Pkrevenue.com

Category: Trade & Industry

This section covers news on trade and industry. Pakistan Revenue is committed to providing the latest updates on business trends.

  • OICCI organizes Women Empowerment Awards

    OICCI organizes Women Empowerment Awards

    KARACHI: The Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) on Thursday organized Women Empowerment Awards 2021 to recognize the growing importance of women towards creating an enabling environment necessary to accelerate the economic growth in the country.

    OICCI initiated various research and has been holding annual competition among the members by recognizing those who have focused on women empowerment. “Increasing Women’s inclusion in the Pakistan Economy” a policy paper by OICCI has been shared with the Ministry of Human Rights last year.

    READ MORE: Ghais Khan elected OICCI president

    President OICCI Ghias Khan on the occasion said: “OICCI had initiated the OICCI Women Empowerment initiative in 2017 and has been regularly advocating for women empowerment among its membership. The fourth (2021) edition of the awards this year was organized to recognize the progress made by OICCI members in raising the engagement of women within their respective organization and give awards to the outstanding performers.”

    The awards were judged by an independent jury who vetted the performance of the companies from different aspects and awarded the best performers overall and in seven separate categories.

    READ MORE: OICCI expresses dismay over FBR action against mobile operator

    Three companies emerged victorious across all the categories and won top three positions: Procter & Gamble Pakistan and Telenor Pakistan were declared the first and second runner-up respectively while Unilever Pakistan won the top position and declared winner of “OICCI Women Empowerment Award 2021.”

    Special Recognition Awards were given in seven categories. Nestlé Pakistan won in the ‘Leadership & Strategy’ category; Mobilink Microfinance Bank in ‘Gender Balance Workforce’; Standard Chartered Bank in ‘Work Life Integration’; Bank Alfalah in ‘Women Leaders Development’; Pakistan Mobile Communications (Jazz) in “Driving Change Beyond Workspace”; TRG (ibex. Pakistan) in “Notable Growth in Women Empowerment”; and L’Oreal Pakistan bagged the ‘Top Performer amongst companies of 300 employees’ Award.

    READ MORE: OICCI members pay one third of total tax collection

    The ceremony was attended by a large number of CEOs and corporate professionals from different OICCI member companies, as well as diplomats and other distinguished guests.

    The keynote speakers included the Political Counsellor at British High Commission, Iona Thomas; European Union Ambassador to Pakistan, H.E. Androulla Kaminara; and Executive Vice President Unilever, Annemarieke de Haan.

    The speakers termed OICCI the trendsetter for women empowerment in Pakistan and advised that the corporate sector across Pakistan should replicate the ‘OICCI Women’ initiative to foster economic growth of the country.

    Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Sima Kamil, during a panel discussion, lauded the efforts of the OICCI and observed that OICCI Women is a great platform to create a movement for women empowerment in the country and appreciated the OICCI initiative to publicly acknowledge the efforts of member companies to give women equal employment opportunity and congenial working environment for the economy to grow.

    READ MORE: Business confidence falls on COVID: OICCI survey

    The speakers also emphasized that empowerment of women and gender equality are essential tools to achieve sustainable development in a global world. Therefore, it is important to bring women into the mainstream in all sectors, to build strong economies and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities alike.

    At the conclusion, Secretary OICCI, M. Abdul Aleem, hoped to see OICCI Women initiative become an inspiration for all organizations across the country and joining hands for a greater cause.

  • Industry protests against gas shortage at SSGC

    Industry protests against gas shortage at SSGC

    KARACHI: Hundreds of demonstrators on Wednesday gathered outside the head office of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to demand immediate restoration of gas supply to industry.

    The demonstrators included the leadership of Businessmen Group and Karachi Chamber along with Presidents/ Representatives of All Industrial Town Associations and sector-specific trade associations.

    They warned that this campaign to demand immediate restoration of gas supply at all the industrial zones would continue and may intensify further with each passing day until gas supply to all the industrial units is fully restored and normalized.

    READ MORE: PM appealed restoring gas to Karachi industrial zones

    Accompanied by prominent business figures, Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala, Vice Chairman BMG Jawed Bilwani and President KCCI Muhammad Idrees expressed deep concerns over government’s inattentive attitude towards resolving the most pressing issue being suffered by the business and industrial community of Karachi where the industrialists were suffering huge losses due to no gas or low pressure.

