Digital Pakistan 2022: Broadband Penetration Soars to 90% of 15+ Population
The year 2022 was a very rough year for Pakistan. The nation was hit by devastating floods that badly affected tens of millions of people. Macroeconomic indicators took a nose dive as political instability reached new heights. In the middle of such bad news, Pakistan saw installation of thousands of kilometers of new fiber optic cable, inauguration of a new high bandwidth PEACE submarine cable connecting Karachi with Africa and Europe, and millions of new broadband subscriptions. Broadband penetration among 140 million (59% of 236 million population) Pakistanis in the15-64 years age group reached almost 90%. This new digital infrastructure helped grow technology adoption in the country.
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| Internet and Mobile Phone Banking Growth in 2021-22. Source: State Bank of Pakistan |
Fintech:
Mobile phone banking and internet banking grew by 141.1% to Rs. 11.9 trillion while Internet banking jumped 81.1% to reach Rs10.2 trillion. E-commerce transactions also accelerated, witnessing similar trends as the volume grew by 107.4% to 45.5 million and the value by 74.9% to Rs106 billion, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
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| Pakistan Startup Funding in 2022. Source: i2i Investing |
Fintech startups continued to draw investments in the midst of a slump in venture funding in Pakistan. Fintech took $10 million from a total of $13.5 million raised by tech startups in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the data of Invest2Innovate (i2i), a startups consultancy firm. In Q3 of 2022, six out of the 14 deals were fintech startups, compared to two deals of e-commerce startups. Fintech startups raised $38 million which is 58% of total funding ($65 million) in Q3 2022, compared to e-commerce startups that raised 19% of total funding. The i2i data shows that in Q3 2022, fintech raised 37.1% higher than what it raised in Q2 2022 ($27.7 million). Similarly, in Q2 2022, the total investment of fintech was 63% higher compared to what it raised in Q1 2022 ($17 million).
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| E-Commerce in Pakistan. Source: State Bank of Pakistan |
E-Commerce:
E-commerce continued to grow in the country. Transaction volume soared 107.4% to 45.5 million while the value of transactions jumped 75% to Rs. 106 billion over the prior year, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.
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| Pakistan Among World's Top 10 Smartphone Markets. Source: NewZoo |
PEACE Cable:
Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) cable, a 96 TBPS (terabits per second), 15,000 km long submarine cable, went live in 2022. It brought to 10 the total number of submarine cables currently connecting or planned to connect Pakistan with the world: TransWorld1, Africa1 (2023), 2Africa (2023), AAE1, PEACE, SeaMeWe3, SeaMeWe4, SeaMeWe5, SeaMeWe6 (2025) and IMEWE. PEACE cable has two landing stations in Pakistan: Karachi and Gwadar. SeaMeWe stands for Southeast Asia Middle East Western Europe, while IMEWE is India Middle East Western Europe and AAE1 Asia Africa Europe 1.
Fiber Optic Cable:
The first phase of a new high bandwidth long-haul fiber network has been completed jointly by One Network, the largest ICT and Intelligent Traffic and Electronic Tolling System operator in Pakistan, and Cybernet, a leading fiber broadband provider. The joint venture has deployed 1,800 km of fiber network along motorways and road sections linking Karachi to Hyderabad (M-9 Motorway), Multan to Sukkur (M-5 Motorway), Abdul Hakeem to Lahore (M-3 Motorway), Swat Expressway (M-16), Lahore to Islamabad (M-2 Motorway) and separately from Lahore to Sialkot (M-11 Motorway), Gujranwala, Daska and Wazirabad, according to Business Recorder newspaper.
Mobile telecom service operator Jazz and Chinese equipment manufacturer Huawei have commercially deployed FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) Massive MIMO (Multiple Input and Output) solution based on 5G technology on a large scale in Pakistan. Jazz and Huawei claim it represents a leap into the 4.9G domain to boost bandwidth.
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| Pakistan Telecom Indicators November 2022. Source: PTA |
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| Pakistan's RAAST P2P System Taking Off. Source: State Bank of Pakistan |
Broadband Subscriptions:
Pakistan has 124 million broadband subscribers as of November, 2022, according to Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Broadband penetration among 140 million (59% of 236 million) Pakistanis in 15-64 years age bracket is 89%. Over 20 million mobile phones were locally manufactured/assembled in the country in the first 11 months of the year.
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| Bank Account Ownership in Pakistan. Source: Karandaaz |
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| Financial Inclusion Doubled In Pakistan in 5 Years. Source: Karandaaz |
Documenting Pakistan Economy:
Pakistan's unbanked population is huge, estimated at 100 million adults, mostly women. Its undocumented economy is among the world's largest, estimated at 35.6% which represents approximately $542 billion at GDP PPP levels, according to World Economics. The nation's tax to GDP ratio (9.2%) and formal savings rates (12.72%) are among the lowest. The process of digitizing the economy could help reduce the undocumented economy and increase tax collection and formal savings and investment in more productive sectors such as export-oriented manufacturing and services. Higher investment in more productive sectors could lead to faster economic growth and larger export earnings. None of this can be achieved without some semblance of political stability.
Related Links:
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https://www.opensignal.com/reports/2022/10/india/mobile-network-experience
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With average download speeds of 11.4 Mbps, Zong users saw the fastest Download Speed Experience in Pakistan — 0.7 Mbps ahead of Jazz. The gap between Zong and other operators varied significantly, ranging from 19.3% with third-placed Ufone to a staggering 204.6% over the speeds experienced by our Telenor users. However, Ufone is faster in terms of 4G Download Speed, with scores averaging 15.7 Mbps.
https://www.opensignal.com/reports/2022/08/pakistan/mobile-network-experience
@kalsoom82
1/Happy 2023! Our Insights team at
@Invest2Innovate
put out of a 2022 EOY roundup re: Pakistan startup funding space, a much deeper dive into what happened this past year that looks at overall trends. I'll give some broad takeaways but u can find it here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Og0XefqLvdiQE3hnwApuuqJuneWj9JC/view
In 2023, the funding slowdown will likely continue, though our belief is that good companies with
strong business models (i.e., not burning lots of cash indefinitely) will still be able to raise in the
coming year. Valuations will also go down to match the Pakistan market realities, which will be
necessary given the waning international investor appetite. If you're a founder, focus on executing,
and if you need to raise, be mindful that it may take longer than it would have in 2021.
Home » Phrase and Idiom Dictionary » What Does It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn Mean?
Definition: Don’t give up during hard times because things are hardest right before they get better.
Origin of It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn
The first person to use this proverb was Thomas Fuller, an English theologian, in the year 1650. It appeared in his work titled A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof.
The idea behind this is related to the literal meaning of dawn. Dawn begins when the first light begins to show over the horizon from the sunrise. Therefore, there is the least light before dawn begins, because there is no sunlight at that point. That is also the longest point since last seeing light.
https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/its-always-darkest-before-the-dawn
https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-2000-2022-section3-en-gii-2022-results-global-innovation-index-2022-15th-edition.pdf
Pakistan is a prominent climber in the GII 2022 ranking, entering the top 90 at 87th place.
This year, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Pakistan entered the group of Innovation Achievers
for the first time by performing above expectation on innovation for their level of economic
development (see Table 3 and Figure 11).
Sixteen out of the 25 economies from Sub-Saharan Africa covered this year improved their
ranking. Botswana took the biggest leap forward, reaching 86th position, and in so doing
overtaking Kenya (88th) among the top 3 for the region. Other notable improvers within the
region are Mauritius (45th), Ghana (95th), Namibia (96th) and Senegal (99th). South Africa remains
unchanged in 61st place – and continuing to fail to improve consistently over time.
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Middle-income economies China, Türkiye and India continue to change the
innovation landscape; others like the Islamic Republic of Iran and Indonesia show
promising potential
Apart from group leaders China, Bulgaria and Malaysia, Türkiye (37th) and India (40th) are the two
other middle-income economies to make it into the top 40. Thailand (43rd), Mauritius (45th), the
Russian Federation (47th), Viet Nam (48th) and Romania (49th) make into the top 50, but with only
Mauritius moving up the ranking this year.
Among the middle-income group, the Islamic Republic of Iran (53rd) and Indonesia (75th) have
notably improved their ranking, not only this year but also over the past decade, and join Türkiye,
Viet Nam and the Philippines (59th) in having an increasingly important potential for transforming
the global innovation landscape.
Morocco (67th) has shown innovation potential for a number of years, whereas Pakistan (87th) and
Cambodia (97th) are also starting to show signs of increased innovation potential.
India overtakes Viet Nam as leader of the lower middle-income group (Table 2). It continues to lead
the world in the ICT services exports indicator (1st) and hold top rankings in other indicators, including
Venture capital recipients’ value (6th), Finance for startups and scaleups (8th), Graduates in science and
engineering (11th), Labor productivity growth (12th) and Domestic industry diversification (14th).
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However, there is change too this year. Indonesia (75th), Uzbekistan (82nd) and Pakistan (87th) are
Innovation Achievers in 2022 for the first time ever. For these three economies, this achievement
coincides with an important shift in their rankings of between four and 12 positions. In addition,
Jamaica (76th), Jordan (78th), Zimbabwe (107th), Mozambique (123rd) and Burundi (130th) all make it
back into the select group of Innovation Achievers for 2022. Brazil (54th), the Islamic Republic of
Iran (53rd) and Peru (65th) keep their achiever status for a second consecutive year. These three
economies also gain between three and seven positions in the rankings, with Brazil moving
forward since 2019. In 2022, Brazil makes marked improvements in innovation outputs, notably in
Creative outputs, including in Intangible assets and Online creativity, as well as in the indicators
Trademarks (19th) and Mobile app creation (34th).
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Relative to 2021, 27 economies switched performance groups. Four economies raised their performance
status from below expectation to matching expectation, namely, Sri Lanka (85th), Bangladesh (102nd),
Ethiopia (117th) and Yemen (128th). Conversely, 12 economies fell back from matching expectation to
come below expectation, half of them the Latin America and Caribbean economies of Uruguay (64th),
Paraguay (91st), Ecuador (98th), El Salvador (100th), Guatemala (110th) and Honduras (113th).
IT benefits cannot be enjoyed unless country has robust telecom infrastructure
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2373645/increasing-optic-fibre-penetration
One measure of optic fibre penetration in a country is the percentage of towers connected with the fibre. In Pakistan, it is 10%. For comparison, in Thailand, it is about 90%, in Malaysia about 50%, in India about 30%, and in Bangladesh 27%.
In Pakistan, every city is connected with optic fibres, and thanks to the efforts of PTA (obligating new/ renewal of fixed-line licensees to lay fibre cables) and USF (obligating subsidy winners to lay fibres), the fibres connecting cities and villages are increasing. But fibre penetration is poor within smaller towns and relatively less affluent localities of larger cities.
In Islamabad, many streets have up to three optic fibres buried in parallel (where only one would more than suffice). In contrast, large Mohallahs even in the neighbouring Rawalpindi have no optic fibres.
This is understandable, as all fibre investors are Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who must fiercely compete with each other. They cannot share the capacity of their fibres. They would rather lay their own fibres.
Consequently, the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) in Pakistan is very low. Out of 119 million broadband subscriptions, only 2 million are fibre connected. It reflects negatively on Pakistan’s ranking on various global indices, where Pakistan is lagging behind all the regional countries (except Afghanistan).
A significant cause of low overall performance is also the unusually high telecom taxes, and the process and cost of Right of Way (RoW). Telecom operators have been clamouring for the government to address these for years. Addressing these demands would undoubtedly speed up investments.
Still, where every ISP has to lay its own fibres, it may take another 25 to 30 years to serve a considerable part of the population.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1729409
But that cliched saying doesn’t really mention anything about good things lasting, and that’s exactly what happened in 2022. Despite a solid start which saw almost $173m raised in Q1, investment activity plunged and reached a 10-quarter low. The annual total still came in at over a healthy $351m, but the slowdown was glaringly obvious.
The change in global macros and the subsequent carnage in venture capital cut short the newfound love for Pakistani startups among foreign investors, as the country’s risk premium became too high for the available return potential. The doomsday peddlers and default mongers would tell you this might be the end of a rather short-lived era. And perhaps we might not return to the 2021-2022 levels, but would still stay reasonably above our 2020 total of around $65m.
However, for the near future, the deal flow will remain depressed, especially for relatively later-stage startups — as per Pakistani standards, those looking for Series A or further. Based on this criteria, there are at least 14 companies that might need to raise follow-on rounds soon (ignoring all those who had seed deals in 2021). For the remaining, the deals might still continue, albeit at much lower valuations and at a slower pace.
One reason to believe that while investment value plunged by a massive 79 per cent year-on-year in Q4-2022, the deal count fell by relatively less to eight. That too because a number of investment rounds actually went unreported and the small base amplifies the decline in percentage terms. The source of early-stage capital could tilt towards accelerators, whose $100,000-$250,000 cheques might have seemed like peanuts to some founders during the good times.
That said, the cycles do change, even if the gloom today might not seem like it, as did the optimism from last year. Markets often have amnesia and move on sentiments — which will improve sooner or later. Well, at least as far as the global macros are concerned, if not Pakistan’s. Beyond the venture funding environment — which honestly takes up an outsize share in tech-related discussion — there is one missed theme from 2022. One that is a little concerning.
In Q1-2021, Pakistan’s digitally paid e-commerce transactions fell to 9.1m, from 136m in the preceding period. While the number did recover to over 10.1m in the second quarter, it still spells trouble, especially considering how our macroeconomic situation worsened from July onwards. For example, inflation peaked in August and the past few months have been marred by complete chaos for anyone trying to run a business. It’s not just the data. Market talks paint a pretty bleak picture as major e-commerce stores see declines in orders. Last year, the situation was the exact opposite — almost everyone struggled to keep up with the demand and supply squeezed. Now, the players are reportedly sitting on excess capacity, which has its own overheads, or trying to renegotiate terms with partners.
According to Hammad Khan, the co-founder of AlphaVenture — the digital agency behind the price comparison website Pakistanistores.com, sales have declined around 10-15pc this year compared to 2021 despite more people coming online. “Even though our website traffic went up 5pc year-on-year in November 2022, it hasn’t necessarily translated into more orders for stores as major players in the industry are having a relatively slower period.”
“But more than demand, supply has been the issue as almost all sectors — regardless of online or traditional channels — struggle to source products. If companies cannot source products in the first place, how are they even going to fulfil orders?”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1729409
The troubles are now coming for e-commerce transactions to foreign merchants, as banks have to settle them by first purchasing dollars from the open market. This is making payments to vendors like hosting providers, software etc — a necessity in any tech-enabled business — even more expensive.
On the technology exports side, things are a bit more unclear. Not the part where proceeds have slowed down — that much is clear enough, but rather the why of it. After all, till mid-2022, telecom group exports were growing monthly at upwards of 20pc year-on-year but then declined to single digits. In certain periods, not even that.
These pages have explored that topic in more detail and discussed how the political and economic uncertainty, especially with regard to paying for services in dollars, is discouraging companies from bringing money back to Pakistan.
And that theme will most likely continue in the near future as we don’t seem to be heading near stability anytime soon. In fact, the heavy-handedness and panic of policymakers might even leave deeper scars and do more long-lasting damage.
Pakistan $1.62 trillion
Bangladesh $1.48 trillion
Egypt $1.8 trillion
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PPPGDP@WEO/PAK/BGD/EGY
https://www.dawn.com/news/1725956
According to research by Oraan, around 41pc Pakistanis saved via committees (or Rosca), whereas Karandaaz puts that figure at 34pc. Assuming the informal economy accounts for roughly 30pc, as suggested by research from the Pakistan Institute of Developing Economics, it translates into annual committees of Rs4 trillion at base prices, using conservative inputs.
While this back-of-the-envelope calculation is far from scientific, it helps contextualise how big the informal savings market really is. Everyone from a widow looking to save up for her children’s education to young adults trying to save up for their marriage, committees are what they turn to.
This phenomenon is not exclusive to Pakistan. According to a note by Middle East Venture Partners (one of the investors in Bykea), “the global market is largely untapped and ripe for disruption with 2.4 billion people using money circles through traditional channels.”
