Editorial
Pakistan’s IT export numbers carry genuine good news. Computer services exports have nearly doubled from $1.67 billion in FY21 to $3.24 billion in FY25, with broader ICT exports reaching $3.81 billion. In an economy battered by balance of payments pressures and weak investment, this growth deserves acknowledgement.
But a closer reading of the PBC-CDPR report, Expanding Pakistan’s IT Footprint, delivers a sobering message beneath the headline figures. The sector is growing in volume while remaining dangerously shallow in value. Most exports are concentrated in freelancing, staff augmentation, and business process outsourcing. These are precisely the segments most vulnerable to artificial intelligence, automation, and global price compression. Median freelance transaction values have actually fallen between FY21 and FY25, even as total freelance activity increased. More people are working, but each transaction is worth less.
The talent problem compounds this. Pakistan produces large numbers of IT graduates, yet only a small fraction are immediately employable. The gap is not just technical. It is in communication, delivery discipline, professional reliability, and client management. These are the qualities that separate a vendor from a partner, and Pakistan has not yet made that transition at scale.
Structurally, the sector remains too fragmented. The formal IT base is dominated by micro-scale firms. Very few Pakistani companies have grown into globally recognised entities. Without domestic reference projects comparable to India’s Aadhaar or UPI, local firms must win international trust without first having been trusted at home.
Regulatory friction makes everything harder. Tax uncertainty, banking friction, foreign exchange restrictions, and payment delays push talent and earnings offshore. These are solvable problems, but they require political will that has so far been episodic rather than sustained.
Pakistan has a narrowing window. The choice is not between growing IT exports and standing still. It is between building a resilient sector now or watching a fragile one erode when the next wave of automation arrives.
