The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) recently supported Total
Communications’ 10th Euronet E-banking Conference.

The conference and exhibition was held on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 in Karachi.

“The change in the public sector is not as high as it should be, but the government
is striving to achieve automation in the public sector offices. Apart from the federal
government, the Sindh government is also working to better equip the public
sector,” Secretary IT, Government of Sindh, Muhammad Sualeh Ahmed Faruqui
said.

He also stressed on the importance of extending the utility of technology such
that the common man is able to benefit from its application.

Faruqui revealed that the IT City project for Karachi, is now in its planning phase,
foreseen to become a viable opportunity for the private sector too upon completion.

Nadeem Elahi, Chairman, P@SHA shared a few promising statistics regarding the
country’s IT industry and its growth potential.

He said that the $2.8 billion ICT revenue accounts for 1.2% of the GDP and talked
about the growth of the Pakistan’s IT sector and its contribution to the efficient
automation of the financial sector.

He also spoke about Pakistan’s internet penetration (22 million), mobile usage
(114 million) and bank account ownership (25 million) and said these were positive
indicators of the growth potential of branchless banking in the country.

A prominent point raised during the panel discussion was the difference between
cashless and less-cash economies and the degree of relevance of each of the two to
Pakistan.

While bankers on the panel were generally hopeful and optimistic about the
Pakistani economy’s acceptance of technology, others voiced reservations.

Most outlets don’t accept plastic cards and deal in cash only, which is why people
prefer carrying cash, about 60% of e-banking transactions are ATM based,” said one
panelist.

Another panelist rationalized that technology adoption always takes time, quoting
examples from the history of Pakistani economy.

Jean-Louis Meyer, Payment Solutions Manager, Datacard, USA elaborated upon the
opportunities and challenges in the field of Datacard solutions.

Ayub Butt, CEO, ZRG International spoke on the occasion about incorporating
technology and automation. He also stressed on the importance of social media.

“These days, it’s simply not enough for a company to just have a website,” he said.

Mohamed Mousa, Vice President and Managing Director for Middle East, Africa
and Pakistan region, Euronet Worldwide, Singapore spoke about the strategic
importance of outsourcing for banks due to its cost-effective nature and transfer of
risk.

“It was quite good. The conference was well organized and most of the speakers
were informative and completed their respective presentations on time. I think
P@SHA’s presentation was well received as it was focused primarily on educating the
audience on how the IT industry has done in Pakistan and also to highlight some of
the industry’s key achievement in the last several years,” P@SHA Chairman, Nadeem
Elahi, commented on the event in retrospect.