They recently participated in the Egyptian digital committees’ startup MoneyFellows’ $31m Series B.
Apart from the traditional financial institutions’ general apathy towards the customer, committees appeal to an average Pakistani for several reasons: they are a community-based instrument with some level of flexibility and there is no interest involved.
Most importantly, it helps them manage cash flow better due to habitual change. For women, the product enjoys particular popularity since the former financial services are largely inaccessible.
However, since committees are primarily cash-based with virtually no money trail involved, it poses massive risks, as we saw recently when a girl, Sidra Humaid, who ran a network of committees through social media, defaulted on Rs420m of payments.
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Even beyond this, committees have flaws by design, only amplified by Pakistan’s macros. For instance, the person receiving the first lump sum amount will always be at an advantage since their instalments in the subsequent months would be worth less due to both inflation and rupee depreciation. The recipient of the last payment would see the amount’s purchasing power eroded substantially by the time they get it.
Moreover, due to the community-based nature of the product, the risk of network defaulting is higher as people of usually similar risk profiles would be pooling in their money.
For example, if employees from an organisation have running office committees, delayed salaries or layoffs within the organisation would lead to a bad equilibrium, creating losses for the rest of the group, often resulting in default.
However, there are ways to address some of those challenges. First of all, to (partially) protect your lump sum from depreciation or devaluation, you can enter a committee with a duration of up to 10 months. Given Pakistan’s macros of late, you’d still lose money in real terms but to be fair, that’d most likely be the case in any other instrument as well, including the risk-free government papers.
In fact, contrary to popular perception, there are certain ways to further alleviate the inflation problem. Digital committees have an option of gamifying the experience by rewarding good payment behaviour through loyalty programs and/or brand partnerships to provide discounts on utilities-based services and products.
Secondly, digital committees help create a trail of money which, coupled with a centralised authority (the platform itself), brings in accountability and recourse in the event of a default. The receipt and/or ledger helps with basic accounting in committees creating transparency for people within the group.
The third benefit of digital committees is the security factor. The participant has to go through a know-your-customer and credit check process to make sure there is no fraudulent behaviour that could negatively impact the group, along with the participant’s ability and willingness to pay to create an overall environment for responsible finance.
https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/02/27/plotistan-the-mystery-of-low-savings-rate/
Economic agents are not rational, and neither are government policies often driving the interplay of savings and investments
There is a lot of noise regarding the savings rate, and how a transition towards the formal economy would enhance the savings rate. This is indeed a novel idea, and recent digitization measures would certainly boost savings rate as an increasing number of transactions flow through the system, while the size of the informal economy contracts. Over the last ten years, Pakistan has had a savings rate of 14.5 percent, stooping to a low of 12.5 percent only a few years back. Savings rate in Pakistan has gradually dropped in this century, after hitting a peak of 23 percent in 2004.
A traditional national income identity, where cumulative GDP for a country is a function of consumption, investment, government expenditure, and net exports (negative if imports are higher), suggests that as savings in an economy increases, overall investment also increases. The underlying assumption is that rational agents in an economy would save for a certain rate of return, which they would get by investing in the economy. As the overall stock of savings increases, the overall investment also increases. The overall increase in investment enhances the overall national income, with a spillover effect on increasing consumption (higher employment, and higher disposable income), as well as higher exports – if investments are routed towards export-oriented activities.
However, the real world is slightly different. Economic agents are not rational, and neither are government policies often driving the interplay of savings and investments. National accounts often consider what can be measured, or what is formal, and disregard the informal, or the shadow economy. Savings that either result in an increase in bank deposits, stock of national savings, or flow into the capital markets, among other avenues can be counted as savings in national accounts, eventually being routed as investments – with banks lending into the real economy (or back to the government), while various businesses raise capital in the primary and secondary markets, and so on. However, if the same capital is simply redeployed in a multitude of real estate schemes, which are not developed and simply operate secondary market of ‘plot files’, then that truly is savings – but isn’t really an investment that would be recognized in national accounts.
The last ten years have resulted in emergence of plotistan. An economy which encourages investment in plots (whether legal, or illegal) for accumulation of wealth, rather than allocating that capital towards more productive areas of the economy. The capital markets have barely seen a sliver of fresh retail capital flowing into it, depressing valuations, and discouraging businesses from fresh listings given unattractive valuations. Meanwhile, the value of plots in cities across the country have grown multifold.
A marginal, and negligible taxation regime, massive distortion in reported value and transaction value of real estate, and amnesty schemes to further accelerate scarce capital to move towards real estate rather than actual productive enterprise has ensured that plots remain a safe haven for preservation of grey capital. A largely cash based market also ensures that fire sales are far and few in between, as investors (or plot-ists) as they like to call themselves are fine with staying underwater as that still remains a more tax efficient structure than investing in the formal economy. A drop in savings rate during the last ten years has been accompanied by an increase in cash in circulation as a % of GDP, signifying how an increasing number of economic activity is being conducted in cash, rather than through formal financial institutions.
https://www.southasiainvestor.com/2021/12/has-bangladesh-really-left-india-and.html
Pakistan's service sector which contributes more than 50% of the country's GDP is mostly cash-based and least documented. Compared to Bangladesh and India, there is a lot more currency in circulation as a percentage of overall money supply in Pakistan. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the currency in circulation has increased to Rs. 7.4 trillion by the end of the financial year 2020-21, up from Rs 6.7 trillion in the last financial year, a double-digit growth of 10.4% year-on-year. Currency in circulation (CIC), as percent of M2 money supply and currency-to-deposit ratio, has been increasing over the last few years. The CIC/M2 ratio is now close to 30%, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. The average CIC/M2 ratio in FY18-21 was measured at 28%, up from 22% in FY10-15. This 1.2 trillion rupee increase could have generated undocumented GDP of Rs 3.1 trillion at the historic velocity of 2.6, according to a report in The Business Recorder. In comparison to Bangladesh (CIC/M2 at 13%), Pakistan’s cash economy is double the size. Even a casual observer can see that the living standards in Pakistan are higher than those in Bangladesh and India.
Chapter 5: Money and Credit
https://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_22/PES05-MONEY&CREDIT.pdf
Currency in Circulation (CiC)
During the period 01stJuly-29th April, FY2022 CiC witnessed an expansion of Rs 991.7
billion (growth of 14.4 percent) as compared to expansion of Rs 673.0 billion (growth of
11.0 percent) during same period last year. Currency-to-M2 ratio reached 30.7 as on
29thApril, 2022 against 30.2 percent during same period last year. Significant growth in
CiC has been observed particularly in the month of April, 2022 on account of cash
demand during Ramzan and Eid Festive.
https://www.nation.com.pk/10-Nov-2022/unbanked-population-helping-phenomenal-fintech-growth-in-pakistan
According to the data of Invest2Innovate (i2i), a startups consultancy firm, six out of the 14 deals that took place in Q3 2022 were fintech startups, compared to two deals of e-commerce startups. Fintech startups raised $38 million which is 58% of total funding ($65 million) in Q3 2022, compared to e-commerce startups that raised 19% of total funding. The i2i data shows that in Q3 2022, fintech raised 37.1% higher than what it raised in Q2 2022 ($27.7 million). Similarly, in Q2 2022, the total investment of fintech was 63% higher compared to what it raised in Q1 2022 ($17 million).
Sumbal Qureshi, a fintech consultant, told WealthPK that political situation has an impact on the economic situation of the country due to which a lot of foreign fintech companies have held back their initiatives. This situation is also a challenge for local fintech firms. The unusual growth is just because the existing fintechs and more established companies are trying to survive at the moment. They are trying to overcome the situation by continuing to invest in the fintech sector.
Imran Jattala, a well-known IT expert, told WealthPK that 5% of the world’s unbanked population lives in Pakistan. About 18,000 people are crossing the age of 18 every day in Pakistan, and unbanked population and those under 18 use fintech for their financial affairs. So fintech and digital banking is going to thrive despite a decrease in startup funding.
According to data of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), over the years, branchless/mobile banking has shown tremendous growth based on the telco-banks-fintech nexus, contributing significantly to financial inclusion. The m-banking network has expanded to over 534,460 m-banking agents and 74.6 million m-wallet accounts. This network enabled more than 2.2 billion annual transactions worth over Rs8 trillion in 2021. Despite these developments, cash still dominates economic activities and there is scant use of electronic payments, especially by micro and small retailers. Cash is the predominant payment method in Pakistan as it is considered ‘safe’ by the majority of retailers and suppliers. Many wages and salaries are also paid through cash.
The importance and usage of electronic banking and alternative delivery channels has increased during the post-Covid-19 period. Realising this, the State Bank of Pakistan further incentivised the use of digital financial channels by instructing banks to waive all inter-bank and intra-bank charges on digital transactions. This resulted in a substantial annual increase of 206% in inter-bank transfers and 122% in intra-bank transfers through internet banking. For mobile banking, the impact was even higher, with a three-fold increase in mobile banking inter-bank transfers from Rs765 billion in FY 2020 to Rs2.346 trillion in FY 2021.
https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/sehat-kahani-showing-pakistan-digital-health-services-can-change-lives-both
n connection with that project, and in collaboration with WHO and the federal government of Pakistan, six clinics were launched in hard-to-reach areas of Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a specific focus on sexual and reproductive healthcare services was also added to this project.
"Around 1,500 doctors across Baluchistan, KPK, and Punjab were trained in sexual reproductive services, primary healthcare, and telemedicine," says Dr Saeed.
"Telehealth services have the potential to bridge the gap between patients and physicians in Pakistan. However, poor education, illiteracy in rural areas, lack of resources, poor internet connectivity, excessive loadshedding, etc., have limited the accessibility of qualified doctors to reach to the population in remote areas," says Dr Zahid.
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Sehat Kahani, established in 2017, is a leading initiative in this regard. Its founder, Dr Sara Saeed, is a medical doctor whose mission is to help shore up Pakistan's fragile healthcare system by bridging the gap between patients and physicians through digitalisation.
"As per recent statistics, around 210 million people in Pakistan don't have access to basic healthcare facilities. To address this, Sehat Kahani connects a vast network of predominantly female doctors to patients in far-flung areas of Pakistan," says Dr Saeed. She and cofounder Dr Iffat Zafar Agha managed to raise seed funding of US$ 500,000 in 2018, followed by a pre-series of $1 million in March 2021.
In 2019, the app launched with about 60 doctors. Today, Sehat Kahani comprises a large network of more than 7,000 doctors.
Ninety percent of those 7,000 doctors are women. Approximately 50% of them are home-based female doctors who have returned to practice after leaving when they got married and had children.
By News desk -January 6, 2023
https://pakobserver.net/digital-census-to-start-tomorrow/
The training program of circle supervisors and enumerators for Pakistan’s first digital census in Sialkot district will be started tomorrow from January 7, while the seventh national census campaign will continue from February,1 to March 4, 2023. In this regard, Census Support Centers have been established in the offices of the Assistant Commissioners (ACs) of the Sialkot’s four tehsils.
Deputy Commissioner Sialkot Abdullah Khurram Niazi expressed these views while reviewing the arrangements for the 7th National Digital Census 2023 here on Thursday. District Police Officer (DPO) Sialkot Kamran Faisal, Pakistan Army officers and local officials of the concerned departments attended the meeting.
Addressing the meeting participants, Deputy Commissioner Abdullah Khurram Niazi said that according to the instructions of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, local officials and staff of the district administration, Pakistan Army, Police and other relevant departments would perform their duties as a national responsibility to mark the census campaign successful. He said that the five days training of 258 circle supervisors and 1689 enumerators were being started at the tehsil level in Sialkot district from January 7, 2023.
Deputy Commissioner said that 3368 blocks had been established in Sialkot district, including 49 Cantonment Board blocks. He directed the Assistant Commissioners (ACs) to personally supervise the training sessions.
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https://www.nadra.gov.pk/local-projects/social-protection/digital-census/
For the first time in Pakistan, NADRA proposed a comprehensive “IT Solution” to carry out 7th Population and Household Census of Pakistan, “THE DIGITAL CENSUS”. Span of this activity is covering the whole country, in 628 Tehsils comprising approx. 185,000 Census blocks. The activity shall be performed using android based smart devices, equipped with android based house listing and enumeration application synchronized with GPS & GIS.
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PBS organized an extensive training for census enumerators in 27 districts across Pakistan to ensure uniformity & quality through the process.
Pakistan’s first digital census will provide valuable information about population growth, urban-rural ratio, gender, age, literacy, languages, religion, disability, migration, ethnicity, and economic activities.
https://www.globalvillagespace.com/pakistans-first-digital-census-pbs/
https://www.electronicpaymentsinternational.com/news/zong-digital-payments-paymax/
Telecom company Zong has entered into the Pakistani digital payments market with the introduction of PayMax, reported Dawn.
The digital financial application has been rolled out by Electronic Commerce Company (ECCL), a fully-owned subsidiary of Zong’s parent company China Mobile Pakistan (CMPAK).
The move allows Zong to compete with various services, including JazzCash and EasyPaisa, provided by other telecom providers.
It comes shortly after Zong 4G began the tests of PayMax last month.
PayMax will initially facilitate peer to peer (P2P) money transfer, utility bills payments, mobile loads, online payment gateway as well as retail payments, among others, according to ECCL CEO Syed Naveed Akhtar.
These services will initially be offered to account holders of 1-Link connected banks.
Besides, PayMax aims to include additional vendors and solutions providers into its platform from various sectors to deliver several financial products, such as nano loans, handset financing, cross border payments along with insurance and merchant financing.
Zong primarily aims to provide PayMax services to its customers living in rural areas.
PayMax represents the second fintech solution introduced by Zong in Pakistan, with ‘Timepey Service’ being the first one.
Timepey Service was launched in partnership with Askari Bank in 2012. However, the mobile-based banking service ceased to exist since 2016.
Products launched by Zong are compliant with Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) regulations of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) 2019, under the Payment Systems and Electronic Fund Transfers Act, 2007.
https://phys.org/news/2022-01-ups-pakistan-farming-digital-age.html
Until recently, "the most modern machine we had was the tractor", Aamer Hayat Bhandara, a farmer and local councillor behind one such project told AFP in "Chak 26", a village in the agricultural heartland of Punjab province.
Even making mobile phone calls can be difficult in many parts of Pakistan, but since October, farmers in Chak 26 and pilot projects elsewhere have been given free access to the internet—and it is revolutionising the way they work.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan's economy, accounting for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product and around 40 percent of the workforce.
It is estimated to be the world's fifth-largest producer of sugarcane, seventh-largest of wheat and tenth-biggest rice grower—but it mostly relies on human labour and lags other big farming nations on mechanisation.
Cows and donkeys rest near a muddy road leading to a pavilion in Chak 26, which is connected to a network via a small satellite dish.
This is the "Digital Dera"—or meeting place—and six local farmers have come to see the computers and tablets that provide accurate weather forecasts, as well as the latest market prices and farming tips.
"I've never seen a tablet before," said Munir Ahmed, 45, who grows maize, potatoes and wheat.
"Before, we relied on the experience of our ancestors or our own, but it wasn't very accurate," added Amjad Nasir, another farmer, who hopes the project "will bring more prosperity".
Apps and apples
Communal internet access is not Bhandara's only innovation.
A short drive away, on the wall of a shed, a modern electronic switch system is linked to an old water pump.
A tablet is now all he needs to control the irrigation on part of the 100 hectares (250 acres) he cultivates—although it is still subject to the vagaries of Pakistan's intermittent power supply.
This year, Bhandara hopes, others will install the technology he says will reduce water consumption and labour.
"Digitising agriculture... and the rural population is the only way to prosper," he told AFP.
At the other end of the supply chain, around 150 kilometres (90 miles) away in Lahore, dozens of men load fruit and vegetables onto delivery bikes at a warehouse belonging to the start-up Tazah, which acts as an intermediary between farmers and traders.
After just four months in operation, the company delivers about 100 tonnes of produce every day to merchants in Lahore and Karachi who place orders via a mobile app.
