May 29, 2017
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday lauded the government for announcing steps in the budget which will expand IT sector.
The decisions will attract local and foreign investment, expand GDP and result in job opportunities, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that many Pakistani companies have done very well locally and on the international level while giving tax exemption to the new companies for three years will result in expansion.
He said that decision to establish IT park in Islamabad at a cost of six billion rupees and allocation of twenty billion rupees for laptop and youth programme are laudable moves.
Allocation of Rs200 million for e-gateway will strengthen mobile banking, upgrade skills of IT professionals and boost SMEs working in this field, he added.
The business leader said that IT companies working in Islamabad have been exempted from sales tax on exports which is a good move but the same facility should be extended to the companies operating in Lahore and Karachi.
Moreover, the provincial governments should also consider giving relaxations to this sector, he demanded. Reduction in duty on telecom equipment will trigger upgradation while reduction of WHT on mobile calls is also a good move.
He said that taxes on smart phones have been reduced but the same has been increased on the normal mobile phones which can result in smuggling.
The budget will result in expansion of IT and telecom sectors with a positive impact on other sectors for this Minister of Finance Ishaq Dar and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif deserve felicitation.
