Govt vows fixed-tax regime for IT sector
Business
PM directs including proposal to upcoming budget
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday okayed fixed tax regime for information technology (IT) sector and directed the concerned authorities to form a committee and place recommendations.
The PM chaired a session aimed at promoting IT in the country where he also directed to prepare a comprehensive package for the sector. He approved special incentives for startups to empower the youth for taking such initiatives.
Moreover, the premier approved development of IT zones and extension in skill-based programs to train the youth. The PM also directed including these proposals in the upcoming budget.
The session vowed to provide monetary resources to the youth for startups, and conducting IT road shows in foreign countries.
Earlier, the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication surfaced a proposal to allocate more than Rs16.5billion in the upcoming budget for the ongoing projects.
The overall budget proposal included developmental and non-developmental expenditures of the ministry and its affiliated institutions. Proposal of Rs16.5billion had been put forward for the non-developmental expenditures, while Rs6billion allocation had been recommended for Public Sector Development Programmes (PSDP).
The proposed projects of the ministry included various initiatives by the National IT Board, Special Communication Organization, Software Export Board, Punjab Information Technology Board regarding the digitization of the President House, Senate, and National Assembly, General Data Protection Regulation Compliance Management System, implementation of smart offices in federal ministries and departments.
In addition to that the construction of four knowledge parks in different cities and the establishment of software technology parks at district level, crime analytics and smart policing projects for Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, and Gilgit, expansion of the freelancing training programmes nationwide, establishment and operationalisation of National Incubation Centres was also proposed.
The proposed projects of the ministry also include the establishment of Sino-Pak Centre of Artificial Intelligence, One patient One ID project, several internship programs, cyber security programmes, expansion of broadband services to Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the establishment of data centres. An online recruitment system for the Federal Public Service Commission along with various other programmes are also included in line for the grant.
