KARACHI, May 6: Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Awais Ahmed Leghari on Tuesday invited banks to invest in Venture Capital for IT and Telecom sectors.

In a meeting with heads of banks at State Bank of Pakistan in Karachi he said there are 50-60 IT companies having potential to grow, but face lack of capital, and do not have expertise or resources. The ministry cannot provide them resources but can only facilitate them.

He said since banks have excess liquidity they can help this sector by investing in it and starting consumer financing for IT sector.

Awais Leghari said the government is seeking the help of financial institutions to promote IT sector and would like to work very close with them. He called for evolving some mechanism for close liaison and exchange of views between the government, Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA) and financial institutions.

He said that by end of this month the government will start IT training pilot project in Lahore, in which 8000 people will be trained in next three years.

He appreciated SBP for initiating online banking, and added that his ministry believes that duty and taxes must be reduced on equipment used in e-banking.

He directed PTCL to take measures for facilitating corporate sector and assured the banks that PTCL’s corporate unit will soon be set up in Karachi.

The minister observed that Kiosk and ATMs could be used for handling and disbursement of Zakat and Hajj funds in a fair manner and added that utility bills and internal transactions could be done through online banking.

Governor SBP Dr. Ishrat Husain said that country’s software houses have not a high class expertise to compete in international market, nor do they have project mangers or marketing skills.

He said banks were ready to invest in venture capital but IT sector will have to show some progress. However, he said that the banks are keen to invest in telecom sector and deregulation will play important role in attracting investment in this sector.

Governor SBP urged upon the need for minimizing the governments’ intervention in market mechanism and quoted that every venture capital (VC) in India was handled by foreigners and they earn good profits.—PPI