    The industrialists of Karachi were totally stunned and disappointed to see government’s sheer negligence in response to press releases, appeals and also a recent press conference over looming gas/ RLNG crises being suffered since last more than 100 days.

    READ MORE: KCCI holds awareness seminar on Pakistan Single Window

    They said that losses of up to Rs45 billion were being suffered each day due to unavailability of gas to Karachi, which despite facing so many challenges at almost all the fronts, continues to contribute more than 68 percent revenue to the national exchequer, 54 percent to national exports while 52 percent of textile exports also take place from Karachi.

    While referring to erroneous allocation of 211 mmcfd gas from Sindh’s resources to SNGPL, BMG and KCCI Leadership demanded that in order to revive the industrial activities in Karachi, Sindh’s gas has to be returned to the province as it was highly unfair to keep the industries of Karachi deprived of Sindh’s own gas resources.

    They said that the rising demand for gas in Baluchistan during winter season was being fulfilled by SSGCL alone which receives 125mmcfd gas from Sui whereas SNGPL, which takes away 180mmcfd from Sui, stands completely spared from sharing the burden of rising gas demand in Baluchistan which was beyond anyone’s understanding.

    READ MORE: KCCI urges SBP to restore PKR at Rs150 to dollar

    They stressed that the rising demand for gas in Baluchistan has to be meted out by SSGCL and SNGPL as per ratio of gas being received by them which means that the extra demand of 160mmcfd in Baluchistan during winter should be rationally divided with 41 percent (65mmcfd) burden on SSGCL and the remaining 59 percent (95mmcfd) must be borne by SNGPL.

    They were of the opinion that gas has to be supplied without any differentiation to all the industries including General, SMEs and export-oriented industries as they all go hand-in-hand. The government has to realize that the general industries were an integral part of the value chain for exports which drive the economy.

    READ MORE: KCCI flays restoration of IR officers bank freezing powers

    In the national interest, BMG and KCCI Leadership appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan to take immediate cognizance of the situation and urgently respond to the Constitutional Right of the business community of Karachi to save the investment of industrialists and protect the soft and positive image of Pakistan globally, otherwise, if such alarming situation prevails, the country may face unrest and uncertainty due to closure of industries in Karachi, massive layoffs and drastic decline in the national exchequer further leading to chaos.

  • All shopkeepers to install POS machines: CTO Chief

    All shopkeepers to install POS machines: CTO Chief

    KARACHI: Dr. Aftab Imam, Chief Commission Inland Revenue, Corporate Tax Office (CTO) Karachi on Tuesday said that installation o Point of Sale (POS) machines to be extended to all types of shopkeepers.

    Although installation of Point of Sales (POS) machines is currently mandatory for bigger stores/ shops falling under Tier-1 retailers. “But eventually, every shopkeeper will have to get the POS machines installed at their premises which was the only way to ensure that all the taxes being generated from sales were directly being submitted to the national exchequer,” he added.

    READ MORE: FBR posts officials at retail outlets for sales monitoring

    He was speaking at a meeting with office bearers of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

    Dr. Aftab Imam said in order to quickly process the Sales Tax Returns being submitted in huge quantities every month by the taxpayers, a state-of-the-art IDEA software has been introduced at the Inland Revenue Department where the pilot run was going on smoothly hence, it was being expected that this software will be fully launched in July 2022.

    READ MORE: Point of sale machines allowed tax credit

    He invited KCCI’s delegation to visit IR department to witness the performance of IDEA software which would make things easier and help in dealing with the problems being faced by taxpayers in submitting sales tax refunds.

    He informed that in order to improve the functioning of IR department, all the recruitments were now strictly being done purely on the basis of merit so that competent and hardworking workforce could be created which should facilitate the taxpayers instead of creating problems.

    Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President KCCI Zubair Motiwala, who joined the meeting via Zoom, pointed out that many issues mostly pertaining to issuance of notices have been lying pending at numerous offices of the IR department which need to be resolved on priority. Huge number of notices including Withholding Tax Notices and Audit Notices were being issued to taxpayers without any justification which was a very serious issue hindering government’s ease of doing business policy, he said, and suggested that instead of seeking entire data and documentation from taxpayers, FBR should only collect information about any suspicious/ missing transactions without disturbing the entire flow.

