karachi and it could only partially take hold elsewhere in Pakistan.
Pakistan, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, has consistently condemned Israeli military actions and called for the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
The South Asian country has stressed the urgent need to revive negotiations aimed at a two-state solution to the Palestine Issue, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Muhammad Aslam Khan, general-secretary of the Cooperative Market Association, condemned Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed over 50,000 Palestinians since Oct. 2023, and demanded stronger international action over it.
“It is now 12 o’clock and the city is completely silent and shut down,” Aslam told Arab News, surrounded by closed shops in the Saddar business district.
“We are sending them [Palestinians] a clear message that the hearts of the people are beating for the Palestinian Muslims, and we are deeply pained by the genocide happening to them, the oppression they are facing, and the fact that their basic needs like food and water have been completely cut off.”

Usman Sharif, a representative of the All-Pakistan Cottage Industry Association in Karachi, said the Pakistani trader fraternity wanted to contribute to the Palestinian cause.
“Every trader says that they want to contribute in some way, whether it be through prayers, funds, participating in the strike, joining a rally, or through a boycott,” he said.
“The strike is happening across Pakistan, and here in Karachi as well, people have participated in the strike.”