"Before, the merchant had to get up at 5 am or 5:30 am to buy the products in bulk, at the day's price, and then hassle with transporting them," said Inam Ulhaq, regional manager.
"Tazah brings some order to the madness."
In the Tazah office, several employees manage the orders, but for the time being, purchases are still made by phone, as the part of the application intended for farmers is still in development.
The young company is also tackling a "centuries-old" system that stakeholders are reluctant to change, explains co-founder Abrar Bajwa.
Record investment
Fruit and vegetables often rot during their journey along poorly organised supply chains, says partner Mohsin Zaka, but apps like Tazah make the whole system more efficient.
In addition to Lahore, Tazah is already operating in the largest city, Karachi, and is preparing to move into the capital, Islamabad.
A $20 million fundraising campaign is underway, the co-founder told AFP, at a time when investments are pouring into Pakistani start-ups.
Foreign investment in Pakistan startups exceeded $310 million last year—five times the 2020 level and more than the previous six years combined, according to several reports.
Further down the chain, Airlift—which provides grocery deliveries—raised $85 million in a record-breaking prospectus for the country in August.
https://pakobserver.net/pak-optical-fiber-cable-project-inked-between-chinese-companies/
A Nationwide Optical Fiber Cable Network Project has been signed between PowerChina and Hunan Sunwalk Group, according to Gwadar Pro on Friday.
Phase 1, Lot 1 of the said project will aim to improve Pakistan’s telecommunication infrastructure for better interconnection with its neighboring countries.
Talking to Gwadar Pro, business manager Sunwalk Group said that the company plans to spend several billion dollars on Pakistan’s Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities to establish telecom infrastructure and fiber industry.
The nation’s broadband adoption will be increased for the digital revolution, which will benefit not only the business-to-business sector but also the government, enterprise firms, and end consumers, the official added.
Previously, Sunwalk Group CEO Pakistan, Lan held a meeting with Federal Minister of IT and Telecom, Syed Amin ul Haque. Lan informed the Minister regarding investment plans for establishing a statewide optical fiber network and facilitating the growth of broadband in Pakistan.
He stated that his organization is prepared to invest approximately $2 billion over the next 8 to 10 years.
https://propakistani.pk/2022/08/19/pakistan-to-procure-126000-tablets-from-china-for-7th-digital-population-census/
Pakistan will procure 126,000 tablets from China for the upcoming 7th Population and Household Digital Census by 11 December 2022.
The delivery of tablets will start on 20 August and will be completed in eight batches by 11 December 2022, according to official documents available with ProPakistani.
The National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) had earlier proposed a comprehensive IT Turn-Key Solution for the 7th Population and Household Census. As proceedings stand, the digital census will be carried out across the country in 628 Tehsils comprising approximately 200,000 Census Blocks. The activity shall be performed using android-based smart devices equipped with House Listing and Enumeration Application synchronized with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS).
Of the 126,000 tablets to be procured from China, the first batch of 500 tablets will arrive on 20 August, followed by three batches of 18,500 each in October, and two batches of 18,500 each in November, the documents reveal. Two batches of 18,500 and 14,500 will arrive in Pakistan on 1 and 15 December, respectively. For carrying out pilot digital census and training in 83 tehsils, NADRA has already arranged 600 tablets from BISP on loan.
https://www.riazhaq.com/2022/01/pakistan-pursuing-ambitious-program-to.html
Pakistan's PTI government has built South Asia’s first digital National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) as a part of its ambitious effort to build a basic social safety net. The Ehsaas (also known as BISP- Benazir Income Support)) program's socio-economic registry includes household information by geography, age, income, education, health, disability, employment, energy consumption, land and livestock holdings etc. Ehsaas Programs include both Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) and Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT). Unconditional Cash Transfers are made only to people living in extreme poverty or distress. Conditional Cash Transfers like Waseela-e-Taleem and Nashonuma are given for education and nutrition respectively. In addition, there are feeding centers (langars) for the hungry and shelters (panahgahs) for the homeless.
The National Socio-economic Registry will be regularly updated to keep it current and deliver services to the Pakistanis most in need. The effort started in earnest in 2020 to hand out Rs. 12,000 per family to 3 million most affected by the COVID19 lockdown. Here's how a Pakistani government website describes the digital registry architecture:
"The Cognitive API architecture for Ehsaas’ National Socio-Economic Registry 2021 is one of the six main pillars of ‘One Window Ehsaas’. With the survey, which is building the registry currently 90.5% complete nationwide, Ehsaas is firming up its plans to open data sharing and data access services for all executing agencies under Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD). Data sharing will be done through the Cognitive API Architecture approach. The deployment of Ehsaas API architecture for data sharing will allow executing agencies to access data from the unified registry in real-time to validate beneficiary information. This will empower them to ascertain eligibility of potential beneficiaries".
More elite business schools try virtual degrees to lure graduate students
https://www.wsj.com/articles/online-mba-wharton-berkeley-nyu-georgetown-11667343552
Starting next year, executive M.B.A. students at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania can earn the $223,500 degree from their living rooms.
After years of resistance, some of the country’s top business schools are starting virtual M.B.A. programs that require only a few days of in-person instruction. Wharton and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business said they would include options for executive and part-time M.B.A. students to take most coursework online in 2023.
This fall, part-time M.B.A. students at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business were given an online option for most of their classes. All of the programs will charge online students the same tuition as those who attend in person, and those online students will get the same degree and credential as on-campus counterparts.
The move to give students flexible location options comes as demand for two-year, full-time traditional M.B.A. programs has been dropping amid a competitive job market and growing concern about the cost of college.
“The pandemic definitely accelerated this in every industry,” said Brian Bushee, who leads teaching and learning at Wharton and also teaches accounting. “I would be surprised in 10 or 20 years if there were schools that only did in-person and did nothing online.”
Between 2009 and 2020 the number of online M.B.A.s at accredited business schools in the U.S. more than doubled, and schools added more fully online M.B.A. degrees over the past two years during the pandemic, according to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Recent announcements by Wharton and others mark a turning point for adoption of the degrees even at highly ranked campuses, school leaders say.
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At Stern, even the students who choose online courses are required to take nine in-person credits, which can be completed on nights or weekends, or by doing an intensive weeklong session.
Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, which announced its online M.B.A. in 2019, graduated its first online M.B.A. students in August. The degree, which costs $24,000, follows a completely separate curriculum and costs far less than the traditional M.B.A. program. Online M.B.A students watch live broadcasts of professors and talk in small groups or on a virtual online forum. A 2021 survey of students found that 35% received a promotion since enrolling.
Many schools are still reluctant to make a reduced-price online degree because they fear such a product might eat up demand for their traditional M.B.A. programs, said Paul Carlile, who leads online learning at Questrom.
Halley Kamerkar, 36 years old, finished her online Questrom coursework in August and said hearing from fellow M.B.A. candidates in South Africa, Ireland and Miami was valuable.
Ms. Kamerkar, of Salem, Mass., said she thought about graduate school for a long time, but a study guide she bought for the Graduate Management Admission Test gathered dust until she learned about Questrom’s program with its $24,000 price tag. Ms. Kamerkar works in the nonprofit sector and only recently paid back her undergraduate loans.
“I did not want to give up my full-time career to take a step back and pursue education,” she said.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/1048501/pakistans-largest-tech-conference-and-expo-future-fest-2023-inaugurated/
Dedicated to using technology to pave the way for the future of Pakistan, the event is bringing together leaders from more than 50 industries to foster discussion on the future of life itself. Entrepreneurs, decision makers, policymakers, thought leaders, investors, and innovators will discuss the most important aspects of current times and how technology can play a positive role to #SaveTheFuture.
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Pakistan’s largest tech conference and expo, Future Fest, was inaugurated today at Expo Lahore. The event is open to the public till 8th January 2023.
Future Fest 2023 is hosting more than 250 speakers, 150 international guests from 15 countries, 100+ key partners and 20+ activities, and over 50,000 attendees.
Dedicated to using technology to pave the way for the future of Pakistan, the event is bringing together leaders from more than 50 industries to foster discussion on the future of life itself. Entrepreneurs, decision makers, policymakers, thought leaders, investors, and innovators will discuss the most important aspects of current times and how technology can play a positive role to #SaveTheFuture.
This year, the conference is hosting a historic delegation of Saudi startups and venture capitalists who will meet Pakistani companies and key stakeholders to explore investments, partnerships, acquisitions, and talent recruitment. This delegation and interest in Pakistan’s future indeed comes at an important time for Pakistan’s economy.
At the opening ceremony, the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi, Chief Guest delivered a virtual message, welcoming the delegates to the country and highlighting the great investment opportunities that the budding local tech industry has to offer.
This was followed by keynote talks focused on the importance of investing in tech for our economy. Additional keynote talks were given by Dr. Arslan Khalid, Special Adviser to CM Punjab on IT, CIO Imarat Group of Companies, Azam Malik, Managing Director Ejad Labs & Chairman Pakistan Digital Media Association, and Arzish Azam, CEO Ejad Labs / Future Fest. There was also a Fireside Chat with Abdel Karim Samakie, Innovation Driven Enterprise Director – Digital Cooperation Organization, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, Additional Foreign Secretary for Middle East -Ministry of Foreign Affairs Islamabad, and Faisal Sultan, VP & Managing Director, Lucid. In attendance was also Mr. Emran Akhtar, former Advisor to the Foreign Minister of Pakistan who initiated and led Pakistan’s joining of the Digital Cooperation Organisation as Founder Member in 2020.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/1048501/pakistans-largest-tech-conference-and-expo-future-fest-2023-inaugurated/
Later in the day, there were more than 50 keynotes, master classes, fireside chats, and panel sessions from top industry leaders who talked about diverse subjects ranging from web3, scaling tech, worldview, gaming, storytelling, policy and governance.
A few highlight sessions from the day one of Future Fest 2023 included; Gaming by Waqas Ahmed, CTO – Hazel Mobile, The Art & Science of Communications by Selina Saadia Rashid Khan, CEO – Lotus Client Management & Public Relations; World View with Ahmad Mukhtar, Senior Economist – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Junaid Qurashi, President – OPEN Silicon Valley; Saeed Mohammed Alhebsi, Advisor and Project Manager – Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. A keynote by Dr. Umar Saif, Founder & CEO – Survey Auto.
Experts like Aisha Sarwari, Director Public Relations, Communications, and Sustainability – Coca-Cola; Abid Cheema, Board member, and Executive Director Business Development – FDHL gave keynotes on policy & governance.
https://www.nation.com.pk/08-Jan-2023/raast-revolutionises-digital-payment-system-in-pakistan
The Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated and increased the use of digital banking in Pakistan. The country has seen an ‘exponential’ growth in digital payment methods during the past few years. Paying bills, transferring money, and conducting business online have all grown ‘tremendously’.
Pakistan has also launched a micro payment gateway called ‘RAAST’, which is the country’s first instant payment system, enabling end-to-end digital transactions among individuals, businesses and government bodies. People with bank accounts now have the option to easily send money to others via this service. RAAST offers a simple, fast and secure way to transfer money from one bank account to another. Talking to WealthPK in this regard, Daniyal, a banking officer in an MCB bank branch, said that the State Bank of Pakistan had achieved an important milestone in digital banking by launching RAAST. “Now customers can receive their payments directly into their bank accounts without going to physical branches.” “Due to this integration with RAAST, customers can receive their payments in bank accounts in a simple, free, fast and secure way. RAAST can also serve as a platform for accelerating the growth of Pakistan by facilitating small and medium enterprises and individuals.” “RAAST is aimed at providing rapid and free people-to-people payment services to enhance digital financial services and financial inclusion.
Bank users can use RAAST to transfer and receive funds in their accounts by using their bank’s mobile app.” The MCB banking officer further said that customers can use RAAST facility by using their RAAST ID for sending or receiving funds. “They can also use their IBANs if they do not have a RAAST ID. Customers can be able to use their registered mobile numbers as their RAAST IDs and link them to any of their bank accounts to receive cash more effortlessly.”
Talking about the features of RAAST, Daniyal said the instant payment system is quick because it offers users real-time payment experience. “Unlike other payment systems, RAAST is free. It is meant to offer an instant, reliable and zero-cost digital payment system to customers. It is available on all banking channels. If customers are not satisfied with the service of a bank, they can change their account by delinking the RAAST ID and can connect with another bank to avail the best banking features.” According to WealthPK, the SBP’s move is part of the efforts to ensure Pakistan’s transition from being a cash-based economy to a digital economy. RAAST can serve as a driver for revolutionising Pakistan’s financial infrastructure.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40220082
Central bank expects after commencement of operations, digital banks will promote financial inclusion by providing affordable/cost effective digital financial services to unserved and underserved segments
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday said that it has issued no-objection certificates (NOC) to five applicants for establishing digital banks in the country.
The following are the ones issued the NOC:
I) Easy Paisa DB (Telenor Pakistan B.V & Ali Pay Holding Ltd.),
II) Hugo Bank (Getz Bros & Co., Atlas Consolidated Pte. Ltd. and M & P Pakistan Pvt. Ltd.);
III) KT Bank (Kuda Technologies Ltd., Fatima Fertilizer Ltd. and City School Pvt. Ltd.);
IV) Mashreq Bank (Mashreq Bank UAE); and
V) Raqami (Kuwait Investment Authority through – PKIC and Enertech Holding Co.)
In January 2022, the SBP introduced a licensing and regulatory framework for digital banks.
“The Framework was the first step towards introducing full-fledged digital banks in Pakistan. The digital banks are expected to provide all the banking services through digital means without any need for their customers to visit the bank branches physically,” said the SBP.
Race to digital banking – final round
In response to SBP’s Licensing and Regulatory Framework for digital banks, the central bank received twenty (20) applications from a diverse range of interested players such as commercial banks, microfinance banks, electronic money institutions and Fintech firms by March 31, 2022.
“Further, a number of foreign players including venture capital firms already operating in the digital banking space also expressed their interest to venture into Pakistani market directly or in collaboration with local partners. The five (05) applicants were selected after a thorough and rigorous assessment process as per the requirements of the Framework.
Bank Alfalah launches QR payment solution with SnapRetail
“Applicants were assessed on various parameters that included fitness and propriety, experience and financial strength; business plan; implementation plan; funding and capital plan; IT and cybersecurity strategy and outsourcing arrangements, etc. Further, all the applicants were given the opportunity to present their business case to SBP.
“Going forward, each of these five applicants will incorporate a public limited company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Afterwards, they will approach SBP for In-Principle Approval for demonstrating operational readiness and for commencement of operations under the pilot phase. Subsequently, they will commercially launch their operations after obtaining SBP’s approval.”
The SBP said it expects that after commencement of their operations, these digital banks will promote financial inclusion by providing affordable/cost effective digital financial services including credit access to unserved and underserved segments of the society.
Madiha Afzal
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2023/01/13/pakistan-five-major-issues-to-watch-in-2023/
1. POLITICAL INSTABILITY, POLARIZATION, AND AN ELECTION YEAR
Politics will likely consume much of Pakistan’s time and attention in 2023, as it did in 2022. The country’s turn to political instability last spring did not end with a dramatic no-confidence vote in parliament last April that ousted then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan from office. Instability and polarization have only heightened since then: Khan has led a popular opposition movement against the incumbent coalition government and the military, staging a series of large rallies across the country through the year.
2. A PRECARIOUS ECONOMIC SITUATION
Pakistan’s economy has been in crisis for months, predating the summer’s catastrophic floods. Inflation is backbreaking, the rupee’s value has fallen sharply, and its foreign reserves have now dropped to the precariously low level of $4.3 billion, enough to cover only one month’s worth of imports, raising the possibility of default.
3. FLOOD RECOVERY
A “monsoon on steroids” – directly linked to climate change – caused a summer of flooding in Pakistan so catastrophic that it has repeatedly been described as biblical. It left a third of the country under water – submerging entire villages – killed more than 1,700, destroyed homes, infrastructure, and vast cropland, and left millions displaced.