    READ MORE: CTO Karachi seals three retail shops on POS failure

    He said that although taxpayers have been regularly submitting all the documentations on monthly basis yet the FBR officials without taking the already submitted documentation into consideration, demand the same documents again and any failure or delay in doing so creates a lot of problems for taxpayers who find themselves stuck up in a web of harassment. “To deal with these kinds of issues, it is really necessary to adopt state-of-the-art and completely flawless IT solutions as per international standards which would reduce human interaction and help in minimizing the incidents of harassment”, he added.

    President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, in his remarks, suggested that FBR should focus on other cities as well because it seems that the current policies were being implemented in Karachi only which, despite so many odds and challenges, continues to contribute more than 65 percent revenue to the national exchequer yet, the business community of this city was being compelled to face notices and go through harassment. “Instead of squeezing the business community of Karachi, uniform policies have to be devised and effectively implemented all over the country”, he added and advised that tax collecting authority should initiate market-based awareness sessions which will be fully facilitated by KCCI.

    READ MORE: PM appealed restoring gas to Karachi industrial zones

    While appreciating the sincerity of Chief Commissioner towards promptly resolving the grievances being faced by the business community, Muhamad Idrees mentioned that a particular case, which was pending since last six months, was instantly resolved within one day as soon as it was brought to the notice Dr Aftab Imam who always tries his best to get other cases referred by KCCI resolved as well which pertain to any other department.

    He opined that tax was a by-product of a vibrant economy and efforts for increasing tax collection can only yield desirable results through sustainable growth in economic activities. The measures taken through Supplementary Finance Bill will have a significant impact on the poor and middle-class segments due to increase in prices of consumer goods.

    “The 17 percent GST imposed on formula milk, enhancement of tax from 5 percent to 12.5 percent on imported vehicles, 17 percent increase in prices of mobile phones exceeding $200 and Sales Tax on import of raw material which has also been increased from 5 per cent to 10 per cent while withdrawal of exemptions worth Rs31 billion will prove counterproductive to the economic growth and business development,” he added.

    He further stated that it was very unfortunate that FBR has been allowed to freeze banks accounts of the businessmen and can enter any premises. “Such discretionary powers to tax officials were fueling corruption in the system. Such measures should only be taken after the businessman is proven guilty and should not be used as a tool to harass businessmen.”

    Muhammad Idrees further pointed out that taxpayers were being harassed by issuing notices for monitoring and audit of multiple tax years and they were being compelled to comply to these notices in short period of time of merely 4 to 5 days.

    “Hence, I propose that the field formations should be restricted from initiating proceedings of multiple years at once. Also, some minimum time period should be prescribed under the law which should be provided to taxpayers for responding to a particular notice,” Muhammad Idrees said, “To make the tax mechanism more efficient, unnecessary powers of FBR should be curtailed, audit process should be reformed and laws should be passed for harassment by minimizing person to person contact.”

  • Ghais Khan elected OICCI president

    Ghais Khan elected OICCI president

    KARACHI: Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has elected Ghais Khan as president for the term 2022.

    Ghias Khan is President & Chief Executive Officer, Engro Corporation Limited.

    The election of Ghais Khan announced at the 162nd Annual General Meeting of the OICCI held at the Chamber on Monday. Amir Rasool Paracha, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Unilever Pakistan Limited, was elected as the Vice President.

    The other elected members of the OICCI Managing Committee for 2022 are included: Ahmed Zahid Zaheer, Chevron Pakistan Lubricants (Pvt) Limited; Ali Ahmed Khan, FriesLandCampina Engro Pakistan Limited; Erum Shakir Rahim, GhaxoSmithKline Pakistan Limited; Ali Asghar Jamali, Indus Motor Company Limited; Samer Chedid, Nestle Pakistan Limited; Waqar Irshad Siddiqui, Shell Pakistan Limited; Markus Strohmeier, Siemens Pakistan Engineering Company Limited; and Rehan Muhammad Shaikh, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited.

    In his message to the members, Incoming President Ghias Khan said he strongly believes that Pakistan offers considerable growth potential for existing and new foreign investors.

