ISLAMABAD   -  The government has earmarked Rs2 billion for the Pakistan Startup Fund, aiming to bolster venture capital in­vestment within the country. An offi­cial from the Ministry of IT said that this fund will extend financial support to startups, with each receiving 30% backing, while venture capitalists will contribute the remaining 70% of the capital. This initiative, he hoped is an­ticipated to significantly contribute to Pakistan’s economic growth.

To boost mobile phone production domestically, he said the govern­ment has unveiled a 3% Research and Development (R&D) incentive for the local handset manufactur­ing industry. This incentive, he was of the view, is designed to enhance the industry’s global competitive­ness in terms of pricing. The gov­ernment plans to introduce a strat­egy for manufacturing components within Pakistan, thus making locally produced phones more affordable compared to imported ones through a tariff-differential policy. Highlight­ing the potential of Pakistan’s cellu­lar market, the official said that the country ranks as the seventh-largest market for cellular users globally, boasting 191 million cellular connec­tions. “However, we import most of our mobile phones. We need to man­ufacture them locally and develop an industry to export made-in-Pakistan phones,” he remarked.