The short answer: yes, for well-defined support, back-office, finance and development work, provided your contract and your provider’s controls do the job that Pakistani law does not yet do. The sector delivered a record USD 4.6 billion of IT services exports in the 2025-26 financial year, and the government opened its first national technology park on 10 October 2026. The park is a signal of intent rather than a change in working conditions: Pakistan still has no personal data protection act, internet disruptions still happen, and the company that will run the park has not been chosen. Judge a provider on its own safeguards, not on the national story.
What Opened in Islamabad on 10 October
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated the National Technology Park, renamed Daanish IT Park, and acknowledged that the project had run well behind schedule since its foundation in 2017-18. The government will not operate it: the IT ministry is to appoint a management company through open bidding, with Pakistani and foreign firms eligible, and similar parks are planned in the provinces. Two days later the Prime Minister ordered operations to begin with international technology companies and asked for an independent audit of the project. No tenants have been named.
The history explains the caution. A government audit reported by Dawn in August 2025 found the cost had moved from USD 88.38 million, most of it a Korean development loan signed in 2017, to a revised Rs13.72 billion, with the original four-year timeline repeatedly missed and no tenant agreements in place. The Karachi IT park is further behind: two tenders drew no bids, and a third is due on 15 November 2026 with contract signing targeted for March 2027. The USD 25 billion export ambition often quoted alongside the park dates from 2024; the nearer official target is USD 10 billion of IT exports by 2028-29 under the government’s Uraan Pakistan plan.
The Numbers Behind the Sector
| Measure | Figure | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| IT and telecom services exports, July 2025 to June 2026 | USD 4.60 billion, up about 21% from USD 3.8 billion | State Bank data via Dawn and Express Tribune, 18 July 2026 |
| Best month on record | June 2026, USD 416 million | Dawn, 18 July 2026 |
| IT freelancing income, 2025-26 | USD 1.16 billion, up from USD 779 million | The News, 21 July 2026 |
| Tax on IT and IT-enabled services exports | 0.25% final tax, extended to tax year 2029 under the 2026-27 budget proposals | FBR, Budget 2026-27 salient features |
| Export earnings exporters may keep in foreign currency | Up to 50% | State Bank of Pakistan, 23 October 2023 |
Some outlets reported USD 4.5 billion and growth of 29% for the same year; the State Bank-based figure above is the one to rely on. For a buyer, the tax and currency rules matter for one reason: they keep a Pakistani provider’s cost base stable and let it invoice and hold earnings in dollars, which supports predictable pricing over a multi-year contract.
What a Buyer in Europe or the Gulf Should Weigh
- Time zones. Pakistan is on UTC+5 all year. The UAE is one hour behind and Saudi Arabia two, so a Gulf working day falls inside a normal Pakistani shift. The United Kingdom is four hours behind in summer and five in winter, and Central Europe three and four, so European coverage means an afternoon or evening shift, and the rota has to move when European clocks change (next on 25 October 2026).
- Data protection. A personal data protection bill has been in draft since 2018 and has not been passed, and the draft Data Governance Policy put out for consultation in June 2026 covers the public sector only. Protection therefore comes from your contract and from how the provider works: your own law’s transfer rules still apply to personal data you send abroad, and the clauses that satisfy them belong in the agreement.
- Connectivity. A fault on the SMW5 submarine cable disrupted internet services in early July 2026, and in 2024 the blocking of X and slowdowns blamed on a national firewall cost businesses time. Ask how the provider stays online when one route fails, not whether it ever has.
- Power and working hours. During the 2026 energy-saving measures, IT companies and call centres were exempted from early closing orders in Islamabad and Punjab, a sign that export work is treated as essential.
- Language. The EF English Proficiency Index 2025 ranks Pakistan 67th, in its low band. National averages say little about a team recruited for English-language work, but they are a reason to test the actual agents in writing and on calls before go-live.
A Checklist Before You Sign
- Start with one measurable process. Customer email, invoice entry or lead qualification, with a volume, a turnaround and a quality measure agreed before day one, run as a pilot before it is scaled.
- Write data protection into the contract. Individual, role-based accounts in your own systems, no local copies of your data, access you can revoke at any time, and the transfer clauses your regulator expects.
- Test continuity, not just ask about it. Two internet providers, power backup, and a documented plan for working from a second location, checked during the pilot.
- Fix the overlap hours. Agree which of your hours the team covers, how shifts change with daylight saving, and who answers out of hours.
- Meet the people who will do the work. Interview the team lead and sample agents, and review their written answers against your tone of voice.
- Agree the reporting. Response time, accuracy and resolution rate, reported on a fixed schedule, with a review point at which either side can change the scope.
Where SoftwareBiz fits. SoftwareBiz is based in Lahore, and our business process outsourcing practice runs dedicated teams for customer support by phone, email, chat and WhatsApp, back-office and data operations, and finance and accounting, working inside your systems and to your procedures. We usually begin with a pilot on one process, with the measures above agreed in advance. Because the same company builds software, our process automation team removes the repetitive steps as the team learns the work, so the work costs less per transaction as volumes grow.
What to Do Next
Pick the process that most limits your growth today, write down its monthly volume and the hours it must be covered, and list the systems the work happens in. With those three facts a provider can propose a team, a transition plan and a pilot price, and you can compare offers on the same terms rather than on headline day rates.