PUNE: Pakistan’s information technology sector may appear nascent when compared with India’s large talent pool, huge base of manpower in IT services business and its exports of over $50 billion. Pakistani entrepreneurs have, however, made their mark by developing products for niche applications and in fact made product development capabilities a major strength of their country.

Dileep Athavale spoke to Ganesh Natarajan, vice chairman, Zensar Technologies, who is the mission leader from the Indian side for the IT committee of Aman ki Asha, and Amin Hashwani, director of Pakistan’s Hashwani Group of Industries, who led the Pakistani representatives, to know from them the possibilities of the two countries helping each other to maximise value addition.

Interview with Ganesh Natarajan: ‘Pakistan can emerge as a worthy global partner in IT space’.

The News: What’s your perception about Pakistan’s strides in IT?

Ganesh Natarajan: Pakistan has done a creditable job in building a product and intellectual property (IP) based industry with a couple of firms even listed on the Nasdaq — their products are worth considering for Indian firms as our domestic and export customers look at more solutions from us.

TN: What are the factors that are common between IT businesses in India and in Pakistan?

GN: The entrepreneurial spirit, the willingness to take global risks and the capabilities of young people are common factors.

TN: What are the differences in the ways IT sector operates in the two countries?

GN: India has emerged as a wonderful location for building offshore centres — Pakistan has many real and perceived challenges and hence their growth trajectory has to be through IP creation.

TN: Where can India help, thanks to its longer and deeper understanding of the sector?

GN: India can help in skills development in product design and testing and can also build symbiotic partnerships between our services firms and product firms in Pakistan.

TN: In which way can the two countries work together?

GN: We need to look at joint engagements initially in markets like Saudi Arabia, China and even mature Western markets. We can also offer our significant expertise in e-governance. India’s experience in projects such as unique identity (UID) can help Pakistan build connected societies. All in all, if the security and political environment permits, Pakistan can emerge as a worthy global partner in the IT space.

Interview with Amin Hashwani: ‘Pak IT companies can learn scaling up, branding and fund raising from Indian counterparts’.

TN: What’s the present state of IT sector in Pakistan?

Amin Hashwani: The IT sector in Pakistan is dynamic, innovative and is still growing at around 25 percent annually.

TN: How is the IT consumption moving in terms of sales of personal computers, internet penetration or software absorption?

AH: The IT consumption in banking, pharmaceuticals, insurance, telecoms, education and healthcare is strong but internet penetration is about 20 million against 100 million telecoms users.

TN: How well entrenched is the multinational corporations’ presence in Pakistan?

AH: All major IT multinationals are present in Pakistan for the past few decades — IBM, Oracle, Cisco, Microsoft, Terradata, Intel and HP are the well settled players, with Google being the latest addition, which happened last year.

TN: What’s the level of IT absorption in the government? Has e-governance taken shape in Pakistan?

AH: IT absorption level in Pakistan’s government bodies is fairly high. Major arms of government like the country’s Federal Board of Revenue, State Bank of Pakistan, Securities Exchanges Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Board of Investments are all live online. The different ministries are also online but they are not still using the online model as effectively as the other organisations.

TN: How well are Pakistan’s women participating in the country’s IT advancement?

AH: Women account for about 15 percent of Pakistan’s IT force. However, they are making a significant contribution. Pakistan’s IT association is headed by a woman. A large number of project managers are women. Many user experience and quality assurance managers are also women.

TN: Is there something for Pakistan to gain from India’s capability and long experience in IT?

AH: Absolutely! Although, most Pakistani companies are in the products space as opposed to services business and in many cases a hybrid model, there is much to learn from Indian IT in terms of scaling, in terms of branding and in terms of fund raising.

The IT sector globally transcends borders and nations in connecting people, businesses and societies. To bring together IT companies from India and Pakistan under the Aman ki Asha initiative to explore economic and social opportunities for the benefit of both people should be a priority. There are some world class IT companies in Pakistan that are willing to explore business possibilities with their Indian counterparts.