4. MOUNTING INSECURITY
The Pakistani Taliban (or TTP), the terrorist group responsible for killing tens of thousands of Pakistanis from 2007 to 2014, have been emboldened – predictably so – by a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and once again pose a threat to Pakistan, albeit in a geographically limited region (for now). The group engaged in at least 150 attacks in Pakistan last year, mostly in the northwest. Because the TTP have sanctuary in Afghanistan, the Pakistani state increasingly finds itself out of options when it comes to dealing effectively with the group. The state’s negotiations with the TTP have failed repeatedly, as they are bound to, because the group is fundamentally opposed to the notion of the Pakistani state and constitution as it exists today. The Afghan Taliban have, unsurprisingly, also not proved to be of help in dealing with the TTP – and Pakistan’s relations with the Afghan Taliban have deteriorated significantly at the same time over other issues, including the border dividing the two countries.
5. CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS
Pakistan has a new chief of army staff as of November 29 last year. General Asim Munir replaced General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who had held the all-powerful post for six years (due to a three-year extension). The appointment of the army chief was a subject of considerable political contention last year; a major part of the reason Khan was ousted from power was his falling out with the military on questions over the appointments of top army officials.
The last batch of 17,600 tablets powered by an indigenous solution from Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has been received by the chief statistician of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Naeem uz Zafar ahead of a planned digital population and housing census.
This brings the total number of tablets supplied for the exercise to 126,000.
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The last batch of 17,600 tablets powered by an indigenous solution from Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has been received by the chief statistician of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Naeem uz Zafar ahead of a planned digital population and housing census.
This brings the total number of tablets supplied for the exercise to 126,000.
According to an agency announcement, NADRA also played an important role in distributing the tablets to all the 495 districts, braving the odds to complete the exercise within a period of nine days.
The digital ID authority also made available about 100 experts to help in the training of over 90,000 enumerators who will be deployed on the field when the census begins.
After handing over the tablets, NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik also visited the facility offering some technical services to the census preparation process at the PBS.
Malik hailed the census as a huge step further towards a digital Pakistan: “The digital census is a step that pulls Pakistan out of ancient past and opens doors of a modern future. From scribbled responses on millions of paper sheets to real time validated data in apps on secure devices with satellite imagery – is a step towards digital Pakistan. Big data from digital census will become the foundational system for evidence based policy making for Pakistan.”
The solution from NADRA was developed in just three weeks and includes an Android-based house listing and enumeration application synchronized with GPS and GIS systems, data center and call center services, a web portal and other associated services.
NADRA is the official technology partner of the PBS for the upcoming population and housing census which is the 7th in the country but the first-ever to be done through digital means.
Biometric vehicle registration
NADRA also recently concluded a deal to henceforth conduct biometric checks on vehicle owners as part of efforts to combat fraud in vehicle transfer and ownership processes.
The deal sealed between NADRA and the Sindh Department of Excise and Taxation and Anti-Narcotics will be carried out through the ‘Sahulat Program,’ according to reporting by The Nation.
The first phase of the biometric program will run for three years.
Sindh Excise and Taxation and Anti-Narcotics Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla praised the partnership saying it will help curb the phenomenon of vehicles operating with fake documents.
NADRA recently partnered with telecoms operators for a new fingerprint system to register SIM cards in Pakistan.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1731884
The study — titled Sectoral Total Factor Productivity in Pakistan and conducted by the planning ministry and the think tank Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) — says that the growth of productivity is a crucial determinant of an economy’s growth that has to be pushed higher to over 3pc.
https://pide.org.pk/wp-content/uploads/rr-057-sectoral-total-factor-productivity-in-pakistan.pdf
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Significantly low to achieve required GDP growth of 7-8pc
• High-productivity growth sectors mostly based on services or technology
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The services sector could also be more productive because of digitisation. Similarly, flexibility in technology adoption could be another factor. It is often observed that Pakistani firms in the manufacturing sector are primarily family-owned and managed, and are in general averse to modern management practices, a factor that inhibits productivity growth, the study says.
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Dividing the 61 sectors into three categories — i.e., high TFP growth (above 3pc), medium to low TFP growth (between 0pc and 2.9pc), and negative TFP growth (below 0pc) — the study found that most sectors with high TFP growth are either related to services or tech.
Most sectors in the medium to low TFP growth category are in manufacturing. Two export-designated sectors, i.e. sports goods and textile composite, also feature in medium to low-growth sectors.
Most negative growth sectors are also in the manufacturing category, which captures three export-designated sectors (textile spinning, textile weaving, and leather and tanneries) amongst other salient industries such as fertiliser and automobiles.
The analysis also precipitates a trend between sectors that receive subsidies and medium to low TFP growth or negative TFP growth categories. Similarly, the export share of each of these sectors, barring the textile sector, in global exports is less than 1pc in their respective category.
According to the analysis, services have higher TFP growth on average than manufacturing. One plausible reason for this could be greater competition in services. Besides, the manufacturing sector is protected in Pakistan, which insulates them from the competition by retarding any incentive to improve efficiency.
The services sector could also be more productive because of digitisation. Similarly, flexibility in technology adoption could be another factor. It is often observed that Pakistani firms in the manufacturing sector are primarily family-owned and managed, and are in general averse to modern management practices, a factor that inhibits productivity growth, the study says.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1030135-first-ever-digital-population-census-in-march
ISLAMABAD: Without having the requirement of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) for verification purposes, Pakistan’s first-ever digital Population Census will collect data from 185,000 blocks in March 2023 whereby a 40-point questionnaire covering eight important areas’ details would be sought.
The 40-point questionnaire will seek information about eight broad areas in the upcoming population census exercise, including households, basic amenities, demography, education, health, employment, disability and migration.
Chief Statistician Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Dr Naeem Uz Zafar said that Pakistan’s Census in 2023 is going to be digital for the first time ever in the country’s history. All the preparations are rolled out and the team is now ready for the gigantic task. “The effort is entirely indigenous; all the systems devised and the tools created are by our own experts,” he said.
He was addressing a seminar, themed “Census 2023: All You Want to Know About” at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) Islamabad on Thursday. He said census is an important national activity that is linked with resource allocation to provinces, representation in National/Provincial assemblies and the delimitation process. Therefore, the credibility of the census is of utmost importance. This is what called for comprehensive introspection leading to a solution acceptable to all i.e. digital census.
He apprised the audience that after the results of latest Census 2017 were approved in the 45th CCI meeting held on 12th April 2021, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) gave directions for the next census to start as early as possible and which should be according to international best practices by using the latest technology. The Government of Pakistan then constituted a committee of renowned demographers and experts with comprehensive TORS to bring transparency, credibility, and wider acceptability of census processes and results. For this, a board-based stakeholders’ engagement was carried out in order to have ownership of the process.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, Dr Nadeem ul Haque, Vice Chancellor, PIDE, said that censuses remain controversial in Pakistan, at times delayed for over a decade. Now that we are moving toward the new census, it is time to raise all the concerns and questions we have.
“The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has estimated that there will be a total funding requirement of Rs34 billion for holding census exercise out of which Rs10 billion have been provided to PBS while they have requested the Finance Ministry to release the remaining amount of Rs24 billion,” said the top official sources while talking to The News here on Thursday.
Sources said for the first time, self enumeration facility will also be made available. Household geotagging will be done to accomplish the exercise. There will be 126,000 enumerators collecting data from 185,000 blocks from all over the country.
The army personnel will provide foolproof security to 90,000 enumerators while police personnel will also accompany the enumerators to provide security at the first stage. Then the army will deploy its Quick Response Force to ensure overall supervision of foolproof security of the whole census exercise all over the country.
Each enumerator will be responsible to collect data from two blocks in 30 days of March 2023. The PBS has already held a consultation with Director General Military Operation (DGMO) and the army showed its readiness to spare personnel for providing security.
The population census will be done on a de-jure basis as everyone will be counted where he or she stayed in the last six months and hold a plan to continue staying in the same place for the next six months.
@StateBank_Pak
#SBP journey of digitization achieves another significant milestone, as the Raast Person to Person (P2P) payments cross PKR 1 trillion in a span of just 11 months. SBP thanks all stakeholders who are part of this journey and especially the customers for using #Raast.
https://twitter.com/StateBank_Pak/status/1616098619668439043?s=20&t=s_ul3ZIxQCFUXUv4Ul2Ubg
By Soutik Biswas
With more than a billion users, India boasts the world's second largest mobile phone market.
Yet, internet growth in this vast market appears to have stalled.
In October 2022, the country's telecom regulator counted 790 million wireless broadband subscribers, people who access the internet on mobile phones. That was barely a million more subscribers than what it recorded in August 2021. Growth in mobile internet subscribers has now slipped to single digits from scorching double digits between 2016 and 2020.
Smartphones are the main gateway to go online - and this is where growth is flattening. India currently has some 650 million smartphone users but the pace of growth has slowed. Sale of mobile phones fell to 151 million units last year, down from a peak of 168 million in 2021, according to Counterpoint, a market research firm. A single-digit growth in sales is predicted this year.
Up until three years ago, users were buying a new smartphone every 14-16 months, according to IDC, another market research firm. But now they are looking for an upgrade every 22 months or so.
One reason is that smartphone prices have gone up since the pandemic because of rising component costs, a weakening rupee and supply chain disruptions involving China, the world's largest smartphone maker. Nearly 90% of the more than 300 components in India-made smartphones are imported.
At home, a slowing economy, loss of jobs and a resultant squeeze on incomes means less money in the wallet for a pricier new phone. "The slowdown in internet growth should be seen as an indicator of the state of the economy," says Nikhil Pahwa, a digital rights campaigner.
The average price of a smartphone is now around 22,000 rupees ($269; £220), up from 15,000 rupees two years ago, according to Navkendar Singh of IDC. For a market of its size, India is remarkably price sensitive: 80% of the devices sold here cost less than 20,000 rupees. "This is a real cause of concern. The world's second largest mobile phone market has a smartphone penetration which is nowhere close to China, which has the largest market," says Mr Singh.
Some like Anuj Gandhi, founder of Plug and Play Entertainment, wonder whether India's smartphone market has hit the buffers. "Where will more growth come from when there are so many people still living in poverty?" he says.
India has more than 350 million users of "dumbphones" - basic handsets, or feature phones - who can potentially move to smartphones if they can afford it. Almost half of these people use devices that cost less than 1,500 rupees.
Stung by higher prices of devices and data, only 35 million Indians upgraded from feature to smartphones in 2022, compared to 60 million every year before Covid struck, according to Tarun Pathak of Counterpoint. "The feature to smart phone migration has slowed down considerably," he says.
What is not always accounted for is a thriving and informal second-hand [refurbished phones] market that could be fulfilling the need for "cheap" smartphones. "The second-hand market is meeting some of this demand. But we are not really growing the base," says Mr Singh.
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A slowdown in internet growth isn't good news for India. Without a smartphone, it becomes difficult for many to access government welfare benefits, rations and vaccines, among other things. More than 250 million transactions are being made every day this month alone on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a government-backed real-time cashless transaction platform using mobile applications. India's central bank talks about a "less-cash, less-card society" by 2025.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/davos2023-digital-fdi-initiative-investment-barriers-emerging-economies/
Digital transformation is rapidly taking place, and we need the right governance frameworks to maximize its positive contribution and enable societies to prosper.
The World Economic Forum and the Digital Cooperation Organization have launched a collaboration – the Digital FDI Initiative – to identify the biggest challenges to growing the digital economy by helping implement policies and measures that will create “digital-friendly” investment climates.
Pakistan and Rwanda will be the first two countries to be supported by this new initiative to create an enabling environment for their digital future. More countries are in the pipeline to join the initiative and will be announced in the near future soon.
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With unemployment rates raised by COVID-19, the digital economy presents an opportunity to create innovative new jobs and stimulate entrepreneurialism in new subsectors of the economy, like e-commerce and fintech.
Key to these solutions will be development of digital infrastructure and empowering populations with the tools to participate in the digital economy. Access to the internet is regarded as one of these metrics. In 2020, however, only 53% of people, and 16% of the world’s poorest, had access to the internet.
Government and private sector investment in the necessary infrastructure, hardware and software to boost this interconnectivity is therefore crucial to targeting growth in new sectors in pursuit of the SDGs.
If there’s one thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us, it’s that digital transformation is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for growing emerging economies. To grow the digital economy, markets must attract and facilitate the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI), which brings not only capital but also knowledge, technology and know-how.
Yet attracting “digital FDI” requires specific enabling policies and measures vis-Ã -vis traditional FDI because digital firms operate different business models, as delineated in the Forum’s thought-leading Digital FDI white paper, which presented the results of a global investor survey on the most important policies, regulations and measures for firms’ decision to invest in the digital economy (Figure 1).
4 pillars of digital FDI
Based on our previous work, we’ve learnt that policies, regulations and measures to attract and facilitate digital FDI can be thought of as falling into four pillars (Figure 2): (a) those that enable investment in new digital activities (e.g. ridesharing apps); (b) those that enable investment in the adoption of digital services by existing firms (e.g. telemedicine or mobile banking); (c) those that enable investment in digital infrastructure, which will not only be driven by the policy and regulatory framework but also by physical considerations; and finally (d), outward digital FDI, which looks at the various home-country measures that can be taken to not only increase outward FDI, but also home-country benefits that help reach national development goals.
https://propakistani.pk/2023/01/17/here-is-how-much-internet-pakistanis-consumed-in-2022/
Every Pakistani broadband user consumed 81 GB of data in FY22, which showed double-digit growth of 11 percent as compared to the average yearly internet consumption which stood at 73 GB per person in FY21.
During the period under review, 8,970 petabytes of mobile data usage was reported in Pakistan, indicating a 31 percent increase from the previous year. Five years ago, mobile data usage in the country stood at 1,262 petabytes.
Dear Sir
It’s great to see that ranking of Pakistan in GII(Global Innovation Index) has increased to 87 but still it is much lower than ranking of India in this same index.
What makes you think the reason could be for such low ranking of Pakistan in this index ?
Even a small country like Jordan which is much smaller in size and population has a better ranking than Pakistan in this index .
Sir according to me , the main problem is politics , in Pakistan most of the time people give too much time thinking about politicians like Zardari and Nawaz Shareef or they give too much time thinking about political parties like PPP, MQM , PMLN and etc . Politics ruins the minds and intellectual capabilities of people specially of young people .
Sir I think the reason why Pakistan is actually lagging behind in GII( Global Innovation Index) is because of the following reasons:
1) Their is lack of quality education in many universities of Pakistan .
2) Very little or almost no attention and interest is shown in the research and development sectors of the country specially those in the universities of the country .
3) Inorder to play an important role in the field of science and technology specially in the area of IT , students have to be innovative and creative and unfortunately the course outlines which are offered for IT education in many general universities of Pakistan are not up to the mark and are not designed and developed to cultivate the innovative skills in the students and they are not good enough to make students creative .
4) Inorder for students to be creative and innovative , students must have a mind which produces ideas and for that it is I think important that students have a positive ,clean and open mind . I am sorry to say Sir what I have noticed is that most of the students in the government universities of Pakistan have politicised brains and they have nothing but negative notions about others specially about western countries including America .
Do you really think if the minds of students in Pakistan will be politicised to such a level , will the minds of students in the universities of Pakistan will be open , clean ,positive and healthy enough to produce ideas which are innovative and creative ?
I hope my questions and post are clear and I hope you will take my post in positive sense .
Best regards
https://thinkml.ai/pakistani-startup-using-ai-to-help-farmers/
Artificial intelligence solution for the farmers to yield more crops with reduced quantity of water resources. Pakistan has great potential of agriculture and its water spending is based on irrigation. To avoid the water crisis situation in the future, this startup is helping farmers using AI …
While the water shortage is reaching an alarming level in Pakistan and the country on the edge of drying out by 2025, an interesting Pakistani startup ‘Aqua Agro’, incubated In National Incubation Center Karachi, has come up with an artificial intelligence solution for the farmers to yield more crops with reduced quantity of water resources.
The startup has used natively developed solar-powered IOT enabled devices and deployed them in the fields to monitor ecological conditions such as soil wetness, temperature, humidity, and various other parameters. All this data collected from the farms is then sent to an AI based cloud platform that makes the decision for the farmers on whether the crop needs irrigation or not.
