Pakistan’s IT exports rise 19% to $305 million in February 2025

Pakistan’s information technology (IT) exports surged by 19% to $305 million in February 2025, marking the 17th consecutive month of year-on-year (YoY) IT export growth since October 2023, according to the data compiled by the brokerage firm Topline Securities 

However, IT exports decreased by 3% on a monthly basis as compared to February 2024 and also recorded lower than the last 12-month average of $307 million. Lower MoM exports are mainly due to a lower number of days in February 2025.

Export proceeds per day were recorded at $16.1 million for February 2025 compared to $13.6 million in January 2025. 

Cumulatively, IT exports marked a 26% growth by reaching $2.48 billion during the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal year 2024-25. 

The annual growth in IT exports is attributed to several factors: (1) the expanding global client base of local firms, particularly in the GCC region, (2) an increase in the permissible retention limit by the State Bank of Pakistan, from 35% to 50% in Exporters’ Specialized Foreign Currency Accounts, (3) the allowance for equity investment abroad through these accounts, and (4) the stability of the Pakistani Rupee, which has encouraged IT exporters to repatriate a larger portion of their profits to Pakistan.

Pakistani IT companies are active in engaging with global clients. Recently leading IT companies of Pakistan attended LEAP 2025 in Saudi Arabia and Web Summit Qatar 2025.

According to a Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) survey, 62% of IT companies maintain specialized foreign currency accounts.

A major development in FY25 is that SBP has added a new category of Equity Investment Abroad (EIA), specifically for export-oriented IT companies. IT exporters can now acquire interest (shareholding) in entities abroad by utilising up to 50% of proceeds from specialized foreign currency accounts. This development will further boost the confidence of IT exporters to remit proceeds back to Pakistan.

 Net IT Exports (Exports-Imports) displayed a monthly number of $278 million which is an increase of 21% YoY while down 1% MoM. These net IT export numbers in Feb-2025 are higher than last 12-month average of $265 million.

Topline Securities forecasts that the IT sector will maintain its growth trend, with an expected increase of 10-15% in FY25, reaching $3.5-$3.7 billion. As part of the ‘Uraan Pakistan’ national economic plan, the government aims for $10 billion in IT exports by FY 2029, setting a target compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28% through FY29.