ABOUT PAKISTAN

History

• Republic established in 1956
• Ex region of British India (independence in 1947)
• Today English is the official language, while Urdu is the national language
• Cultures influenced by: Vedic, Persian, Indo-Greek, Turco-Mongol, Islamic, and Sikh

Country short overview

• Capital: Islamabad (1,7 m)
• Largest cities: Karachi (12 to 18 m), Lahore (10 m)
• Population: 172 m
• Time zone: Central European Time (CET) + 4:00
• Religion: 96% Islam; ≈ 2% Hinduism
• About 500,000 tourists annually
• Society is largely hierarchical, with high regard for traditional Islamic values

What you didn’t know about Pakistan

• Contrary to popular misconception in the West: politicaly stable republic with free media and independent judiciary system

• Semi-industrialized tiger economy

• Government reforms over the past years have revitalized economic performance

• Crime rate in Pakistan is low compared to industrialized countries

• INTERPOL All Offences Combined Index 2007: 48.07 for Pakistan, compared with 1709.88 for Japan and 4123.97 for USA (figures per 100,000 population)

• Taliban population is less than 1%, concentrated only in North-West close to the border with Afghanistan

• BIG MISCONCEPTION that Pakistan is a really backward country where people lock up women and there are Taliban all over the place

Pakistan IT Industry

• Proactive Government development of IT sector in the last few years

• Tax Exemption till 2016, 100% foreign equity and earnings repatriation, establishment of world-class IT Parks

• IT Associations/Bodies

• Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) – Government body to promote the Pakistan IT Industry

• Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA) – Pakistan Software Industry representative body

• Other Associations: CSP, OPEN, TIE , ACCO, PCA

• Recognized as one of the Top 5 most popular outsourcing destinations

• $2b Industry including $1b exports

• Software development  Cost Index is 25% to 45% less that of India

• Tightening Intellectual Property Protection

• IT sector growth: more than 15% per year

• 954 Registered IT Companies

• IT workforce of 133,000

• 110 IT Universities/Colleges locally
• 20,000 IT graduates annually
• Good English language