Rs. 12bn allocated for eVentures development in Pakistan

The cat is out of the bag, budget 2015-16 has been announced and not everyone has welcomed it with open arms. When we talk about technology, entrepreneurship, and small, medium enterprises, there hasn’t been much allocated to these sectors. On the other hand, our neighbor country has set aside a budget of 1000 crores for young Indian entrepreneurs.

This time around, the government has set aside 12 Billion PKR to encourage and promote the growth of e-initiatives mainly e-commerce, e-learning, e-agriculture etc. Around Rs 2.8 billion has been allocated to link the remaining areas of the country with fiber optic cable in the line of advice with the provinces. Rs 3.6 billion have been set aside for linking the remote areas with the rest of the communication network in the country.

See Also: Sales tax on Mobile Phone imports doubled in budget 2015-16

It has been decided in principle, that all the Information & Communication Technology scholarships will continue till the next fiscal year end. Rs 20 billion have been allocated to the special schemes launched by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that includes laptops, business and interest-free loans e.t.c.

Haier Laptops were distributed among students last year and it was announced at the inauguration ceremony that the scheme will continue for the next five years, which means during the full tenure of the PM Nawaz Sharif’s government. Additionally, he also launched interest-free loan schemes for youth to encourage them in opening their own businesses, thus creating jobs for fellow Pakistani citizens. All of these promised schemes have been catered for in the budget 2015-2016.

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