Pak IT cos unhappy with MNCs on being clubbed along European operations

NEW DELHI: Pakistan and India might not be batting on the same turf in sports, but our neighbour wants to play on the same South Asian pitch with India when it comes to IT business. Pakistani IT companies are apparently unhappy that they are usually clubbed along with European operations, rather than with the South Asian or Saarc operations, by most transnational technology majors.

Companies like Microsoft, Oracle, EMC, Cisco, Unisys, Intel have a presence in Pakistan. But most companies have clubbed the country under Europe or Singapore operations rather than under South Asia or Saarc.

The IT Association of Pakistan, called P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association), feels that clubbing with the Saarc or South Asian operations will help IT industry on both sides of the border prosper.

“It’s a funny thing why they (MNC IT companies) don’t consider us a part of South Asia or Saarc, which we actually are. We have tried to put across this point to them often,” says P@sha president Jehan Ara, who was visiting India this month to participate in the Nasscom Summit 2010.

“Both countries have similar opportunities and challenges in terms of people and infrastructure. We would like MNC IT companies to consider us as part of South Asia,” she adds. The Saarc region of MNC IT companies is governed out of India, which companies like Microsoft have made into a region in itself. Tech firms, however, say they would like to do it only if ties between the two countries are normalised.