    He lauded OICCI’s role in promoting Pakistan to potential foreign investors. He further appreciated the quality of OICCI Business surveys and the Chamber’s focused and continuing advocacy efforts for streamlining the taxation system, pragmatic policy input for increasing the efficiency of energy sector, initiatives on women empowerment, gender equality, climate and sustainability, and the Chamber’s role in pursuing an effective Intellectual Property Rights regime in Pakistan.

    Ghias Khan holds an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi and also serves as Chairman on the Boards of Engro Fertilizers Limited, Engro Polymer & Chemicals Limited, Engro Enfrashare (Pvt) Limited, and Engro Energy Limited.

  • PM appealed restoring gas to Karachi industrial zones

    PM appealed restoring gas to Karachi industrial zones

    KARACHI: The business leaders of industrial zones of Karachi have appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan to restore gas supply to all industries.

    While fervently appealing Prime Minister Imran Khan and his aides to immediately restore gas supply to all industrial zones of Karachi whose gas supply remains suspended since last more than 100 days, Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala, Vice Chairman BMG & Chairman Pakistan Apparel Forum Jawed Bilwani and President Karachi Chamber Muhammad Idrees have stressed that the federal government must save its repute by putting an end to the discriminatory treatment being suffered by this city since long which has not only aggravated miseries for the business community and the Karachiites but has also dented the government’s efforts to ensure ease of doing business.

    READ MORE: KCCI holds awareness seminar on Pakistan Single Window

    Addressing a presser at Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) on Monday, Business Leaders urged that in order to revive the industrial activities, Sindh’s gas has to be returned to the province as it was highly unfair to keep the industries of Karachi deprived of Sindh’s own gas resources. They said that the industries of Karachi were deeply shocked and totally disappointed with the Government for neglecting and ignoring the repeated appeals and press releases over looming gas/ RLNG crises and remains indecisive in the burning matter for the last more than 100 days.

    General Secretary BMG AQ Khalil, Senior Vice President Abdul Rehman Naqi, Vice President Qazi Zahid Hussain along with President Site Association of Industry Abdul Rasheed, President Federal B. Area of Trade & Industry Haroon Shamsi, President Korangi Association of Trade & Industry Salman Aslam, Representative of Landhi Association of Trade & Industry Ajmal Afzal, President North Karachi Association of Trade & Industry Faisal Moiz, President Bin Qasim Association of Trade & Industry Elahi Buksh and President Site Superhighway Association of Industry Aamir Hassan Lari attended the presser. From Value-Added Textile Associations, Zonal Chairman Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) Abdul Rehman, Chairman Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Sheikh Shafiq Jhok Wala, Chairman Pakistan Knitwear & Sweaters Manufacturers & Exporters Association Kamran Chandna, Chairman Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufacturers & Exporters Association Aitazaz Ahmed Japanwala,  Chairman Towel Manufacturers Association Kashif Mehtab Chawla, Chairman Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association Asif Javed & Chairman Pakistan Denim Manufacturer & Exporters Association Asif Riaz Tata also participated.

    READ MORE: KCCI urges SBP to restore PKR at Rs150 to dollar

    Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala said that the Government’s promises and commitments to assure supply of gas to export industries appear to be an eyewash and a mere lip-service. It was highly unfair to deprive Karachi from Gas/ RLNG as this city, being the textile and industrial hub of Pakistan, alone contributes 68 percent revenue to the national exchequer and 54 percent to national exports while 52 percent of textile exports also take place from Karachi.

    “Yet this matchless contribution is not being taken into consideration and Karachi continues to undergo discrimination that has led to causing severe production losses of more than 66 percent due to reduced or no supply of gas. The inequitable conduct and discriminatory treatment with Karachi were totally unconstitutional hence intolerable and highly deplorable”, he said while fearing that the discriminatory actions/ policy towards Karachi will not only cause the industry to cripple but would also tarnish the vision of Prime Minister.

    Chairman BMG further stated that the rising demand for gas in Baluchistan during winter season was being fulfilled by SSGCL alone which receives 125mmcfd gas from Sui whereas SNGPL, which takes away 180mmcfd from Sui, stands completely spared from sharing the burden of rising gas demand in Baluchistan which was beyond anyone’s understanding. “We firmly believe that the rising demand for gas in Baluchistan has to be meted out by SSGCL and SNGPL as per ratio of gas being received by them which means that the extra demand of 160mmcfd in Baluchistan during winter should be rationally divided with 41 percent (65mmcfd) burden on SSGCL and the remaining 59 percent (95mmcfd) must be borne by SNGPL.”  

