LAHORE: The IT sector has maintained its handsome export growth, showing an increase of 23 per cent year-on-year (YoY) by the end of the third quarter of the current financial year as compared to the corresponding period of the last financial year.
According to data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), export receipts of IT and IT-enabled services surged to $2.828 billion during the period of January to March as compared to $2.284 reported in a similar period of the last financial year, showing an increase of or $541 million.
The government took a few steps to facilitate IT exports a few months ago which resulted in growth in inflows of monthly export values. In March 2025, export receipts of IT and IT-enabled services surged to $342 million as compared to $305 million reported in the previous month of February 2025.
Pakistan also made its stellar presence in LEAP 2025 held in Riyad with more than 100 companies showcasing their products, services, and solutions. The IT industry also set a target to double its exports to the KSA to $50 million on an annual basis.
Besides, Pakistan startups are also planning to attract funding from venture capitalists and investors in various private and state-level startup funding programs. Saad Shah, an IT exporter and CEO of Hexalyze, said that Pakistani IT companies should diversify their exports to the emerging markets of the GCC and ASEAN regions with immense potential to attract business in automation, enterprise resource planning, artificial intelligence, fintech, gaming, cybersecurity, and etc.
Pakistan should penetrate the GCC markets, mainly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the group of companies having multiple strengths and expertise under one umbrella to share export orders of state-owned companies and major private conglomerates. Besides, IT companies should invest in human resources within Pakistan and GCC countries to meet the requirements of foreign clients in these markets, he added.
Former Chairperson of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) Muhammad Zohaib Khan said that growth in IT exports is commendable and is expected to continue its pace in the coming months from $360 million to $400 million on a monthly basis. He urged that the government should maintain the continuation of the policy in the upcoming budget to receive dividends and achieve its objectives in the future.
The IT sector will continue its growth trajectory and momentum with likely growth of 10-15 per cent for FY25 to $3.5-3.7 billion. Under the ‘Uraan Pakistan’ national economic plan, the government has set a target of $10 billion IT exports by FY29, however, IT companies should enhance their export activities gradually in different markets.
Chairperson of P@SHA Sajjad Mustafa Syed said that despite a growing IT industry and a large pool of graduates, Pakistan faces a significant skills gap. This means many graduates lack the specific skills and knowledge required by IT companies. While graduates are abundant, a large number remain unemployed due to a mismatch between their skills and IT industry requirements, he added. He demanded an allocation of Rs11.5 billion in the Federal Budget 2025-26 collectively for all such initiatives, ensuring sufficient resources to drive impactful improvements in education and skills development. “The government should implement a scale-up of its Techlift Programme; which should be a demand-based, nationwide skills development program focusing on graduate-level bootcamps training,” he suggested
Syed elaborated that MOITT and PSEB should collaborate with P@SHA to identify skill gaps in the IT and ITeS industry and design training modules tailored to bridge the gaps; create Industry-led training models and execute them all over Pakistan to ensure graduates are well-equipped for the job market. P@SHA proposes that the government should launch a Train the Trainer programme that will include a faculty training programme to overcome the challenge of lack of industrial exposure of university professors so that IT exports further grow.