Pakistan is a country with great potential of agriculture. Its main natural resource is the land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. About 25% of Pakistan's agriculture accounts for about 21% of GDP and employs about 43% of the labour force. Hence, Pakistan’s water spending is based on irrigation. To avoid the water crisis situation in the future, it is necessary to cut down on water currently being used in irrigation and startup in question is helping the business exactly.
The idea has been proved to save 50% of the water as compared to the water consumption using legacy practices. Moreover, a pragmatic increase in the crop yield is observed. Farmers are notified about watering the crops through SMS, email and a mobile application.
The startup aims to raise funds for deploying the technology for 50 small-scale farmers of Pakistan by January 2019. For this purpose, Aqua Agro is running a crowd-funding campaign on Indiegogo.
Those enthusiasts who are willing to make a payment to this cause, can back Aqua Agro’s crowd-funding campaign and become a part of the cause to combat water crisis which will help the country’s agriculture sector survive with reduced water resources and radiate an overall positive effect on the country’s economy.
https://www.riazhaq.com/2023/01/digital-pakistan-2022-broadband.html
https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/shopup-debt-financing-327996
Pakistan IT exports were $2.6 billion in last fiscal year, compared to Bangladesh's $592 million.
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/economy/news/it-exports-cross-half-billion-dollar-mark-3143696
https://www.techjuice.pk/it-industry-of-pakistan-is-exported-2-66-billion-in-2022/
AdalFi, a Pakistan-based fintech providing credit scoring data and lending technology to banks, has raised $7.5 million in Seed funding.
The funding round was led by Cotu Ventures, Chimera Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures and Zayn Capital alongside angel investors including execs from Plaid.
AdalFi says it's ambition is to fix Pakistan's "broken" loans market, which currently relies on banks performing multiple manual checks on customers in the absence of any reliable credit scoring data.
The AdalFi tech stack provides AI-powered credit scoring and underwriting models, alongside the critical infrastructure to power smart, instant loans for consumers and SMEs. These include unsecured loan products such as term loans, credit cards and revolving finance facilities for consumers and SMEs respectively.
Within two years, AdalFi has signed up 14 banks - including seven out of the top ten - and grown loan volumes by 30% month on month for the last 19 months.
AdalFi operates on a revenue sharing model which captures any downside risk exposure to banks such that any loan losses are accounted for, pro-rata, in fees due to AdalFi.
Salman Akhtar, CEO and co-founder of AdalFi comments: “Pakistan has 50 million bank accounts yet only two million of these individuals and businesses have any credit relationship with their bank. The high cost of loan origination driven by physical verification of identity, assets and financial health (in the absence of credit scoring) has restricted credit access to a thin, top tier of customers. AdalFi’s digital lending platform allows partner banks to instantly credit score the other 95% of their existing customers who have never been lent to and cross-sell loans to them.”
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/29/postex-acquires-call-courier-to-become-pakistans-larger-e-commerce-service-provider/
Pakistani fintech PostEx has acquired logistics service provider Call Courier, creating what it describes as the largest e-commerce service provider in the country. PostEx will now serve 1.3 million users with over 8,000 merchants across 500 cities in Pakistan, and is on track to having a monthly loan book of more than $12 million.
The acquisition means that Call Courier will become a whollyowned subsidiary under the group name. PostEx provides services like upfront payments in a country where more than 90% of e-commerce payments are still completed in cash, and revenue-based financing for e-commerce sellers and SMEs.
PostEx co-founder and CEO Omer Khan told TechCrunch that according to the World Bank, about 100 million adults in Pakistan don’t have a bank account. As a result, businesses have limited access to working capital and lack adequate cash flow. On the other hand, consumers are wary of digital transactions, and even many who have bank accounts still prefer to pay cash on delivery for items ordered online.
But cash on delivery is problematic for e-commerce businesses because they have a higher rejection rate at the door. Furthermore, funds from cash on delivery purchases often take up to two to three weeks to be deposited into a business’ banking account, compared to a few days for digital payments.
As a result, PostEx’s founding team decided there was potential to build a reliable logistics service provider, plus upfront cash. Upfront payments mean that online vendors no longer have to wait through long payment cycles, and have better cash flow.
“We’re out there making it simpler for businesses to reach out to more customers, take care of their delivery needs and provide them with upfront liquidity,” said Khan. “This is essential for smaller businesses that need every penny to sustain themselves.”
In terms of competition, Khan says PostEx’s novelty factor is its hybrid of fintech and logistics. It has raised $8.6 million to date, and its backers include Zayn Capital, Global Founder Capital, MSA Capital, RTP, FJ Labs and Shorooq.
In a statement, Senator Afnan Ullah Khan, a member of the Prime Minister’s IT Task Force Committee said, “This acquisition shows the importance of close collaboration between fintech and logistics highlighting the importance of access to capital. This acquisition makes PostEx the largest e-commerce service provider in the market, showing the potential of startups for challenging incumbents. It’s refreshing to see new solutions to old problems.”
Panel discussion stresses on need to incorporate AI in curriculums for win-win results
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40227107
Experts from the technology space in Pakistan agreed that the availability of ChatGPT has transformed edtech and educational content creation.
They also noted that it will prove to be a challenge for educators because students are now becoming prone to using the chatbot for their assignments and homework, making it difficult for teachers to assess the performance of the candidate.
Users say Microsoft’s Bing chatbot gets defensive and testy
Speaking on the second day of 14th Karachi Literature Festival, they stated that artificial intelligence (AI) was set to disrupt the education segment of the world.
The panel discussion, titled ‘Edtech-The New Normal’, stressed the need to reform the curriculum of educational institutions to incorporate new developments in technology so they can utilise it in everyday work. They admitted that technology should act as an enabler for a humans in daily lives.
Knowledge Platform Founder and CEO Mahboob Mahmood said that plagiarism checks are a technical problem with chatbots like ChatGPT.
“We cannot fight ChatGPT with 20th century tools. We will need 21st century technology for that,” he said. “The chatbot, however, promises personalisation of education.”
Pakistan’s edtech startup Out-Class raises $500,000
Speaking on the occasion, Katalyst Labs founder and CEO Jehan Ara stated that Stanford University has taken a lead in combating chatbots and developed Detect GPT to check if an article was generated through a chatbot. According to her, Detect GPT is 95% accurate.
Daraz Pakistan Managing Director Ehsan Saya said that while ChatGPT was personalisation of education, it is light years behind in what it can do. He was of the view that the chatbot will be updated from time to time to offer new services.
Startup ‘MyTutorPod’ used latest tools to ensure maximum productivity during pandemic
Online education in Pakistan
The speakers pointed out opportunities and challenges surrounding online education in Pakistan.
Mahmood highlighted that edtech took off in Pakistan at the outset of Covid-19 and later its popularity retreated.
“Lately, it is witnessing genuine growth because people have become sophisticated while using it,” he said. “We are one to two years away from inflection point of Edtech.”
Pakistan’s edtech startup Maqsad raises $2.1 million in pre-seed funding
Jehan stated that connectivity is a huge issue hindering the growth of Edtech in the country. “Even big cities like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad see usual disruption in signals and this problem is rampant in small cities.”
She stressed upon addressing connectivity problem on war footing. She also called for improving access to education for people with disabilities.
“The disabled population should also be part of diversity. Next year, KLF should have sign language interpreters in sessions so that hearing impaired people can participate,” she recommented.
She also said that lack of will of people to send their kids to educational institutions was also a problem.
“Some people don’t want to send their sons to schools and force them to earn while they don’t send their daughters because they wear a veil.”
Oxford University Press (OUP) Pakistan Management Director Arshad Saeed Husain stated that such students can utilise edtech and study from home at the time of their convenience.
Edkasa: the startup using TikTok to spark students’ love for learning
He also added that people usually question what is the future of OUP amid rapid rise in edtech, ebooks and online education.
“The answer is that we create content and books are one classification of content. We had ventured into digital education long time back. Digital is the future.”
He underlined that blended approach in education is needed where both print and digital content will be needed to study.
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202302/pakistan-id-boss-to-head-undp-digital-transformation-committee-as-world-bank-mulls-funding
World Bank considers $78M project for digital public services
Malik has previously worked on identity projects with both the World Bank and UNDP. ProPakistani reports that the World Bank will consider the US$78 million ‘Pakistan: Digital Economy Enhancement Project’ that seeks a more holistic approach to digital government services for citizens and businesses.
While Pakistan has relatively robust national ID and payment systems (with links to improve service and inclusion), a lack of interoperability frameworks has limited public and private efforts for secure data exchange.
The country lacks certain elements of digital infrastructure and digital government, notes the report, though acknowledges that nearly four million citizens have been a smartphone app called the Pakistan Citizen’s Portal for accessing services or submitting grievances.
A data protection bill is still in draft form and requires more work, finds the World Bank documentation. Together these issues mean a lack of implementation support for digital projects, despite policy instruments at the federal and provincial levels. World Bank analysis therefore finds opportunities are being missed in the country’s digital transformation.
A recent opinion piece in Pakistan Today also covered elements of progress in the digital economy in the country.
Property registrars go biometric in Sindh province
All offices of the Sub-Registrar Property in Sindh province will be equipped with biometric identity verification systems to prevent impersonation in property registration, reports The Express Tribune.
NADRA Technologies Limited (NTL), a subsidiary of NADRA, signed an agreement with the Board of Revenue Sindh in Karachi, the province’s largest city. The system will be linked to the NADRA database and used to check the identity of property buyers and sellers.
The development of such systems was reported on in July 2022, with a similar biometric verification system slated for the Capital Development Authority.
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40227050
KARACHI: Jazz, Pakistan’s leading digital operator and a part of VEON Group, is digitally enabling The Citizens Foundation (TCF) to implement tech-enabled learning across 1,800 TCF schools and ensuring an advanced learning experience for over 250,000 students nationwide.
As part of this initiative, 23 computer labs have already been revamped, and a school management app has been introduced in all TCF schools, offering efficiency, transparency, and accuracy of data collection and management for all students, faculty, and non-faculty employees.
The blended learning solution for primary students is an innovative approach that combines online and offline education to provide a more interactive and engaging learning experience, while the computer curriculum under DLP (Digital Literacy Program) for grades 6-8 is specifically designed to equip students with digital-age skills.
The digitization initiative also facilitated the translation of books and learning materials for grades 6 and 7 into Urdu, creating a bilingual curriculum, along with a scripted bilingual lesson plan. In addition, 700 Android phones were delivered to schools across the entire TCF network, which aided in implementation of blended learning program.
Commenting on the initiative, Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim said, "We are proud to have collaborated with TCF on this important initiative to digitize schools and provide students with access to the latest technology. Driven by the impetus to digitally empower youth and to assist the Government of Pakistan in realizing its Digital Pakistan vision, Jazz continues to club its resources and expertise in creating long-term, sustainable solutions and partnerships that uplift individuals and the larger community."
Additionally, the female teacher training program is a crucial part of the grant as it will digitally empower women to take on more leadership roles and optimize their performance, which has been a key focus area for Jazz toward building an integrated and equitable society.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1041372-enabling-digital-transformation
By Jorgen C Arentz RostrupFebruary 17, 2023
Digital technologies in Pakistan could create up to Rs9.7 trillion ($59.7 billion) in economic value by 2030, if they are fully leveraged. This is equivalent to about 19 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2020.
‘Digital Lives Decoded 2022’, a study conducted by Telenor Asia, found that 54 per cent of Pakistanis believe mobile devices and mobile technology have significantly improved their careers and aided in developing their skills, with women reporting that their mobile devices have significantly improved their quality of life.
Mobile phones are also widely seen as a way of generating income. Nearly half of the people surveyed in the study feel mobile usage provided work and income opportunities that were unavailable before the pandemic. In Pakistan, 38 per cent of the respondents believe mobile access has created new opportunities for them.
Our research points to mobile connectivity being an enabler of productivity, progress, economic opportunity, and flexibility. Enabling people to connect to what matters most to them, accessibility to information, increasing productivity and an easy and safe way to manage their finances, are just a few of the many advantages of an increasingly digitized world.
However, privacy and security have become serious concerns in every country we surveyed for the Digital Lives Decoded 2022, including Pakistan.
In the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2023 unveiled last month, the failure of cyber security measures, including loss of privacy, data fraud or theft, and cyber espionage was identified as one of the top five risks that Pakistan faces. The Global Cyber Security Index, which measures the commitment of countries to cybersecurity, placed Pakistan 18th out of 38 Asia-Pacific nations, trailing Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India.
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Due to an unprecedented rise in the cost of operations in Pakistan, the sector’s financial health has been severely impacted. The need for further investments to make customers and businesses in Pakistan less vulnerable to cyber threats is urgent. Such priorities include the build-up of national capabilities and capacities in cyber security. The country already produces over 20,000 Information Technology (IT) graduates each year, has nurtured over 700 tech start-ups since 2010, and has the fourth highest earning IT workforce in the world, so there is tremendous potential left untapped.
There is an urgent need for the telecom sector to get the much-needed fiscal space and support to continue investing in and modernizing the infrastructure which would meet the digital needs of Pakistani society, enable the economic recovery and support the government’s longer term nation building ambitions.
As an owner of two of Pakistan’s most significant telco and mobile financial companies, Telenor looks forward to continued engagement with the government, civil society and all other digital ecosystem players in the country to support the continued digital development of Pakistan.
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3658136/south-asia-data-centre-guide-2022-country-by-country.html#:~:text=Depending%20on%20whose%20list%20you,provides%20details%20of%20the%20operators.
Depending on whose list you check, there are about 20 data centres in Pakistan. Data Center Catalog provides details of the operators. Singapore-based certification company EPI Certification (EPI) has certified four owned by Pakistan Telecom and one each by Jazz Mobile and the University of Lahore. The Uptime Institute has certified five others to Tier 3.
The industry appears to be booming. A two day Data Centre Summit was to be held in Islamabad in October 2021 but was postponed because of COVID-19.
The government-owned National Telecommunication Corp. (NTC) opened what was claimed to be the country’s first national data centre in Islamabad in 2016 to help implement the e-governance agenda of the federal government. It was built by local IT services company Inbox Business Technologies and Huawei. In 2022, the National Information Technology Board (NITB) opened a data centre in Islamabad, also built by Huawei.
The Pakistan government might do well to have concerns about Huawei’s role, given allegations of Chinese spying via Huawei equipment. As Network World Asia’s survey of Southeast Asian data centres reported, a report commissioned by Papua New Guinea’s National Cyber Security Centre into a data centre built by Huawei for the PNG government claimed data flows could be easily intercepted without detection, that the layout of the data centre did not match the intended design, and that core switches were not behind firewalls.
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Data centres in India
India is a hotbed of data centre activity. The country is currently home to more than 80 third-party data centres and is witnessing investment from both local and international players. India is ranked ninth globally for data centre density by Cloudscene.
Nasscomm, the not-for-profit industry association representing the $227 billion dollar IT business process management industry in India, said in 2019 that India had huge potential to take a large share of the global data centre market if it could act fast to implement the recently announced data centre draft policy.
One of the largest players in the Indian data centre market is NTT. It claims to operate 10 centres across the country with 43,000 square metres of data centre space and 150MW IT load, and it claims to have an additional 41,400 square netres and 250MW of IT load under development.
https://www.datacentermap.com/datacenters.html
1. USA 1851
2. UK 266
3. Germany 229
4. Canada 179
5. France 163
6. India 159
7. Australia 134
8. The Netherlands 122
9. China 87
10. Italy 86
11. Switzerland 79
12. Brazil 73
13. Spain 72
14. Turkey 68
15. Hong Kong 61
16. Sweden 60
17. Russia 59
18. Japan 54
19. Indonesia 54
20. Romania 46
21. New Zealand 45
22. Singapore 41
23. Belgium 40
24. Poland 40
25. Norway 36
26. Ukraine 34
27. Malaysia 33
28. Denmark 32
29. Portugal 32
30. South Africa 31
31. Bulgaria 29
32. Finland 24
33. Czech Republic 24
34. Iran 23
35. Saudi Arabia 22
36. Thailand 22
37. Pakistan 21
38. South Korea 20
39. Vietnam 19
40. Greece 18
41. Latvia 18
42. Israel 17
43. Cyprus 16
44. Argentina 15
44. Egypt 14
45. Mexico 14
46. Slovakia 14
47. Estonia 13
48. Lithuania 12
49. Mauritius 10
50. Taiwan 10
51. Iceland 9
52. Hungary 9
53. Kenya 9
54. UAE 9
55. Malta 8
56. Venezuela 7
57. Uruguay 7
58. Jordan 6
59. Nepal 6
60. Cambodia 5
61. Ghana 5
62. Gibraltar 5
63. Macedonia 5
64. Morocco 5
65. Bangladesh 4
Rest of the list has less than 4 data centers each
https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/702840--Centre-releases-Rs10bn-for-first-digital-census
The federal government on Monday released Rs10 billion for the upcoming first digital census in the country.
