LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir, Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan, Vice President Haris Ateeq and Convener LCCI Standing Committee on IT Awards Mian Khalid Jabbar were the key speakers while LCCI Executive Committee members, former office-bearers attended the ceremony.
The winners of this prestigious award included Fatima Asad of Abacus Consulting Technology, Assam Ansari from Deline Media Pakistan, Jazib Zaman of Techabout, Omer Mian of Nextbridge, Muhammad Zeshan Altaf of Mentor Graphics Pakistan Development, Adnan Hayat Zaidi of Multi Net Pakistan and Shahbaz Siddique of Web Excels who received Best LCCI IT Awards. Farrukh Usman of Byonyks, Muhammad Irfan Zafar of ArhamSoft, Umair Majeed of Datics Al Technologies, Muhammad Wasif of The Games Storm Studios, Shehryar Amir Turab Ali of S.T.A.R.S received Best LCCI Software House Awards. Omer Bilal Mumtaz of Ailaaj; Shameelah Ismail of GharPar Technologies, Dr. Zafar Malik of Hayat Pk, Mateen Ali Anjum of Phono Engineers, Abdul Wahab Ahmad of ABFA Technologies, Zunnurain Gorej of Dynamic Solutions and Sajjad Ahmad Naseer of ECOMIST received Best LCCI IT Services Awards while Muhammad Muddassir Naeem of Peak Solutions received Best IT Academic Award.
Dr. Arif Alvi also gave Special Awards to LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir, Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan, Vice President Haris Ateeq, Convener LCCI Standing Committee on IT Awards Mian Jabbar Khalid, Co-conveners Muhammad Haroon Arora and Syed Mehmood Ghaznavi. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Arif Alvi said that the information technology sector is the prime area of focus for the government. He said that the government has reduced the taxes on this sector, saying government would continue all kinds of such support for IT sector.
He said that during the recent visit to China, Prime Minister Imran Khan asked for extending collaboration in the different sectors including IT and other sectors on basis of win-win position. He said that the exports of IT sector would take a quantum jump after Chinese investment. He cited the example of Indonesia saying that its IT exports jumped to $ 18 billion in 2018 from $ 3 billion in 2016. Pakistan has huge cheaper human resources as compared to other countries.
The president said that the technological gap should be filled through strong communication between the decision makers and the IT sector. He said that the government, academia and the people of the IT must work together for the development of this sector because the potential for development in IT is far greater than any other sector.
LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir said that it is a good omen that the government has attained a GDP growth rate of around 5.4% in 2020-21 despite steep economic challenges. It is indeed the result of prudent economic policies of the government that our exports are well poised to surpass the 30 billion dollars mark by end of current financial year for the first time in the history. He said that the IT sector is the key driver of economic growth by creating further Ease for Businesses through greater automation in these times of Digital Revolution. He appreciated the government for announcing remarkable incentives for IT sector. He said that the announcement of a zero tax rate for IT companies/freelancers, no restrictions on foreign exchange movement of IT companies and exemption from capital gains tax for IT start-ups would prove to be instrumental in enhancing the export competitiveness of IT sector in Pakistan.
Mian Nauman Kabir said that all those countries who gave key importance to IT sector are enjoying its fruits. According to the World Bank data; Ireland (greater than 150 billion dollars) and India (around 150 billion dollars) are the leading exporters of information technology services in the world. He said all of these countries have experienced remarkable growth in their economies and businesses, leading to more jobs, higher levels of innovation and better efficiency in their governance systems. Businesses around the globe are capitalizing on opportunities emerging from digitization, such as supply chain efficiency, enhanced production quality and lower transaction costs etc.
The LCCI president said that we need to follow a similar path and take all possible measures including development of quality human capital on sustainable basis, setting up new technology zones, bringing maximum foreign direct investment in IT sector, engaging Pakistani diaspora to generate new business opportunities from abroad and creating more ease in doing business in order to support Pakistan’s IT sector that has the potential of surpassing exports of Textiles and eventually becoming the largest exporting industry of the country.
“We are fortunate that the IT sector of Pakistan has shown remarkable performance in the recent times as its contribution in GDP has surpassed 3.5 billion dollars. Furthermore, according to the State Bank statistics, the IT exports increased to 2.1 billion dollars in 2020-21 as compared to 1.4 billion dollars in 2019-20”, Mian Nauman Kabir added.
He said that exports hold great importance for Pakistan’s economy as they are the main source of revenue generation and maintaining balance of payments stability etc. He said that due to the remarkable incentives provided by the government, the IT exports would surpass the target of 3.5 billion dollars by the end of current financial year.
Mian Nauman Kabir congratulated the winners of LCCI IT Awards who have excelled in the provision of outstanding services to both the domestic and international clients and also won laurels for the country in these challenging economic times.
He said that award winners belong to such IT companies which are earning valuable foreign exchange worth millions of dollars through IT exports while there are thousands of IT experts who are rendering their services to these leading software houses of Pakistan. Hopefully our award winners will continue to move forward on this path of excellence and touch new peaks of success in near future.
LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan thanked President Dr. Alvi for extending best cooperation to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
LCCI Vice President Haris Ateeq hoped that the government will continue to patronize and support the representatives of private sector in order to give them more motivation to invest in non-conventional sectors. This will not only promise employment generation but also ensure sustainable growth of our national economy.
“We look forward to having a business friendly environment coupled with sector specific economic policies to enhance business activities in IT sector as well as other sectors of economy. It is needless to mention that new incentives announced by the Government for IT industry will certainly pave the way for new companies to enter into this lucrative sector”, Haris Ateeq added.
26 top companies receive LCCI 2nd IT Awards