Suhail
Mohd. Al Zarooni of Al Zarooni General Trading and Real Estate has taken up his
fascinating hobby of collecting miniature model cars and has lined top in
position in the Guinness Book of World Records for 2002 & 2003. It took him over
two decades for making this collection. On his visit to Kalia Group he said, “I
am very much impressed by visiting Kalia Group’s offices. The services being
rendered by KalPoint.com are marvelous and KalSoft is indeed the leading
Software House, which makes all of us proud”.
The
Indian Finance Minister presented the Union Budget 2005-06 before the Indian
Parliament on February 28, 2005. This budget truly represents the real picture
of the Indian economy as a whole and after its thorough review; one can easily
assess and analyze the direction in which the Indian economy is heading towards.
It is worthwhile to mention that Information Technology (IT) Industry holds a
key position in the recent progressive development of the Indian economy as its
earning has also enabled the Indian Defense Ministry to purchase new arms &
ammunitions for its military. The total Union Budget 2005-06 Outlay is US$ 119.6
billion (approx.) in which US$ 19.3 billion (approx.) is allocated for defense
alone which is 7.8% higher than previous year’s allocated amount of US$ 17.90
billion (approx.). Most importantly, this amount is much higher than the total
outlay of Pakistan’s US$ 15.2 billion allocated in 2004-05 budget. Similarly,
the Indian IT Industry has not lagged behind too and its net IT exports have
increased upto US$ 17.5 billion (by 40%) in 2005 as compared to an export figure
of US$ 12.5 billion in 2003-04. The National Association of Software and
Services Companies (NASSCOM) had earlier set an IT export target of US$ 50
billion with total revenues of US$ 80 billion by 2008 but the President of India
Dr. Abul Kalam while addressing NASSCOM recently has urged them to set raise
this target figure to US$ 200 billion. This clearly indicates that India is
increasing its Defense Budget on average 15% per annum even when its IT exports
are below US$ 20 billion per annum. One can imagine that where will be its
Defence Budget when its IT exports will surpass the newly set US$ 50 billion or
US$ 200 billion per annum? And what’s about Pakistan’s Defense Budget? As such,
Pakistan should take it very seriously, and must take brave and courageous
initiatives for keeping the balance of power stable in the region as the time is
quickly running out. We can only boost up our economy by rapidly booming our
exports that can only be managed by giving Information Technology our foremost
and top priority. Let’s pray for the present policies of government to shape the
destiny as well as fate of our future generation in a safe and sound manner (Ameen).
