Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Friday said Pakistan's IT industry had matured considerably during last couple of years with major global IT giants already setting up their software development centres in the country. "Our liberal and investment friendly policies have been received very well by the investors who have started coming to Pakistan in a big way to participate in the tremendous growth we are registering in the telecom and IT sector " he said during a meeting with Stelios FragKos vice-president NCR Corporation Middle East Africa region.
NCR is a leading US firm specialising in data warehousing and financial services sector.
Stelios lauded the government strategy of developing strategic relationships with the major IT companies, citing example of his company which was seriously considering prospects to set up a software development centre in Karachi. This would specialise in providing solutions to the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) for use in the financial services industry in the region and beyond.
Stelios briefed the minister on the NCR initiative of setting up a global consulting centre in Islamabad where currently about 100 local professionals are employed and the number will grow to over 200 within the next 12 months.
"These young Pakistanis have made a name for themselves in the global NCR network, and we are extremely pleased with the decision that NCR had taken to make Pakistan a base to which outsource our key IT related work," he added.
The Minister informed the visiting NCR team that Pakistan had made considerable strides in positioning itself as an up and coming player in the global outsourcing business.
Dr Aamir Matin, Managing Director of the Pakistan Software Export Board, told the visiting delegate that the government was fully aware of the intense competition within the region to attract companies such as NCR to set up shops in their countries.
He said the government had come up with an interesting package of incentives to foreign investors to ensure Pakistan retaining its competitive edge.
"Among other incentives; we are offering the potential investors subsidies on training; generous R&D grants, and other fiscal incentives such as no corporate tax on exports of IT-enabled services," he added.
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