Despite the explicit direction of the banking regulation, commercial banks in Pakistan have not developed novel and tailored services for the IT sector, like FX Digital Portal and Corporate Debit Cards. The government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) guaranteed the IT exporters special options through which they could conduct business transactions with the main goal of growing the exports of IT and IT-enabled services.
In this regard, the central government issued a circular urging banks to offer digital platforms, such as the FX digital portal and corporate debit cards, in accordance with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s directions. A few banks started providing this service to IT exporters after they received advice to help these exporters open their exporters’ special FCY accounts so they could conduct business with foreign clients in various nations.
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Unfortunately, banks are unwilling to obey the regulator’s orders, which has hurt the nation’s IT industry and caused a 3 percent fall in exports of IT through April 2023 rather than any gain. In addition to developing customised digital products, the banks were recommended to mandate the mandatory crediting of 35% of the export revenues into these exporters’ special foreign currency accounts in order to encourage IT exporters to bring their foreign exchange earnings into the nation.
The banking regulator’s circular had a tight deadline of March 31, which made the banks slack in their introduction of the services and products. The SBP has been requested by IT exporters to reissue the circular with a longer deadline for the banks and to set up a monitoring system to ensure the start of the services for IT exporters.
