MoU signed: PSEB, SLIC to offer insurance services for ICT professionals, freelancers

ISLAMABAD: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) of Pakistan to develop and offer insurance products and services tailored to meet the needs of ICT professionals and freelancers.

The MoU was signed by Osman Nasir, Managing Director, PSEB and Shoaib Javed Hussain, Chairman, SLIC.

Pakistan Software Export Board is an entity of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication with the mandate to ensure sustainable growth of Pakistan’s ICT industry and to enhance exports of ICT products and services. The State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan is the largest life insurance company of Pakistan and is one of the largest companies in Pakistan by assets in Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Muhammad Sohail Rajput, Secretary IT said that running a business always comes with inherent risks. The use of insurance products is widespread in well developed markets across the world for protection against a myriad of risks such as lawsuits, financial losses, physical asset losses, protection of brand image and other threats in order to ensure business continuity.

He hoped that MoU between PSEB and SLIC would result in rapid development of insurance products and services for the IT industry professionals.

He congratulated PSEB on a stellar 36 percent increase in the number of companies registered with Pakistan Software Export Board which surged to over 4,040 by January 2022 compared to 2,950 in January 2021.

Osman Nasir in his comments said that the insurance sector in Pakistan has well developed products for the goods industry but does not currently have tailored products and services towards IT professionals. It was therefore the need of the hour to actively undertake steps to develop products and services to meet the unique needs of Pakistan’s IT/ITeS industry as well as freelancers. Freelancers are particularly vulnerable as they work independently and therefore need to be covered against risks. It is in this context, that the MoU between SLIC and PSEB is important for developing and offering insurance products and services for the IT professionals that are the backbone of Pakistan’s IT industry growth.

Shoaib Javed Hussain, Chairman State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan said that the number of IT professionals is increasing in Pakistan thereby making it necessary to develop protection plans for them. SLIC would work closely with PSEB to develop and provide Life Insurance, Accident & Health Insurance, Disability Insurance, Pension Scheme, Employer Liability Insurance, Equipment Insurance, Fire Insurance plans for the ICT professionals. He further said that SLIC would work with PSEB towards establishing Software Technology Parks in SLIC owned building.

The IT industry has been a star in Pakistan’s economy, generating stellar year on year growth rates. ICT export remittances, including telecommunication, computer and information services for the period July 2021 to February 2022 during FY 2021-22 surged to US 1.689 billion dollars at a growth rate of 29.92 percent in comparison to US 1.3 billion dollars during the same period in FY 2020-21.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022