ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: Microsoft officials said here on Thursday the company wanted to invest in Pakistan as much as it did in India but was not willing to “satiate the country’s hunger for kickbacks”.

“We want to make things better. It is our corporate responsibility. We wanted to invest as much in Pakistan as we did in India but our propositions never made it past bureaucrats and politicians who wanted their cut,” said Afzal Mirza, citizenship manager Microsoft, adding that decisions makers need to realise what was right for the country.

The remarks came at a workshop held here on Thursday that deliberated over the role of media in fight against software piracy.

Showing determination to support Pakistan IT sector, speakers representing the Microsoft denounced the menace of piracy.

“The productive sector is bearing the brunt of massive use of pirated and untaxed software,” said Software Manager Microsoft Salman Siddiqui while sharing statistics on economic impacts of the software piracy.

“A mere 10 per cent decrease in the piracy rate in Pakistan can contribute $163 million to GDP and raise $23 million in additional income to the government,” he said, adding that it would inspire entrepreneurship in the IT sectors that can result in higher software exports as well as a greater market share in the business process outsourcing industry.

Pakistan’s competitive index ranked 62, Salman Siddiqui said. “It is not about competition with India where piracy has reduced to 69 per cent. We are behind Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. We are behind the whole region,” he added.

Ameena Saiyid, chairperson Anti-Counterfeit and Infringement Forum, said that Pakistan’s economy had grown by leaps and bounds. However, we were unable to capitalise on true potential of this boom due to the menace of piracy that was entrenched in the system and affects all businesses, she said.

“Famous brands lose seven to 20 per cent of sales coupled with huge impact in terms of tax revenue loss to the government,” she said.

Despite closing down half a dozen illegal manufacturing units and seizing some 1.5 million CDs and DVDs, FIA’s Jibran Faisal apprising the media on piracy concerns said the piracy was far from being reduced.

“The fight against piracy is a shared one. We need to devise strategies where private enterprises collaborate with government to effectively eradicate the issue of counterfeit,” he said.

According to the information shared at the workshop, software piracy in Pakistan was as high as 84 per cent.