    READ MORE: KCCI flays restoration of IR officers bank freezing powers

    Zubair Motiwala stressed that a quantum of 211mmcfd gas, which was erroneously allocated to SNGPL in the past and the same has also been recognized by SAPM Gas and DG Gas, needs to be immediately returned to SSGCL. “Last year, the industry of Karachi entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Ministry Commerce to purchase extra quantum of gas at higher price for a period of five months to match the demand. However, we were denied of the same this year due to lack of planning.”

    Chairman Pakistan Apparel Forum Jawed Bilwani mentioned that Prime Minister’s excellent policy pertaining to Long Term Financing Facility (LTFF) encouraged industrialists to invest more than US$3 billion on purchase of machineries/ equipment which was likely to promote industrialization but this policy will be wasted due to unavailability and unjustified distribution of gas.

    READ MORE: KCCI expresses grief over human loss in earthquake

    Bilwani said that the Value-Added Textile Export Industries were saddened over such unwelcoming act and behavior of the Federal Government. Surprisingly, Government is well aware that the downfall in exports will also result into downward revision in the national revenue and will also negatively impact the foreign exchange coming to Pakistan where the national exports will ultimately face sharp decline, nevertheless, no response and continuous silence of the Government is not understood?

    He said that repeated appeals in the print media without any response from the Government has also tarnished the soft and positive image of Pakistan in the eyes of international community around the globe and has also raised several questions in the Diplomatic Missions of friendly countries in Pakistan whereby the Ambassadors and diplomats in Islamabad and Karachi have been continuously observing the situation and they may send their advisories to the buyers of their countries which may result to disruption or discontinuation of existing and new export orders.

    Addressing the presser, President KCCI Muhammad Idrees opined that instead of pursuing the pick & choose strategy, gas has to be supplied without any differentiation to all the industries including General, SMEs and export-oriented industries as they all go hand-in-hand. The government has to realize that the general industries were an integral part of the value chain for exports which drive the economy.

    He was of the view that neglect and disregard of repeated appeals of the industries of Karachi has also depicted a dark picture of Pakistan in the eyes of international community as the sitting Government which claims to be business and export friendly, has thus far not yet showed any concern towards the industrial slowdown and shattered export production in Karachi.

    BMG and KCCI Leadership along with Presidents of all other Trade Associations informed that the industries of Karachi were also being victimized and denied of other alternate fuels like Furnace Oil as the Department of Explosives, Petroleum Division was also not granting the required license to export industries which they applied for around two months ago. Production of export industries has come to a complete halt as they have no other alternate energy or power connection/ source.

    They said that empty Containers and Vessels to dispatch export shipments to various destinations worldwide were also not easily available due to ill-planning of the Government as the empty containers have been exported, reportedly, throughout last year, in huge quantities and mother vessels were also not coming to Pakistan. Such neglect on part of the Government was highly deplorable and the valuable struggle and hard efforts of exporters, encompassing over decades, to enhance exports will end in smokes and their new investments for further industrialization will be sabotaged, they added and asked, why should the industries of Karachi suffer on the cost of maladministration and nasty planning of non-serious elements in the Government who were responsible for the ongoing gas crises.

    The Industrialists also deplored the misleading contents of appeal of APTMA North Zone published on January 29 wherein the Spinners’ Association has attempted to misinform the Government mentioning that the industries in Sindh were getting required pressure to operate in contravention to the appeals given by APTMA South Zone.

    In the national interest, Zubair Motiwala, Jawed Bilwani, Muhammad Idrees and all Presidents of Trade Associations appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan to take immediate cognizance of the situation and urgently respond to the Constitutional Right of the business community of Karachi to save the investment of industrialists and protect the soft and positive image of Pakistan globally, otherwise, if such alarming situation prevails, the country may face unrest and uncertainty due to closure of industries in Karachi, massive layoffs and drastic decline in the national exchequer further leading to chaos.

