Federal Secretary for Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui informed the Senate Standing Committee that due to the high tax rate in Sindh, Information technology companies are shifting to the other provinces of the country.
Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui submitted the proposal to the Prime Minister Imran khan for resolving the issues regarding the double taxation of IT companies. In a meeting with Rubina Khalid, he said, “The initiative would help in removing impediments in domestic IT business growth as well.”
“A summary to the prime minister was under process to encourage Pakistani products and to give preference to Pakistani software products by all ministries/divisions, which would help in the growth of domestic IT business,” he added.
Rubina Khalid said that the government is planning on developing special technology zones to promote IT and ITeS businesses. In this concern, MoITT submitted the PSDP proposal of Rs. 6.5 billion to the Planning Commissioner. She raised the issue of fake accounts and defamation of famous people to reach immoral goals.
In response to the fake accounts issue, Shoaib Ahmad remarked, “Blocking the accounts of false rumor mongers and accusers would not solve the problem.”
As per the official data, FIA informed the committee that during the last year, the total number of cybercrime complaints was 56,625 where 32 convictions were made. The committee grieved that only 32 out of the 56,625 complaints were being prosecuted.
The government aims to promote freelancing through IT, in this concern, National Freelance Training Programme costing Rs 367.2 million has been approved in the Departmental Development Working Party (DDWP) meeting. The government allocated 17.72% of the budget to the Ministry of Information Technology.
“More home jobs and income avenues would open through freelancing”, Shoaib Ahmad added.