Addressing a presser, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Spokesperson Sarwar Gondal said the total expenditure for the upcoming census is Rs34 billion, and the centre has released Rs10 billion while the case of Rs24 billion is in ECC. Gondal believed that there will be no problem on the issue of the funds, adding that all chief ministers had no objection to the procedure.
He added that security arrangements have been finalised with the assistance of all provinces while 1 lac 21 thousand people have been trained all over Pakistan, adding that 1 lac 26 thousand electronic devices will be used in this census.
“495 Census Support Centers have been set up in the country, NADRA will provide support for malfunctions in software and electronic devices,” said Gondal.
https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/23/02/n30979877/pakistan-b2c-ecommerce-market-opportunities-databook-q1-2023-update-sector-to-reach-18-7-billion-b
According to the publisher, B2C Ecommerce market in Pakistan is expected to grow by 15.36% on annual basis to reach US$12.5 billion in 2023. The Medium to long-term growth story of B2C Ecommerce industry in Pakistan promises to be attractive . The B2C Ecommerce is expected to grow steadily over the forecast period, recording a CAGR of 10.70% during 2023-2027. The country's B2C Ecommerce Gross Merchandise Value will increase from US$10.8 billion in 2022 to reach US$18.7 billion by 2027.
This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of B2C ecommerce market dynamics, covering over 100 KPIs in Pakistan. It details market opportunity across key B2C verticals - Retail Shopping, Travel & Hospitality, Online Food Service, Media and Entertainment, Healthcare and Wellness, and Technology Products and Services.
It provides market share by key players across key verticals along with sales channels (Platform to Consumer, Direct to Consumer, Consumer to Consumer). In addition, it provides spending pattern by payment instruments along with a snapshot of consumer behaviour in Pakistan.
The report also covers niche trends such as market size by live streaming engagement model and cross border purchases. It also covers ecommerce spend share by operating systems, device (mobile vs desktop) and cities.
In addition, to detailed data-centric analysis, this report provides analyst commentary on key trends, drivers, strategies, and innovations in the B2C ecommerce industry in Pakistan.
Scope
This report provides a detailed data-driven look at the Pakistan B2C Ecommerce industry, covering various segments and highlighting areas of interest across the verticals in the industry. In addition, it provides a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics and future forecast.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/1067104/sco-the-fintech-torchbearer/
SCO is establishing a state of the art Tier-3 Data Center as per international standards to provide Cloud Computing Services which will enable youth, IT Professionals, Universities, government organizations, private entities including the Banking sector, health and education sectors to host their websites over secure platforms.
SCO Incubation Center Gilgit
In a joint venture with Karakoram International University (KIU), SCO has established the first Business Incubation Center in Gilgit. With all the funding provided by SCO, the incubation center is a promising facility for young aspiring entrepreneurs to showcase their expertise in the field of software development.
SCO Software Technology Park in Gilgit
SCO Software Technology Park, Gilgit’s first IT Park was inaugurated by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General (Retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa in Konodas Gilgit on October 6, 2020. This modern IT Park has excellent facilities of backup power, security and OFC data connectivity.
EZ Shifa – Online Doctor Kiosk by SCO
Gilgit Baltistan is the most hard area in terms of accessibility and difficult terrains and people are unable to avail basic health facilities in far flung areas. In view of these difficulties SCO installed Ez Shifa Kiosks (Provides Online Doctor Facility) at Khunjerab, Concordia & Shimshal. It is helping the local communities and tourists to avail the health facilities free of cost.
4G BTS at Concordia, K-2 Base Camp
Commemorating the efforts and achievements of the martyr mountaineer Ali Sadpara, SCO has installed Ali Sadpara BTS at Concordia, K2 Base Camp. The project is meant to pay due respects to the late hero of the nation and provides internet services at one of the highest points in the world. This deployment has made the communication easy for mountaineers and trekking groups.
Karakoram Highway (KKH) Seamless Connectivity
SCO is also credited with introducing GSM Mobile technology along KKH. SCO installed 62 BTS towers along Karakoram Highway Babusar-Khunjerab Pass align perfectly with the Prime Minister’s vision of promoting tourism in the country.
https://www.computerwoche.de/a/tier-4-data-center-works-with-large-businesses-in-pakistan,1877799
"While data centers are common, the level 4 center is not. In fact, the next Tier IV facility if you go westward from Pakistan, is in Costa Rica. The Middle East, for example, is a booming economy with fast growing IT infrastructure and architecture, and even they don't have level 4 facilities there. Travel eastward and you'll find two facilities in India, 3 in Singapore and the 17 in the US," explains Raja Jehangir Mehboob, SVP Corporate Sales and Marketing at CubeXS Weatherly.
CubeXS Weatherly is Pakistan's first Tier IV Data Center that works with several large organizations, including a Fortune 500 company, offering a portfolio of services from co-location to disaster recovery (DR). In light of the events that enveloped the Software Technology Park, the DR services that the level 4 facility provides include innovative, cost-effective IT Disaster Recovery solutions for large and mid-sized organizations that need DR capabilities worldwide.
"There are several considerations in managing a Tier IV facility. Some of these, which usually cannot be managed in a business organization is redundancy of power, high speed connectivity and multiple circuits that can be used to prevent any downtime and environmental factors as to just how much physical security there is," says Raja Jehangir. The facility's physical location is just as important as the data services it provides. It offers multiple dark and lit fiber internet and VPN connectivity along with space on its premises for business continuity of the key operations should the organization need it.
"Despite everything we offer to the companies, depending on the needs and setup a company has, the primary data site should be with the company itself while using a data center as a backup for all operations." It could also be a real time sync option for some of the critical operations. An unplanned event obviously doesn't take place with any warning, and to keep pace with the switch over, the integrity of the data must never be compromised. "But companies should be looking at planning decisions such as not keeping their own back up servers in the same location as the primary servers. Ensure the building that they are in or the room where they are housing their technology-based operations is safe and secure, and easy to get to."
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3658136/south-asia-data-centre-guide-2022-country-by-country.html
Depending on whose list you check, there are about 20 data centres in Pakistan. Data Center Catalog provides details of the operators. Singapore-based certification company EPI Certification (EPI) has certified four owned by Pakistan Telecom and one each by Jazz Mobile and the University of Lahore. The Uptime Institute has certified five others to Tier 3.
The industry appears to be booming. A two day Data Centre Summit was to be held in Islamabad in October 2021 but was postponed because of COVID-19.
The government-owned National Telecommunication Corp. (NTC) opened what was claimed to be the country’s first national data centre in Islamabad in 2016 to help implement the e-governance agenda of the federal government. It was built by local IT services company Inbox Business Technologies and Huawei. In 2022, the National Information Technology Board (NITB) opened a data centre in Islamabad, also built by Huawei.
The little QR code is ubiquitous across India’s vastness.
You find it pasted on a tree next to a roadside barber, propped on the pile of embroidery sold by female weavers, sticking out of a mound of freshly roasted peanuts on a snack cart. A beachside performer in Mumbai places it on his donations can before beginning his robot act; a Delhi beggar flashes it through your car’s window when you plead that you have no cash.
The codes connect hundreds of millions of people in an instant payment system that has revolutionized Indian commerce. Billions of mobile app transactions — a volume dwarfing anything in the West — course each month through a homegrown digital network that has made business easier and brought large numbers of Indians into the formal economy.
The scan-and-pay system is one pillar of what the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has championed as “digital public infrastructure,” with a foundation laid by the government. It has made daily life more convenient, expanded banking services like credit and savings to millions more Indians, and extended the reach of government programs and tax collection.
With this network, India has shown on a previously unseen scale how rapid technological innovation can have a leapfrog effect for developing nations, spurring economic growth even as physical infrastructure lags. It is a public-private model that India wants to export as it fashions itself as an incubator of ideas that can lift up the world’s poorer nations.
“Our digital payments ecosystem has been developed as a free public good,” Mr. Modi said on Friday to finance ministers from the Group of 20, which India is hosting this year. “This has radically transformed governance, financial inclusion and ease of living in India.”
In simple terms, Indian officials describe the digital infrastructure as a set of “rail tracks,” laid by the government, on top of which innovation can happen at low cost.
At its heart has been a robust campaign to deliver every citizen a unique identification number, called the Aadhaar. The initiative, begun in 2009 under Mr. Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh, was pushed forward by Mr. Modi after overcoming years of legal challenges over privacy concerns.
The government says about 99 percent of adults now have a biometric identification number, with more than 1.3 billion IDs issued in all.
Nandan Nilekani, a co-founder of the information technology giant Infosys who has been involved in India’s digital identification efforts since their early days, said the country could make a technological leap because it had little legacy digital infrastructure in place. “India was able to develop afresh with a clean slate,” he said.
https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/02/08/financial-inclusion-in-pakistan-increases-to-30/
https://portal.karandaaz.com.pk/dataset/financial-digital-inclusion/1038
KARACHI: Financial inclusion in Pakistan has increased by 9 basis points from 2020 to 2022 and women’s access, specifically has hit a double-digit percentage for the first time, as recorded by a survey conducted by Karandaaz Pakistan.
As defined by the World Bank, “financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.” This means conducting transactions through banks, mobile money and fintech.
The Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey (K-FIS) measures the percentage of adults above the age of 15 who report having at least one account in their name with an institution that offers a full range of financial services that is also documented by the government of Pakistan.
Following a significant jump in financial inclusion between 2017 and 2020, K-FIS recorded a substantial rise in the level of financial inclusion from 21% in 2020 to 30% of adults in 2022. Registered mobile money users more than doubled with an increase from 9% to 19%, while registered bank users also increased by 4 basis points over the same period.
By region, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) recorded the highest level of financial inclusion at 45%, followed by Gilgit Baltistan at 35% and Azad Jammu & Kashmir at 34%.
Looking at the division by gender, male registration accounted for the bulk of financial account registrations in 2022 with 47% having at least one registered financial account. Comparatively, only 13% of women are recorded to have at least one registered financial account. Although women’s percentage accounts for less than half of their male counterparts, the financial account registration for women has reached double digits for the first time.
Overall, the largest increase was seen in mobile money wallet users, as active usage increased from 8% in 2020 to 16% in 2022. Active usage also saw an increase in bank account holders, indicating an increase from 12% in 2020 to 14% in 2022.
Addressing the webinar held by Karandaaz Pakistan on February 7, 2023, Noor Ahmed, Director of the Agri Finance and Financial Inclusion Department of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said, “Over the years, there has been significant progress on financial inclusion. Key initiatives such as RAAST have been transformative in furthering the inclusion of the marginalised.”
Karandaaz Pakistan is a not-for-profit special-purpose vehicle set up under Section 42 in August 2014. The company is the implementation partner of the Enterprise and Asset Growth Programme (EAGR) and Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) programme of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1144694
The much-anticipated wait for the coveted digital banking licenses from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is finally over. The five recipients (out of 20) must now lead the way and showcase how effective digitally enabled banking can be in solving the financial inclusion conundrum (digital and otherwise) of the unserved and underserved segments of Pakistan.
They will also be expected to possess/create better digital strategies, architectures and approaches to benefit the financial services industry, and given that no local bank got the go-ahead (at least in this round), it will be interesting to see how many of those revert to applying again or opting for Plan B and protect their market share by digitally enhancing themselves, re-evaluating their HR strategies, aligning the right percentage points for the right products and services, taking a deeper look at their digital architecture, and renewing their go-to market approach.
Traditionally, leading digital outlets are mapped internally and externally and have the right processes and tools to make digital channels available for bank customers and their various divisions. They also will have to learn from fintechs (or partner with them) to enable new digital customer journeys and user experiences by leveraging automated/paperless workflows and environments for better acquisition, retention and growth. Unfortunately, in the Pakistani context, success in digital banking (thus far and for most) equates to their banking apps on mobiles, where one can pay bills or another. Beyond this, for all other banking needs, the parameters of real digital banking success are still hard to define, given that the public still relies on hard cash rather than digits on a screen.
So, who are these digital banking leaders? In my view, out of 33 operating banks, six have demonstrated at the very least a decent digital vision and the ability to lead, if not total prowess on their strategies, customer focus, and the value of their services through innovative channels. Bank Alfalah, HBL and Meezan Bank seem to be the clear market leaders, followed by Allied Bank, Standard Chartered Pakistan and United Bank. Another three to four are trying to up their game to stay digitally relevant. Time will tell if they succeed.
The top ones are better placed than the others in terms of digital capability, governance structures, and professional decision-making (as opposed to seth or state-driven) and have an overarching ‘doer’ attitude that is reflected in their products/services. They also have stronger working digital partnerships with the SBP; they try out new, technologically advanced techniques and comply with the requisite investments in digital and hire on mandated appointments to advise on, and lead, IT initiatives. Their leveraging of the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to explore new digital methods, address customer needs and focus on banking initiatives such as Raast and Roshan Digital Accounts are also commendable.
The remaining digital laggards seem to have their own reasons for doing the bare minimum on this front. For them, going digital (in the true sense) is time-consuming, expensive and the ROI of effort versus the reward does not make strategic sense given their lack of experience in monetising digital channels. Their best option will be to opt for profitability through traditional branch deposits, knowing fully well that cost centre models that typically flow down from branch banking are the most expensive, followed by ATMs – digital channels being the cheapest.
https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1144694
In their quest to go completely digital, banks are also struggling in the following areas.
Customer Ownership: In the digital sense, customer journeys stemming from apps/digital channels that leverage the banking services and products available to them will be a challenge. And since HR structuring is done in an old-fashioned way, the back-end reconciliation is often not only an operational challenge, it becomes an office politics one.
Parallel Digital Structures: Many banks have opted for a parallel albeit small(er) digital infrastructure to test the digital waters (perhaps they were advised to do this). The jury is still out on this approach because many of them preferred to digitally transform themselves completely and achieve overall digital excellence, rather than do it for one division and then connect others to it. This often creates a caste system within banks, which can also be a cultural challenge to solve for the leadership.
Skill Sets and Talent: Digital thinking at banks is often led by a tech-savvy board member, a digital banking leader and a CIO – all of whom are not always in sync, partly because they rose in different working environments and sectors. CIOs have risen in the ‘networking’ or ‘application’ route and are a non-business-savvy tech resource at best. Digital banking leaders are typically non-bankers and the board member is a foreigner (no formal board-level technology governance education exists in Pakistan) and is not, therefore, always up to speed in terms of Pakistan knowledge. This challenge exists across the board, especially because digital talent is still being cultivated (including junior ranks) and it often opts for start-ups and freelancing so that banks are even more challenged when it comes to attracting/retaining top talent.
Tech Architecture: Digital prowess requires stellar digital architectures, and to my knowledge, none of the banks has conducted a deep forensic audit of their existing tech stacks in order to uncover vulnerabilities and test the strengths on which the digital architecture is to stand. Untested architectures can be exposed and insecure and as dimensions of digital apps/tools/security are added to the volumes of transactions and data that a modern digital bank enables, they can fall (and fail).
