ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb here on Monday met with a delegation from Afiniti, a leading AI technology firm, to discuss the company’s expanding business operations in Pakistan.
The meeting, held at the Finance Division, focused on issues related to taxation, talent recruitment, and the growth of the IT sector in Pakistan.
According to press release issued by finance ministry, the delegation was led by Jerome Vaughan Kapelus, CEO of Afiniti Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, and included Wedley Howard Fink, CFO of Afiniti, Osman Asghar Khan, MD & GM of Afiniti Pakistan, and Fakhar Ejaz, Senior Vice President of Global HR at Afiniti.
The meeting focused on discussions regarding Afiniti’s expanding business operations in Pakistan, the recruitment of talent, and associated issues related to the taxation structure.
According to press release, Jerome Vaughan Kapelus shared details about Afiniti’s operations, noting that nearly 80 percent of its operational support team is based in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. He highlighted the company’s growth over the years, with its customer base now spanning North America, Europe, and other regions globally.
Kapelus also spoke highly of the talent pool in Pakistan, particularly engineers, computer scientists, and technologists, expressing that Afiniti’s experience in recruiting high-quality human resources in the country had been exceptional. He emphasized that Afiniti was “thrilled” with the caliber of talent available in Pakistan, which has contributed significantly to the company’s success.
On the occasion, Aurangzeb expressed his appreciation for Afiniti’s growth and its continued investment in Pakistan. He noted that information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, along with agriculture, represent major growth sectors for Pakistan, with the unique advantage that much of the input for these sectors remains local.
He assured the delegation that the government is committed to creating an enabling ecosystem for both IT and agriculture to thrive.
He briefed the delegation on a range of taxation reforms aimed at modernizing the tax system through the use of people-processed technology and end-to-end digitalization. He stressed the government’s goal of broadening the tax base, including bringing previously non-compliant sectors into the tax net. This, he explained, would provide greater space for sectors that are over-taxed, such as the salaried class and manufacturing sectors.
Additionally, Minister Aurangzeb provided an update on the government’s efforts to simplify the tax return process. He highlighted the reduction in the number of fields in the tax return forms for the salaried class, which is expected to encourage greater participation in the tax system. The Minister mentioned that the new simplified tax return system would be operational by September, ahead of the next tax filing season.
The minister also briefed the delegation about the launch of the Pakistan Crypto Council, a new initiative aimed at regulating and integrating blockchain technology and digital assets into the country’s financial landscape. This initiative, he explained, will help Pakistan keep pace with global trends in digital finance and provide a regulatory framework for emerging technologies.
The meeting concluded with a reaffirmation of the government’s commitment to supporting businesses like Afiniti, and the importance of continued collaboration between the public and private sectors to foster growth and development in Pakistan.
