Consistency of IT policies key to attracting FDI

The government should ensure consistency of policies for attracting foreign companies and to create a base for software development, a senior official of an IT solution provider emphasised.

Talking to journalists on Wednesday, SAP Managing Director Saqib Ahmed underlined that the government should come up with a long-term policy for stimulating investment in the IT sector, which would also create jobs for the youth.

“IT companies are worried about inconsistency in policies, though Pakistan is a big market for the IT sector,” he noted.

The government should focus on software development, but for that the country had to facilitate international companies by ensuring consistency of policies, Ahmed maintained.

SAP is a German-based software development company that is providing services to the public and private sector firms.

“The quality human resources usually move out of the country either to seek jobs or work as self-employed,” Ahmed pointed out.

Speaking about cloud services, he underlined that the new system was taking a dominant role in the modern world, adding that businesses were acquiring cloud services instead of maintaining their own data centres and incorporating them into their IT operations.

However, various geopolitical crises were creating new challenges for the cloud businesses, he underlined.

“There is a strong voice across the world regarding laws that regulate the cloud services,” he noted.

Like many countries in the world, the relevant authorities in Pakistan also keep a watchful eye on the employees and top management of the companies that maintain data of public and private sector entities, he said.

Implementation of the cloud policy would be a big challenge for the government due to the geopolitical situation and the application of host country’s laws in Pakistan, he mentioned.

Pakistan has requested SAP to shift the data of local companies from the Gulf region to China, “as the Gulf region has a lot of Indian nationals on key positions” that could pose a threat to the data privacy.

“Currently, more than 90% of the public and private sector organisations in Pakistan are using SAP solutions for streamlining their operations.”

A cloud-based solution aided companies in saving finances and reducing human error and allowed better streamlining of work and coordination compared to a non-cloud-based solution, he maintained.

Regarding the development of IT-based solutions, he said that the government had to focus on local software development.

Consistency of policies regarding taxation and other facilitations were very essential, he said.

The IT sector witnessed tax waiver, imposition of taxes and waiver again and that confused the international players, he underlined.

An important step that the government and the central bank should take was to devise an easy method for making payments to the vendors abroad and repatriating profits, he said.

At present, “the government allows IT companies to repatriate a certain amount of profits”, he said, adding that the government should facilitate IT companies in repatriating their profits in order to attract more investment in software development.

“Authorities have to understand that talent is not an issue in Pakistan, but lack of opportunity is the real issue,” he emphasised.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2022.

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