PM Shehbaz calls for ‘mega incentives’ for IT sector in Budget 2023-24

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed the authorities concerned to include ‘mega incentives’ for the Information Technology (IT) sector in the fiscal budget 2023-24, aimed to boost the country’s IT exports, ARY News reported.

Chairing a high-level meeting on the promotion of the IT sector, the prime minister emphasised the need to prepare a comprehensive package for the IT industry in the forthcoming budget.

PM Shehbaz decided to introduce a fixed tax regime for the IT sector in the budget and also constituted a committee on it, besides directing the body to submit its recommendations immediately.

The meeting also approved, in principle, special incentives for new business start-ups in the IT sector. Special concessions for the promotion of business and trade through modern technology were also approved.

During the meeting, it was also decided to take initiatives that were crucial to encourage youth to start their own businesses. The prime minister approved a major decision to create special training IT zones to promote entrepreneurship.

PM Shehbaz said that the government would spend a huge amount on the training of youth in the IT sector. Currently, a total of 45,000 young people across the country were being trained in the IT sector, he added.

The premier further said that in the upcoming fiscal budget, the government would distribute 100,000 laptops among the youth on a merit basis.

During the previous tenure of the PML-N government, they had distributed laptops among the country’s youth, and by utilizing this facility, the young people supplemented the foreign reserves during the Covid pandemic, he observed.

The prime minister further set a target for the IT sector to increase its exports up to the tune of $4.5 billion for the next year.

In the meeting, the prime minister directed the inclusion of all the IT-related recommendations in the upcoming fiscal budget, adding that the approval of IT-related recommendations in the next budget would create massive job opportunities for the youth.

He also directed the authorities to take measures that were essential to provide special guidance and government assistance to the youth for setting up new companies in the IT sector.

The prime minister also directed the organization of IT sector roadshows abroad to sensitize the world about the facilities being offered by the IT sector in Pakistan.