  • Industry cries foul as gas suspension halts production

    Industry cries foul as gas suspension halts production

    KARACHI: The industry has cried foul over suspension of natural gas, which has halted the manufacturing activities resulting dishonoring export orders.

    The Industrialists of SITE Karachi have stringed up protesting banners over various roads and roundabouts of industrial areas against Gas load shedding, appealing the Prime Minister for uninterrupted supply of gas to industries of Karachi to save export and general industries including SMEs from disaster otherwise, fulfillment of export orders and new investments of billions of rupees shall be at risk.

    READ MORE: SITE Association demands reversing policy rate at 7%

    President, SITE Association of Industry, Abdul Rasheed, in a statement appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan that industries are facing suspension of gas supply since November 21, 2021.

    Due to daily 16 hours’ gas load shedding or zero gas pressure, about 66 per cent industrial production has been effected whereas, discrimination with Karachi is catastrophic for industries and against the defined export policies of the prime minister.

    Karachi is industrial and economic hub of Pakistan, despite of contributing 68 per cent to national exchequer, contributing over 54 per cent towards total exports and 52 per cent towards textile exports, Karachi is facing injustice by authorities.

    READ MORE: SITE Association signs MoU for tax return filing

    Abdul Rasheed raised the question as to why industries of Karachi solely suffers from shortage of Gas? Why is Sindh being prevented from using its own Gas?

    “It seems that there is hidden intention of shutting down or destroying Karachi industries behind depriving Karachi of gas. Is depriving Karachi of gas aimed at thwarting Prime Minister’s export policy?”

    Last year SSGC was provided with 150 MMCFD RLNG against only 34 MMCFD RLNG provided this year.

    READ MORE: SITE Association hails FBR chairman’s no bank account freezing decision

    He further added that Sui Northern Gas Company may also confer its appropriate share to Baluchistan and wrongly allowed 211 MMCFD gas to Sui Northern Gas may be provided back to SSGC to improve gas supply.

    SAI chief has appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensure round-the-clock gas supply with adequate pressure to Karachi industries and requested to supply gas regardless of category i.e. Export, General industries or SMEs so that destruction of industries could be avoided failing which investment made by importing 3 billion dollars’ worth machinery by various industries shall be in jeopardy and will lead to a flood of unemployment.

    READ MORE: Pakistan unlikely to get benefit from 2nd phase of China FTA: SITE Association

  • FPCCI demands allowing clearance of solar equipment

    FPCCI demands allowing clearance of solar equipment

    Khawaja Shahzeb Akram, the Senior Vice President (SVP) of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), has called for the exemption of unfair sales tax imposition on solar power equipment.

    (more…)
  • SBP organizes SME exhibition in Multan

    SBP organizes SME exhibition in Multan

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in collaboration with Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) organized a two-day SME Exhibition on January 24-25, 2022.

    The event was attended by officials and members of chambers of industry & commerce, associations of traders and women entrepreneurs, and SMEs clusters of Multan, Khanewal, Vehari, D.G. Khan besides officials of SBP BSC and banks.

    Muhammad Usman Dar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Youth Affairs, speaking in the inaugural session of the Mela, highlighted the progress of Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Program especially designed for young entrepreneurs in the country.

    READ MORE: Mini-budget likely to push up inflation: SBP

    He praised the personal commitment of Governor SBP, Dr Reza Baqir, in expanding the access to credit at grass root levels including small businesses, women entrepreneurs, and people dreaming to own their home through new credit schemes such as SME Asaan finance (SAAF), Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar (MPMG) and SBP Refinance Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs.

    Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Managing Director SBP Banking Services Corporation (SBP BSC) inaugurated the event and while giving his keynote address said that SBP is making all its efforts to enhance collaboration with the industry and chambers across the country to spread awareness of its credit schemes to boost their utilization.

    Besides, SBP BSC in partnership with Industry Chambers and Women Associations is working under a new mechanism to identify potential businesses and their employees to apply in the banks for loans under concessional credit schemes for SMEs and housing.

    READ MORE: Tax imposed to protect domestic entertainment industry

    Highlighting the objectives of the SME Mela, he stated that this would bring banks and business community under one roof, providing an opportunity to micro, small, and medium enterprises to seek guidance from concerned officials of SBP and commercial banks about concessionary refinance schemes.