Tech Tools: T24 by Temenos seems to be a core banking darling among CIOs. Enterprise Resource Planning exists for accounting and finance mechanisms, and CRM is widely missing as they don’t see the value somehow (shocking). Furthermore, internet banking architectures are different from those of mobile banking and back-end integration on a single connected stack for efficiency is missing. The SBP’s latest framework to outsource to cloud service providers is a welcome gesture, but to leverage it, banks will have to rethink their architecture and stop relying on band-aid approaches.
What next? Regardless of how the new digital licensees do, local banks should transform customer journeys at the branch level by digitising end-to-end digital loan disbursements/underwriting and all human/paper-intensive areas. This will involve constant upgrading of their digital vision, automating processes/workflows, focusing on customer centricity, upgrading the tech stacks, and integrating and mimicking digital channels with traditional branches. There will also have to be a meticulous focus on employee training in new-era banking, data gathering, intelligent decision-making and coming up with out-of-the-box customer and culturally relevant products that Pakistanis need to survive and grow.
Javaid Iqbal is CCO (and Member and Executive Director), Special Technology Zones Authority, Cabinet Division, Government of Pakistan. The thoughts reflected in this article are entirely his own and do not represent the views of the government. He can be followed on http://linkedin.com/in/jiqbal and @jdiq
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202303/pakistan-in-midst-of-digital-census-unprecedented-change-in-data-policies
Officials with Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority are boasting of a new service intended to put people in charge of their biometric data.
NADRA, as the authority is more commonly known, now offers a service call Ijazat Aap Ki decentralizes citizen data, at least to some extent. People will be able to give their consent – or refuse it – before a transaction requiring their Pakistani ID card, for example.
The government is calling the move, making personal information just like any other precious personal possession, unprecedented. For the government, according to officials, it means the creation of a “digital consent regime.”
Verification transactions now require that a six-digit code be sent to a mobile phone registered to a citizen. Having the code is authentication and will be a person’s agreement for a third party to get verification of their ID number.
People will have to update NADRA when they change their phone numbers.
The same agency is promoting what it says is Pakistan’s first digital census, the deepest and broadest collection of personal information most people will ever experience.
At least 121,000 so-called enumerators are crisscrossing the rugged country for the monthlong harvesting period of the census. Regrettably, 86,000 police and “thousands” of military personnel will travel with the enumerators in an effort to prevent violence to the government workers.
Those people will use apps on Android devices that validate collected data. The results of their work are expected April 20.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, past allegations of miscounting and underrepresentation was motivation to update how the census was conducted.
The Pakistan's Bureau of Statistics is conducting the census amid tight security
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-launches-its-first-ever-digital-census/article66569650.ece
A police officer, right, stands guard as a government worker collects data from a man during census, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Pakistan launched its first-ever digital population and housing census to gather demographic data on every individual ahead of the parliamentary elections which are due later this year, officials said. | Photo Credit: AP
Pakistan Wednesday launched its first-ever digital population and housing census, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying that it will help future planning and efficient utilisation of resources ahead of this year's general elections.
"Today marks the launch of Pakistan's very first Digital Census'23. This transparent system of data collection will feed into informed decision-making, future planning & efficient utilisation of resources. Congrats to all the organisations for designing this system indigenously," Mr. Shehbaz said in a tweet.
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Pakistan launches its first-ever digital census
https://sarkaripariksha.com/current-affairs/pakistan-launches-its-first-ever-digital-census/
Pakistan launched its first-ever digital population and housing census in an effort to securely gather demographic data on every individual ahead of this year's parliamentary elections.
The digital count will provide data for policy decisions, which now are based on the 2017 census that counted the population at 207 million people.
The digital census is being carried out by the PBS. It has the support of the National Technology Council (NTC), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), provincial governments as well as the armed forces.
For the first time, transgender people will be calculated in the census, the Pakistani government said.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/474067-census-2023-govt-extends-date-for-self-enumeration
A Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) spokesperson confirmed Geo News that the date for self-enumeration for the seventh census has been extended by seven days (March 10).
The development comes days after Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) objected to the time allotted for carrying out the census while calling for extending the time specified for the three phases of self-enumeration, house enumeration and census.
The decision to extend the date for the self-enumeration of the country's first digital census — which was initially scheduled to end tonight (March 3) at 12am — was taken during the relevant committee’s meeting.
The spokesperson maintained that the date has been extended keeping in view the convenience of the people.
The spokesperson said the authorities are also mulling over extending it beyond a week. He added that the website is also down repeatedly as a lot of people are accessing it.
"Till now, eight million people have self-enumerated themselves. The process of self-enumeration began on February 20," the spokesperson added.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/pakistani-fintech-startup-trukkr-raises-64-mln-gets-lending-licence-2023-03-07/
KARACHI, Pakistan, March 7 (Reuters) - Trukkr, a fintech platform for Pakistan’s trucking industry, said on Tuesday it had raised $6.4 million in a funding round and also received a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence.
Trukkr offers Pakistan’s small- and medium-sized trucking companies a transport management system and supply chain solutions, and is unique in providing fintech to digitise the largely unbanked and undocumented industry.
The seed funding round was led by U.S. based Accion Venture Lab and London based Sturgeon Capital. Haitou Global, Al Zayani Venture Capital and investor Peter Findley also participated in the round, Trukkr said in a statement.
The company's business model is similar to Kargo in Indonesia, Solvento in Mexico and Kobo 360 in Africa, but has been adapted to the market in Pakistan.
Trukkr said less than 5% of trucking companies using its platform have access to financial services, often having to wait up to 90 days for payments and leaving them unable to cover expenses such as fuel, tolls and truck maintenance.
Sheryar Bawany, Trukkr CEO and co-founder, told Reuters that it was looking to launch financial products at a "reasonable risk adjusted spread" to the benchmark Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR).
Co-founder Mishal Adamjee said there are some 20,000 drivers on Trukkr's platform, servicing 100 of the biggest companies in the country including Shan Foods, Artistic Milliners, International Industries Limited and Lucky Cement.
Adamjee told Reuters that Pakistan's $35 billion a year trucking industry is growing at 10% annually despite limited rail and water freight infrastructure.
Investor Accion Venture Lab said the Covid pandemic had shown how much the world relied on global supply chains.
"We want to bet on a company striving to tackle inefficiencies in a market filled with opportunities," it said in the statement.
According to Pakistan’s Board of Investment, projected demand for freight transport will double by 2025 and increase six-fold by 2050 to 600 billion freight tonnes-kilometre, particularly as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor kicks in.
Other freight marketplace startups in Pakistan include Truck It In, BridgeLinx and Freightix.
https://www.kitco.com/news/2023-03-06/Iran-advances-its-digital-rial-pilot-and-Pakistan-looks-to-create-an-eKYC-banking-platform.html
In other crypto-related developments out of the MENA region, the Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA) has signed off on the development of a blockchain-based Know Your Customer (KYC) platform with the goal of strengthening the country’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) capabilities in a bid to counter the financing of terrorism.
According to a report from the Daily Times, the PBA, which is comprised of 31 traditional banks operating in Pakistan, signed off on the project to develop Pakistan’s first blockchain-based national eKYC banking platform on Thursday at the behest of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country’s central bank.
Included in the list of member banks are multiple international behemoths such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Citibank and Deutsche Bank.
The new blockchain-based eKYC platform – dubbed “Consonance” – will also reportedly improve operational efficiencies, which are primarily aimed at improving customer experience during onboarding.
Consonance will be developed by the Avanza Group, and the platform will be used by member banks to standardize and exchange customer data via a decentralized and self-regulated network.
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/PAKISTAN-TELECOMMUNICATIO-6492707/news/Pakistan-Telecommunication-DE-CIX-and-PTCL-partner-to-establish-Internet-Exchange-in-Pakistan-43196895/
Frankfurt am Main (Germany)/Islamabad (Pakistan), 8 March 2023. DE-CIX, the world's leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator, and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the largest integrated Information Communication Technology (ICT) company of Pakistan, today signed a strategic partnership to establish an Internet Exchange (IX) in Pakistan. The IX will be housed as a redundant setup in the data centers of PTCL. As a world-class interconnection platform in the populous South Asian country, it will be operated by DE-CIX under the DE-CIX as a Service (DaaS) model, and built on DE-CIX's award-winning interconnection infrastructure, including the full set of peering, cloud connectivity, and other interconnection services. Technical implementation is planned in 2023. The interconnection platform is set to serve as a hub for regional connectivity, enabling local networks low-latency interconnection and localization of global content, while increasing network stability, scalability, and security.
"With a population of over 200 million people and Internet usage growing incredibly fast, Pakistan needs local interconnection, and its Internet connectivity will be strongly enhanced through this partnership. We want to serve the great demand for increasing the speed, quality, and stability of Internet connectivity to guarantee the best experience possible for end users and businesses in the market," commented Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX, after the signing ceremony at the telecoms event Capacity Middle East. "This will also attract more national and international Internet and cloud service providers to do business there and grow a vibrant local digital ecosystem, to offer the people in Pakistan the best access to local and international information, content, and services," Ivanov continued.
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Pakistan Internet Exchange point (PKIXP): How a collaborative effort helps keep Internet traffic local and makes the Internet faster and affordable in the country.
Learn more about how we're supporting technical communities strengthen their local infrastructure:
https://www.internetsociety.org/issues/infrastructure-and-community-development/
https://youtu.be/mXDVoWwesrg
https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/10/09/looking-beyond-the-haze-pakistans-cloud-computing-prospects/
According to experts in the industry, the current infrastructure for management of data in the country (Pakistan) is fragmented and outdated in most cases. In-house IT departments don’t have adequate competencies to keep up with technological advancements. This then leads to a lack of flexibility in data management, a major reason why many websites crash when subjected to high user traffic.
Cybernet’s RapidCompute, Multinet, PTCL, Jazz’s Garaj are the only significant local providers, whereas Telenor has partnerships in place to offer Alibaba’s cloud services. The range of offerings could be different in both partnerships. International providers such as Amazon Web Services and Huawei Cloud have also ventured into the Pakistani Market.
“Around 70% of the IT budget for big organisations is spent on just maintaining the infrastructure while around 30% is left for innovation. Once they shift to cloud, the tables are turned and you have a higher amount spared to invest into scaling businesses and on top of it there are value add enterprise services that CSPs can provide to further assist businesses,” said Ovais Khan, Head of Delivery, MENAP at Systems Limited when talking to Profit.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1736315
Overall, 10pc of adult Pakistanis have used Raast, the survey showed. Its users are predominantly men (13pc). Urban areas have a higher percentage of Raast users (14pc) compared to rural areas (7pc).
KARACHI: Three of every 10 adult Pakistanis are financially included, a measure that more than doubled between 2017 and 2022.
The recently released Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey 2022 shows financial inclusion increased from 14pc in 2017 to 21 per cent in 2020 and reached 30pc in 2022. Financially included individuals are those who have an account in their name with a full-service financial institution.
As for banking activities and attitudes, 19pc of adult Pakistanis have registered a bank account, according to the survey. The most common use of bank accounts is depositing money into one’s account (95pc), followed by withdrawal of money (38pc) and receiving wages (27pc).
About 81pc of Pakistani adults do not have bank accounts. Their main reason is “do not need one and have never thought of using one,” as reported by 68pc of those without a bank account.
Registered users for mobile money — which involves the use of a mobile phone to transfer funds, deposit or withdraw funds or pay bills — as a percentage of Pakistani adults also increased from 9pc in 2020 to 19pc in 2022.
About 45pc of mobile money wallet users recommended their use to others. Of these, 37pc recommended a specific mobile money wallet service. JazzCash was the most recommended service (69pc), followed by Telenor Easypaisa (24pc). The top reasons for recommending Easypaisa were “easier to transact with me” (69pc), “easier to use” (27pc) and “cheaper to transact with me” (26pc).
In comparison, JazzCash was recommended because of “lower transaction fees” (34pc) and “used by people I socialise with” (32pc).
The survey showed only 11pc of adult Pakistanis knew about Raast, which is the instant payment system that settles small-value retail payments in real-time while providing a universal access to all institutions in the financial industry. There’s is a “significant gender gap” in awareness about Raast as 16pc of men were aware of it versus only 5pc women.
Overall, 10pc of adult Pakistanis have used Raast, the survey showed. Its users are predominantly men (13pc). Urban areas have a higher percentage of Raast users (14pc) compared to rural areas (7pc).
The survey showed trust levels have increased for all types of financial institutions in the last nine years. The largest increase can be noticed for mobile money. Its level of trust has increased from 39pc in 2013 to 82pc in 2022. Trust in mobile money agents also increased from 37pc in 2013 to 77pc in 2022. Trust in the hundi/hawala system remained stagnant over the last nine years.
According to the survey, knowledge of different types of insurance products varied significantly among adult Pakistanis. About 50pc of them were either “very familiar” or “familiar” with life insurance. Familiarity with health insurance was reported by 37pc of the surveyed. The lowest level of awareness was about crop insurance (19pc).
Overall, 9pc of Pakistani adults have insurance policies. As is the case with using bank accounts and mobile money wallets, a gender gap also exists in the adoption of insurance policies: 12pc men versus only 6pc women have insurance policies, the survey showed.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-16/internet-startup-maqsad-scores-pakistan-s-biggest-edtech-round#xj4y7vzkg
European seed investor Speedinvest leads round by Karachi firm
Company bets on rising demand for after-school tutoring
Pakistan’s Maqsad raised the nation’s largest funding round by an education technology provider, showing that some startups in the nascent market are attracting investors despite a global venture financing slump.
The Karachi-based company raised $2.8 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Speedinvest GmbH, one of Europe’s largest seed investors, and existing backer Indus Valley Capital, according to co-founder Rooshan Aziz. Stellar Capital, Alter Global and angel investors also participated.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/china-s-sunwalk-group-intends-to-invest-2-bn-in-pakistan-telecom-sector-123031600116_1.html
China's Sunwalk Group intends to invest USD 2 billion in Cash-Strapped Pakistan's telecom sector for the deployment of an optical fiber network, Business Recorder reported.
The deployment of an optical fiber network will cover an area of 100,000 km over a period of time in Pakistan.
A high-level delegation of the Sunwalk Group led by chairman HOU called on Pakistan's Minister for IT and Telecom Syed Aminul Haque on Tuesday.
The meeting discussed about investment in telecom infrastructure, optical fiber cable (OFC), and right of way (RoW).
Sunwalk (Pvt) Ltd, is a telecom and technology-based multinational private Chinese enterprise that has developed multiple telecoms, and communication infrastructure projects in China and has acquired the TIP License in Pakistan, reported Business Recorder.
The company started deployment and invested about USD 5 million and has the plan to deploy 5,000 km OFC as the next step, according to Business Recorder.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/internet-startup-maqsad-scores-pakistan-070000407.html
European seed investor Speedinvest leads round by Karachi firm
Company bets on rising demand for after-school tutoring
Pakistan’s Maqsad raised the nation’s largest funding round by an education technology provider, showing that some startups in the nascent market are attracting investors despite a global venture financing slump.
The Karachi-based company raised $2.8 million in an oversubscribed seed round led by Speedinvest GmbH, one of Europe’s largest seed investors, and existing backer Indus Valley Capital, according to co-founder Rooshan Aziz. Stellar Capital, Alter Global and angel investors also participated.
Pakistan’s venture funding was little changed at about $350 million last year, but startups including AdalFi and Truckrr have raised sizable rounds for the market this year. The nation has the world’s fifth-largest population with a high proportion of young people.
“The ecosystem is going through a bit of a shake, but the companies which you know are solving fundamental basic problems, they’ll survive,” Aziz said in an interview. Maqsad’s operations are relatively lean and scalable and its education content always remains relevant, Aziz said.
Education spending in Pakistan is estimated at $37 billion by 2032 with a quarter of this going to after-school academic support, the target market for Maqsad, according to the startup. The mobile-only service targets students on grades nine to twelve and offers cheaper rates than brick-and-mortar tutoring companies. Its services include a feature that allows students to take a photo of a question and receive an answer instantly.
The app has been downloaded more than a million times and it has answered 4 million queries in the past 6 months. The startup can impact millions of students and become one of the most successful businesses in Pakistan, said Philip Specht, a partner at Speedinvest, which has one edtech unicorn in its portfolio.
