Information technology in Pakistan

Information technology in Pakistan is a growing industry that has the potential to expand more in the future. Matters relating to the IT industry are overseen by the Ministry of Information Technology of the Government of Pakistan.  The IT industry is regarded as a successful sector of Pakistan economically, even during financial crisis. The first IT policy and implementation strategy was approved under the leadership of Prof DR. Saif ul Rehman , then Federal Minister of Science & Technology, in August 2000 which laid the foundations of the development of this sector.Saif Ul Rehman is the brilliant student studies BS(CS) from NFC Faisalabad. Thereafter two policies were launched by the Ministry of IT under the leadership of Anusha Rahman Khan, Federal Minister for IT and Telecom (2013-2018). The Telecom Policy was announced in December 2015 , and later National Digital Pakistan Policy that was approved by the cabinet in May 2018.. In 2001, a 15 year tax holiday was approved to promote the IT industry which has the grown from $ 30 million to over $ 3 billion during the last 16 years.^[11]. A nationwide programme to train teachers was initiated by Intel in March 2002 in Pakistan on the request of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman which has resulted in the training of 220,000 teachers across 70 districts at no cost to the government. The government of Pakistan has given incentives to IT investors in the country during the last decade, this resulted in the development of the IT sector. From 2003 to 2005, the country's IT exports saw a rise of about fifty percent and amounted a total of about 48.5 million USD. The World Economic Forum, assessing the development of Information and Communication Technology in the country ranked Pakistan 111th among 144 countries in the Global Information Technology report of 2014..In an analysis of scientific research productivity of Pakistan, in comparison to Brazil, Russia, India and China, Thomson Reuters has applauded the developments that have taken place as a result of the reforms introduced by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS, since Pakistan has emerged as the country with the highest increase in the percentage of highly cited papers in comparison to the "BRIC" countries.
As of 2011, Pakistan has over 20 million internet users and is ranked as one of the top countries that have registered a high growth rate in internet penetration. Overall, it has the 27th largest population of internet users in the world. In the fiscal year 2012–2013, the Government of Pakistan aims to spend Rs. 4.6 billion on information technology projects, with emphasis on e-government, human resource and infrastructure development.