    He encouraged those SMEs to apply under SBP’s SAAF that have strong business viability but do not have collateral to offer.

    At this occasion, Khawaja Muhammad Hussain, President MCCI thanked both Special Assistant to Prime Minister and MD SBP BSC, assuring full support of all regional chambers for creating awareness about GoP and SBP concessional financing schemes among the business community of Multan and surrounding areas.

    READ MORE: FBR slaps sales tax at 17% on supply of food stuff

    On day one of the Mela, participants were briefed about the key features of SAAF and PM Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme. Under SAAF Scheme, collateral free financing of up to Rs10 million is available through eight participating banks.

    Similarly, under Kamyab Jawan Scheme, concessional loans of up to Rs25 million are available at end user rate of 3 per cent to 5 per cent. On the second day of Mela, participants were apprised about key features of SBP’s financing scheme for renewable energy and Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar (MPMG) Scheme.

    Over 600 businesses and firms attended the Mela and visited the banks’ stalls to seek knowledge of SBP’s financing schemes and banks’ loan products. Notably, 264 participants registered themselves at various bank’s stalls to express interest in concessional schemes, including 105 SMEs and women entrepreneurs who applied on the spot for financing under different SBP’s schemes and Kamyab Jawan Program. During the event, MD SBP BSC also distributed cheques among the borrowers of HBL, Bank of Punjab and Bank Alfalah under SBP’s SAAF.

    READ MORE; FBR enhances tax rates on motor vehicle registration

  • KCCI holds awareness seminar on Pakistan Single Window

    KCCI holds awareness seminar on Pakistan Single Window

    The Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) organized an awareness session on Pakistan Single Window (PSW).

    The seminar was aimed to raise technical awareness about the overall operations of this important facility and provide an opportunity to the participants of the session to better understand the system, highlight issues and get adequate response along with first-hand information from the relevant officers of Pakistan Customs.

    READ MORE: PSW to link 27 banks for trade facilitation

    The session, which was steered by Chief Domain Officer/ Additional Collector Customs Naveed Abbas Memon and simultaneously conducted through online zoom facility, was attended by President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, Senior Vice President Abdul Rehman Naqi, Vice President Qazi Zahid Hussain, Chairman Customs & Valuations Subcommittee Muhammad Arif Lakhani, Former Senior Vice President Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi, Former Vice President Nasir Mehmood, KCCI Managing Committee and General Body Members in addition to immense participation of more than 250 people from all over the country including Sialkot, Lahore, Islamabad and Faisalabad who joined the meeting via zoom facility.

    Speaking on the occasion, Chief Domain Officer Naveed Abbas Memon stated that Pakistan Single Window portal has been designed to fully facilitate traders by reducing time, cost and complexity in cross border trade in addition to improving the quality of experience for all stakeholders with primary focus on ease of doing business. He said that it also supports other government departments in adopting an Integrated Risk Management (IRM) approach for efficient enforcement of trade related controls.

    READ MORE: PSW to reduce trade cost, time, and complications: Tarin

    Earlier, while welcoming the participants of awareness session, President KCCI Muhammad Idrees appreciated the PSW initiative introduced by the government which would certainly help in minimizing human interaction and reduce chances of harassment and corruption. However, he stressed that the need to promptly rectify numerous glitches in the system and simplify procedures in order to achieve the prime objective of PSW facility which was to ensure ease of doing business.

    He said that it was heartening to see that PSW promotes ease of doing business by maintaining collaboration with 74 different public sector entities involved in regulation of cross border trade of Pakistan and digitalizing the processes related to importers, exporters, customs house agents, freight forwarders, shipping companies and transporters etc. but there was a room for further improving the system so that it could be brought at par with international standards.

    He was of the view that fully functional and totally flawless operations of PSW would also enable Pakistan to achieve compliance with WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement besides helping Pakistan to unlock its potential in becoming a hub for trade.

    READ MORE: Biometric verification for PSW inaugurated at KCAA

    He mentioned that Karachi Chamber has the honor of being the first Chamber of the country to NADRA e-Sahulat at KCCI premises where members of the business and industrial community were being provided biometric verification facility required for registration in the PSW portal. “PSW or any other IT-enabled service to be introduced in future must be devised in such a manner that these facilitate business community rather than becoming a source for exploitation”, he stressed, adding that FBR must work in close coordination with KCCI to make PSW and other such future initiatives successful.