The startup was founded by high-school friends Taha Ahmed and Aziz, who went to the London School of Economics and worked in the city before returning to Karachi to start the venture. The startup will start monetization in the coming months and may partner with other public and private institutions, Aziz said.
“This is an interesting time for edtech because globally the hype has kind of settled down after Covid,” said Ahmed. “So only serious companies are being funded in this space.”
https://propakistani.pk/2023/02/21/tech-destination-pakistan-showcasing-it-prowess-at-leap-2023-in-saudi-arabia/
Despite the prevailing economic crunch and challenges put forward by the uncertain situation, Pakistan’s IT sector made waves with its notable presence at LEAP 23 in Riyadh under the banner of ‘TechDestination Pakistan’.
This was very encouraging from an economic and business opportunities standpoint. PSEB’s renewed approach to branding Pakistan as a lucrative tech destination and enhancing its international presence has been exemplary.
With success at LEAP, Pakistan has proven that it is ready to take on the world and is open for business.
LEAP is an unparalleled tech event that brings together the brightest minds in the industry from across the globe, providing a dynamic platform for tech innovators, industry leaders, and top experts to collaborate, explore new innovations, establish valuable partnerships, and engage with influential mentors and investors.
The convention generated over $9 billion in business and was attended by over 172,000 individuals, including global tech leaders, IT professionals, speakers, tech gurus, and investors, making it the fastest-growing tech event in the world.
The Pakistan Pavilion, organized by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), featured 18 top IT/ITeS companies from various verticals
These included 10 start-ups showcasing cutting-edge solutions in areas such as AI, IoT, blockchain & crypto, robotics, 3D printing, space and satellites, biotech, quantum, fintech, 5G, open source, unmanned systems, and data services.
The pavilion was launched by His Excellency Ambassador Ameer Khurram Rathore, and six MoUs were signed between Pakistani IT companies and international companies.
Pakistani startup, SnapRetail, made it to the final round of the Rocket Fuel Startup Pitch competition, demonstrating the true potential and innovation capabilities of Pakistan’s IT industry.
PSEB’s Managing Director, Mr. Junaid Imam, encouraged Pakistani IT companies to participate in future LEAP events, leveraging it as a platform for networking and showcasing their presence in the IT sector.
Additionally, PSEB Director Business Development and Partnerships, Mr. Shahbaz Hameed, shared the organization’s ambitious vision of positioning Pakistan as a leading tech destination and striving to enhance Pakistan’s brand image internationally.
PSEB provided great assistance to the IT industry at LEAP, including organizing B2B sessions with prominent Saudi Companies to promote business expansion and foster new partnerships.
The success of LEAP Riyadh has created a ripple effect of businesses and investments for Pakistani IT companies, and they look forward to their participation in the upcoming editions.
PASHA, the independent IT association, assisted PSEB in yielding maximum mileage from the LEAP exhibition.
Pakistan sees this as a perfectly timed opportunity to showcase its IT/ITeS companies on an international trade platform and expand business in the Middle East market, especially in Saudi Arabia, which is undergoing transformation by implementing its Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia’s economy is the largest in the Middle East and among the top twenty economies in the world, with a significant share of the tech industry.
Despite facing challenges, Pakistan has managed to make a mark in the tech industry with its participation in this mega event.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/03/16/digital-census-process-continues-smoothly-pbs/
ISLAMABAD: The process of the 7th Population and Housing Census, being conducting digitally for the first time in the country’s history, has been going on smoothly all across the country, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported here on Thursday.
“The overall progress and speed of the census process is very encouraging and satisfactory,” PBS said in a press statement issued here.
The process includes an option for self-enumeration, which was made available from February 20, 2023, till March 10, 2023, and field operations of house listing and enumeration commenced from March 01, 2023, that will continue till April 4, 2023.
Conducting a census digitally ensures transparency, data-driven procedures, real-time monitoring of progress through geo-tagging using GIS systems, and wider acceptability of census results, said PBS press statement.
It said structures were listed from March 1st to March 10, 2023, during which all the residential and economic units were geotagged along with the classification of economic activities as per international standards.
It said, the self-enumeration portal was very well received by people who have enumerated themselves using the portal launched and this method was optional.
Currently, the final phase of the census i.e. enumeration is ongoing starting from March 12, 2023, and would continue till April 4, 2023. In this phase, the data about household members and their demographic characteristics, various Socio-Economic Indicators, as well as Housing characteristics, are being collected.
PBS technical team is analyzing and assessing the data and trends on a day-to-day basis to ensure the quality of the data and progress in identified 291 blocks all over Pakistan. Physical verification and digital monitoring are being used for quality assurance.
PBS has established 495 Census Support Centers (CSC) at the Census District level and 495 Census Support Centers (CSC) at the tehsil level where over 1,095 IT experts of NADRA and PBS team are available 24/7 for technical assistance and facilitation of field staff.
The control room has been established at the CSC level which facilitates census field staff during field operation and for this purpose, NADRA technical teams are available to redress all IT-related issues.
A call center is operating 24/7 for facilitation, assistance and suggestions through the toll-free number 0800-57574.
It said, certain quarters were spreading false and misinformation, adding information shared on the PBS website and official social media should be believed and considered.
PBS chief statistician says NADRA, NTC playing important role in securing data
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2406445/headcount-of-40m-population-completed
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) chief statistician Dr Naeemuz Zafar said on Thursday that counting of 40 million people in 8 million houses was completed, so far, during the ongoing seventh national census.
Talking to the media along with census spokesperson Sarwar Gondal, the PBS chief statistician said that the citizenship of the Kashmiri people was ‘Pakistani’, adding that the Sindh government lacked confidence in the process.
He said that March 31 had been set as the deadline to complete the census.
For the planning purposes, the country had been divided into 185,509 blocks, while listing of 167,578 blocks had been completed so far, out of a total of 183,048 blocks.
“The listing could not be started in 2,664 blocks, so far. There are security issues in 201 blocks,” Zafar told reporters, while adding that “listing could not be done due to security issues in former Fata [Federally-Administered Tribal Areas].”
It is pertinent to note that the counting of people started on March 12.
In the first phase, house listings and all buildings have been geo-tagged and so far, 40 million buildings have been geo-tagged across the country.
Responding to a question, Dr Naeemuz Zafar said that work on this digital census had been going on for the last two years, adding that 121,000 people were trained for the census exercise.
“It is a digital household and economic census. NADRA and the NTC are playing an important role in securing the census data, which will help in the economic planning in the country,” he added.
Responding to another question, Dr Naeemuz Zafar said that there had been attacks on two census teams in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, while the Sindh government lacked confidence in the process, while adding that “the Sindh government can monitor our entire work.”
Mastercard Incorporated MA recently inked a deal with Pakistan-based Aktkar Fuiou Technologies ("AFT") as a result of which AFT can take part in the Mastercard Community Pass Program. The program is a shared and interoperable digital technology platform, which aims to counter infrastructural headwinds, such as lack of secure connectivity or low smartphone usage, often encountered while digitizing rural communities.
As a result of the abovementioned deal, Digitt+, the country’s agri-fintech company, backed by AFT, will be entrusted to introduce Mastercard Commerce Pass across Pakistan. Commerce Pass is a digital payment solution that falls under MA’s Community Pass suite.
An offline and stored-value account product, Commerce Pass paves way for the safe storage and transfer of digital funds. Thereby, consumers and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises ("MSMEs") of Pakistan are made aware of digitization benefits and the hassles of cash storage and transferring are minimized.
The recent tie-up reinforces Mastercard’s sincere efforts to integrate digital solutions within the underserved agricultural markets of the country. And the expansive footprint of Digitt+ across the agricultural sector of Pakistan makes it an apt partner to complement MA’s endeavor.
The move seems to be a time opportune one as a significant portion of Pakistan’s population is employed in agriculture and widespread measures are being adopted across the globe to integrate digitization in every sphere of life. But the agricultural sector of Pakistan grapples with ineffective infrastructure thereby creating roadblocks in the way of financial service providers to cater to agricultural workers.
Deemed to be a perfect fit in the prevailing scenario, Commerce Pass will offer a record of transactions that will make availing credit and other financial services easier for the country’s agricultural employees. The Mastercard solution is expected to offer financial flexibility to a considerable population of Pakistan that resides in rural areas and resorts to informal lending channels.
Mastercard follows a public-private partnerships strategy in Pakistan and works in unison with the government or private sector companies to infuse digitization across various sectors of the economy. Last year, MA collaborated with LMK Resources Pakistan (Private) Limited ("LMKR") to execute the first open-loop payment solution, powered by MA’s advanced technology, across the country’s transit system. The move was undertaken to infuse digitization within the country’s travel sector. By virtue of such remarkable initiatives, Mastercard occupies a significant share of the digital payments market in Pakistan.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidprosser/2023/03/16/how-maqsads-mobile-education-can-help-more-pakistani-students-learn/?sh=ffc4bfb54126
Maqsad aims to make education more accessible to 100 million Pakistani students through a learning platform delivered via a mobile app. The platform offers teaching and testing, and can respond to queries. It seeks to disrupt the country’s out-of-school education sector, which largely consists of expensive tuition services that most families can’t afford.
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Growing up in Pakistan, high-school friends Rooshan Aziz and Taha Ahmed, the founders of edtech start-up Maqsad, were very conscious of their good fortune. Aziz struggled with dyslexia but his parents were able to afford after-school academic support that enabled him to complete his education. Ahmed, meanwhile, benefited from a series of academic scholarships that gave him a headstart in life.
Fast forward to the Covid-19 pandemic, Aziz and Ahmed were both working in London, and watched with horror as Pakistan tried to move to online learning, but found itself unable to scale up a technology platform capable of supporting large numbers of students. The crisis acted as an impetus to launch Maqsad, which is today announcing a $2.8 million funding round as it reaches 1 million users only six months after its launch.
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“Maqsad offers an exceptional after-school learning experience for students at a fraction of the cost of existing alternatives,” Ahmed explains. “Our focus on student problems is at the core of our mission, and we’ve collected feedback from over 20,000 students and teachers across Pakistan to ensure learning outcomes are being achieved.”
Certainly, the company has grown remarkably quickly. Since its launch last year, the Maqsad app has been downloaded more than 1 million times and is consistently ranked as the number one education app in Pakistan on the Google Play Store. The app provides access to high-quality content developed by experienced teachers, but also uses artificial intelligence tools to offer personalised learning.
Aimed initially at students aged 15 to 19 – often preparing for board or university entrance exams – the platform aims to have real impact in a market where student-teacher ratios, at 44:1, are among the highest in the world. Maqsad – the name is the Urdu word for “purpose” – offers a freemium model, enabling students to access a range of features and services at little or no cost. Over time, it plans to offer more content aimed at younger students.
From an investment perspective, the business offers exposure to an education market that is worth $37 billion in Pakistan. While other technology-enabled providers are also targeting the market – including Abwaab and Nearpeer – Maqsad regards its primary competitors as the providers of physical tuition centres. These are unaffordable for many students, it points out, or simply inaccessible for those who do not live in urban locations where such centres are located.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1743320
US Ambassador Donald Blome has said that the US is Pakistan’s largest export market, and the US investment is seen coming to Pakistan more and more every year.
He was speaking at the US-Pakistan Innovation Expo in Islamabad that showcased the success stories of US government-sponsored Pakistani startups.
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Senior Adviser for the Asia Foundation Pakistan Haris Qayyum expressed appreciation for the ongoing collaboration with the US embassy and National Incubation Centre to highlight success of Pakistani startups.
He said the US-Pakistan Innovation Expo was an endorsement of Pakistan’s dynamic tech entrepreneurs. It exemplifies Pakistan-US bilateral trade, foreign direct investment and technological innovation.
“The Asia Foundation is committed to collaborative efforts supporting Pakistan’s tech ecosystem, as we continue. The Asia Foundation is honoured to partner on initiatives that value entrepreneurship and innovation. It is our goal to support Pakistan’s sustainable development and inclusive growth,” he said.
The expo featured a speaker session for venture capitalists and angel investors led by an American expert. Business leaders and investors from Pakistan, the Middle East and the United States attended the event and discussed opportunities and challenges in the Pakistani startup ecosystem.
Project Director at the National Incubation Centre Parvez Abbasi said he was thrilled to see the US-Pakistan Innovation Expo come to fruition.
He said the event was a demonstration of the power of collaboration between the two nations and the endless possibilities “that arise when we combine our talents and resources”.
The delegates at the expo showed great enthusiasm for the event and expressed confidence that it would encourage further investment opportunities and potential trade partnerships between the US and Pakistan.
https://propakistani.pk/2023/03/22/starlink-satellite-broadband-is-now-officially-registered-in-pakistan/
In a significant development for Pakistan’s IT and Telecommunication sector, Director of Global Licensing and Market Activation at SpaceX, Ryan Goodnight, called on the Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Syed Aminul Haq, to discuss the registration of SpaceX’s Starlink in Pakist
According to the Minister, Starlink has registered itself with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
The meeting was aimed at exploring how Starlink’s fastest and cheapest satellite internet services could pave the way for affordable broadband services in every corner of Pakistan.
The Minister expressed his optimism that Starlink’s services could significantly reduce the operational costs of telecom operators, even in remote areas where inactive mobile towers could be activated at low cost.
“Our main objective is to provide broadband services to every corner of Pakistan at affordable tariffs,” said the Minister, adding, “Starlink can play an important role in this regard.”
Ryan Goodnight thanked the Minister for his full cooperation and appreciated Pakistan’s progress in the IT and Telecommunication sector. “Basic steps are complete, and now we are ready to go fast,” Ryan added.
This development could potentially revolutionize Pakistan’s telecommunications industry by providing faster and more affordable internet services, even in remote areas. The successful implementation of Starlink’s services in Pakistan could be a significant step towards achieving the goal of a connected Pakistan.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-24/pakistan-logistics-startup-raises-funds-in-bet-on-e-commerce
Trax, a logistics-based startup for the digital economy, announced on Friday that it raised $3.7 million in seed funding from a consortium of strategic investors.
The round was co-led by US-based Amaana Capital, making its second direct investment into Pakistan, and UAE-based Tricap Investments. PNO Ventures committed to the round along with angel investors including Omer Ismail (CEO of One, a Walmart-backed fintech) and Jahanzeb Sherwani (a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur).
Pakistan to produce a unicorn by 2025: Endeavor Managing Partner Allen Taylor
The company aims to use the investment to accelerate the growth of its logistics services alongside introduction of new business verticals such as fintech and technology solutions for its customers.
“We have built Trax with hard work and passion while funding ourselves because of our strong belief in the model,” said Trax Founder and CEO Hassan Khan.
“This funding will allow us to accelerate our journey as we continue to solve problems for the e-commerce and logistics industry through our tech solutions,” he said.
“Our new partners will help open doors for us to markets outside Pakistan and guide us to launch new verticals as we take the firm from a logistics company to one that solves connectivity issues and enhances financial inclusion in Pakistan.”
This partnership will also enable the firm to take all of this learning to the regional and then the global stage and make Trax a brand that Pakistanis are truly proud of, he said.
295 start-ups incubated since inception: NIC Islamabad helped attract over Rs7bn in investment
Launched in mid-2017, Trax is one of the logistics players in the Pakistani e-commerce sector.
Trax has built the third-largest delivery network in Pakistan with access to 95% of the population, served through over 100 warehouses, hubs, and retail centers nationwide.
The company also has a by-road fast-transit line haul system for e-commerce improving lead times while reducing costs for their clients.
Trax works with over 7,000 ecommerce merchants and also has clients in the banking, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and manufacturing industries with a team of almost 2,000 individuals.
Suleman Soorani, Partner at Tricap Investments, said: “We are impressed with Trax’s innovative approach to logistics and their commitment to providing high quality solutions to their customers. Trax has an exceptional leadership team and a proven track record of delivering scale.”
Aziz Hashim, Managing Partner at Amaana Capital, echoed similar sentiments. “We are confident that Trax’s strong leadership team, coupled with our investment, will enable the company to continue to expand its operations and become the leading logistics player in Pakistan.