ISLAMABAD, Jan 18: Pakistan is not likely to face any adverse effect from US president-elect Barack Obama’s proposal to stop giving tax breaks to companies which ‘ship jobs overseas’.

In his speech after election victory, Mr Obama had said that as president he would stop giving tax breaks to companies that shipped jobs overseas and start giving them to businesses that would create work opportunities for the Americans.

That probably spelled trouble for Singapore, Philippines or India’s large outsourcing industry, which got most of their revenue from the US, compared to a very small portion received by Pakistan.

IT experts here see no threat, especially because the $300 billion outsourcing industry was growing five per cent a year.

“America will be shooting itself in the foot by implementing the policy,” said Pakistan Software Houses Association president Jehan Ara.

“This is one of the things they always say. Bush said it twice, once in each of his terms. It may be a politically correct thing to say, but not good for business,” she said.

“If we can continue to deliver on quality and innovate in cutting-edge technology, which our outsourcing companies are doing, then there can be no impact on the outsourcing business in Pakistan,” she said.Pakistan’s IT industry has been growing steadily for three years. A marked increase in software export is an indication of the potential of this booming industry.

Estimated to be worth more than $2 billion, the information technology industry engages more than 15,000 professionals in export-oriented activities - software development and call centres.

More than 1,300 businesses registered with the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) were supporting a mission of delivering high-quality and cost-effective IT solutions through quality engineering, analysts said.

Besides, medical transcription and healthcare outsourcing, the sector is growing stronger in delivering services such as financial insurance, accounts outsource mortgages, retail and media and entertainment as well as engineering design.

Asif R. Rizvi of the Digital Prodigy, IT consultants and outsourcing partners even predicts better times for the country’s outsourcers, despite Mr Obama’s pledge to give no tax sops to companies that outsourced work beyond their boundaries.

“The concerns are exaggerated. Impact will be stronger in the US because businesses are already in recession. They need to cut costs and only offshore outsourcing offer that best. In fact, the next two to three years are going to be very good because they will need cheaper well-trained IT personnel from this region,” said Mr Rizvi.

PSEB managing director Talib Baloch said: “Our companies need to realise that opportunity has knocked on their doors. It’s not just the US but the whole world that is looking at Pakistan and India to outsource businesses. Pakistan can sweep the market because it is cheaper than any other country in the region, Philippines or Singapore. It is 35 to 40 per cent cheaper than India.”

In his opinion, the US was not in a position to ban outsourcing.

“It’s a massive hundreds of billions of dollars market. Even if it does, Pakistan does not rely only on the US for the outsourcing business. Pakistani companies have diversified and penetrated into other markets that will soon dominate the US, like South America, Europe, South East Asia, Japan and the world’s fastest growing IT hub, the Middle East that is a colossal $73 billion sector and growing.”

Mr Baloch believes that at a time when the world is desperate for change, Pakistan needs to tap this potential.

“Businesses will survive only if they invest in technology for efficiency and advancement and cost benefits. Outsourcing offers all that,” Mr Baloch said.