    While appreciating the support and cooperation extended by Pakistan Customs, particularly the seriousness being exhibited towards ensuring ease of doing business, President KCCI opined that the success of PSW initiative would not only prove beneficial for businesses but also for the economy.

    Many participants of the meeting expressed deep concerns over some non-functional tabs in PSW portal and also the delays in biometric verification for registration which was causing demurrage detention losses. In response, on the spot instructions were issued to resolve several glitches so that the business community could use this portal without any problem.

    READ MORE: SBP to eliminate electronic import form for PSW

  • Pakistan, Sri Lanka bilateral should be increased

    Pakistan, Sri Lanka bilateral should be increased

    KARACHI: Dr. Bandula Gunawardane, Minister of Trade of Sri Lanka, has stressed the need to improve bilateral trade with Pakistan above $1 billion from existing $450 million.

    “The bilateral trade volume of approximately $450 million is grossly insufficient as compared to the true potential for the same,” the Sri Lankan trade minister said during his visit to Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).

    READ MORE: FPCCI proposes charter to protect economy from politics

    He expressed his resolve and offered his full support to take it to one billion dollars by the year 2024. He enlisted a number of areas to increase the exports to Pakistan; namely, various kinds of tea, natural rubber, coconut & coconut products, raw & processed fish, papermaking raw materials, gemstones, etc.

    Gunawardane mentioned that Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (PSFTA) inked in 2005 has not achieved its real potential and needs to be revisited to make it more effective and result-oriented. He was optimistic that PSFTA can be widely expanded and updated to effectively kickstart an upward spiral in trade volumes and can translate into a multi-billion dollar phenomenon.

    READ MORE: Banks not issuing forms for land trade with Turkey: FPCCI

    Hanif Lakhany, VP FPCCI, has expressed his profound grief over the most unfortunate and gruesome Sialkot incident with a Sri Lankan national; and, respectfully acknowledged the Sri Lankan resolve and resilience to continue to cement the brotherly bilateral relations between the two historically significant strategic partner nations.

    Hanif Lakhany added that Sri Lanka is the only country with whom we have trade surplus on a sustainable basis; and, therefore, it will always continue to be an important market for Pakistani business, trade, and industrial community.

    He also pointed out that Sri Lanka should aggressively promote its wonderful destinations and tourism infrastructure to Pakistanis to broaden People-to-People (P2P) and Business-to-Business (B2B) linkages and relations. 

    READ MORE: FPCCI suggests regulating cryptocurrencies in Pakistan

    Suleman Chawla, FPCCI’s SVP-elect for 2022, stated that Pakistan happens to be the world’s largest tea importer at approximately $700 million per year; and, unfortunately, Sri Lankan share to that massive volume stands at merely 2%. He added that FPCCI will strive and facilitate Sri Lanka to enhance and multiply its tea exports to Pakistan. He proposed that the issue can be discussed while revising and expanding the PSFTA.

    Engr. M.A. Jabbar, FPCCI’s VP-elect for 2022, mentioned that while bilateral trade volume of India & Sri Lanka is $4 billion and Pakistan & Sri Lanka is less than half a billion; both countries need to look into the marginal and sub-potential trade activities and for its core causes. 

    READ MORE: FPCCI urges measures to overcome gas crisis

    Abdul Rahim Jano, former SVP FPCCI & Group Chairman at Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), discussed that he has found Sri Lankan business community and the government as very hospitable and welcoming during his fifty years of experience of dealing with them. He also enlightened the session with regards to the historic trade ties between Pakistani business community and Sri Lanka; and that, it has spanned over a century; dating back to erstwhile pre-partitioned India.

    Zeeshan Shahid, Chairman of FPCCI’s Pak-Sri Lanka Business Council, proposed that Sri Lanka should consider importing motorcycles from the well-advanced motorcycle and motorcycle parts manufacturing plants in Pakistan, which are operating on a large-scale. He added that Pakistani motorcycles have tremendously gained in product quality over the years; and, given the fact, motorcycles are also widely used as the common man’s mode of transportation in Sri Lanka, just like Pakistan. Hence, it will be a win-win situation for both the countries.