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Category: Trade & Industry

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

  • Karachi Chamber demands opening of markets amid alarming corona situation

    Karachi Chamber demands opening of markets amid alarming corona situation

    KARACHI: As the country is facing alarming situation of coronavirus in its third-wave and a strict lockdown has been imposed to prevent spread of the pandemic, the business community is demanding to allow opening of market during last two days of the Eid-ul-Fitr.

    In this connection, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has appealed the Sindh government to allow shopkeepers and small traders of Karachi to open up businesses during last two days before Eid from Iftar to Sehri so that they could be able to recover some of the grave losses suffered by them due to stiff curbs imposed to contain further spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Keeping in view the not so bad number of COVID-19 cases in Karachi, we believe that there is some room available to allow shopkeepers in Karachi to open up their businesses at least on Wednesday and Thursday from Iftar to Sehri which would be widely welcomed not only by small traders and shopkeepers but also by a large number of Karachiites who will be able to complete their unfinished shopping for Eid festival,” said Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President KCCI Zubair Motiwala.

    Zubair Motiwala pointed out that associations of commercial markets from all over the city have been constantly exerting pressure on KCCI so that the Chamber, being the premier and actual representative of the entire business community, could play its role by convincing the Sindh government to allow businesses to keep on operating during the last two days while the representatives of these commercial markets associations have also assured to fully comply with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) during these days.

    “Instead of completely shutting down businesses, the government should allow them to keep on running their businesses from Iftar to Sehri during the last two days before Eid which would obviously fragment the public and discourage overcrowding as all the markets in the city will be simultaneously operational, besides ensuring social distancing all the time, which is one of the key elements required for containing further spread of coronavirus”, he added.

    Keeping in view the overall situation and grievances suffered by small traders and shopkeepers, Chairman BMG hoped that the Sindh government, which has always played the lead role in efficiently rescuing the public from time to time, would provide the desperately needed relief to local businesses this time as well by relaxing the curbs for just two days from Iftar to Sehri so that the businesses could be saved from further disaster. “Keeping in view the COVID statistics and forecasts, if the government feels that the loss of precious lives was unlikely then they should provide relief for two days”, he added.

    President KCCI Shariq Vohra stated that it is high time that the Sindh government, being the peoples’ government, has to come forward to minimize the hardships being faced by the distressed citizens and the business community of Karachi by ordering to lift restrictions on opening up businesses on Wednesday and Thursday from Iftar to Sehri. “Due to harsh curbs imposed in an extraordinary situation, uncertainty prevails and people have become hopeless hence, the Sindh government will have to take steps to deal with the situation by providing relief to Karachiites during the last two days before Eid”, he added.

    Chairman of KCCI’s Special Committee for Small Traders Majeed Memon pointed out that many shopkeepers are already going through terrible crises due to limited business activities since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic hence, the government must look into the possibility of providing them relief for just two days before Eid by allowing them to carry on businesses from Iftar to Sehri otherwise many businesses will not be able to survive and wipeout forever. “The situation, if not promptly responded and wisely handled, would lead to intensifying the hardships not only for business community but also for the already ailing economy, besides triggering massive unemployment and poverty which would prove more dangerous than the pandemic”, he added.

  • Amazon to increase global market access for Pakistan products: Pak-US Business Council

    Amazon to increase global market access for Pakistan products: Pak-US Business Council

    ISLAMABAD: Pak-US Business Council on Sunday welcomed the decision of US e-commerce giant ‘Amazon’ to add Pakistan to its seller list and said it would open doors for Pakistani exporters to access international markets.

    Founder chairman Pak US Business Council and President South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik said it was a major breakthrough for the country’s growing e-commerce industry as well as companies and professionals working in the digital space.

    He said the new development would hopefully put Pakistan on the global e-commerce map, opening up a new era of business boom by connecting it across the world.

    Talking to Jamil Ahmad Jamil Deputy Managing Director Punjab Small Industries Corporation who called on him here, Iftikhar Malik said it would now provide a new impetus and venue to Pak individual sellers to ship their products in small parcels to consumers outside Pakistan.

    Iftikhar Ali Malik said it would afford them an excellent opportunity to work on and develop their own brands for better prices. He said it is heartening to note that they would not have to worry about their payments as Amazon would directly transfer the money into their local accounts.

    It is a good omen that now small Pakistan sellers especially women and SME entrepreneurs who have goods and products needed by the consumers outside Pakistan but can not afford to have a big export set-up.

    For instance, he said they have a large Pakistani diaspora scattered across the countries, especially in the Gulf to cater their needs.

    He said it would enable a new breed of young entrepreneurs and SMEs including women to fully exploit foreign markets.

    He said this fate turning decision would drastically change the game and result in a new sphere of economic growth as more sellers to visit this platform than ever before, he added.

    Iftikhar Ali Malik urged young entrepreneurs derive maximum benefits once Amazon opens its seller registration for Pakistan. He stressed the need for focusing to fully ensure the international quality of products before export.

    He said Amazon like other international companies and brands, is a highly consumer-centric market place where consumer’s reviews are taken very seriously. Therefore, Pakistan entrepreneurs will have to be very careful if they desire to benefit from this opportunity.

    Jamil Ahmad Jamil emphasised that trend of e-commerce had accelerated in recent years with the development and easy accessibility of internet. He said due to covid 19 pandemic, the importance of e-commerce had increased manifolds making it an extremely vital sector of economy.

    He said Pakistan e-commerce market itself has grown dramatically over the last one year and is estimated to have expended by 35 percent in his quarter of the current fiscal to Rs 96 billion from Rs 71 billion a year ago. He said we are planning to involve our SMEs to join this gateway with the best ever quality products of international standards.

    He said Pakistan was the only South Asian state, which was not on the list of the 120 countries on the Amazon platform in spite of being the second largest economy in the region.

  • FPCCI urges tax authorities to facilitate edible oil manufacturers

    FPCCI urges tax authorities to facilitate edible oil manufacturers

    KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has urged the tax authorities to facilitate edible oil manufacturers by excluding from a notification related to commercial importers.

    According to a statement issued on Saturday FPCCI Vice President Nasir Khan strongly condemned the inclusion of Edible Oils in the S.R.O. 1190(I)/2019 issued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

    As a matter of principle, this SRO should have been restricted to commercial importers instead of including edible oil manufacturers. Therefore, one of the major disruptions this SRO has caused is that edible oil manufacturers have massively decreased their imports and major imports have been taken over by the commercial importers.

    Nasir Khan has noted that this notification/SRO has resulted in a straight 10 percent increase in the cost of importing edible oils in the country. Contrarily, during the same period, India and Bangladesh have reduced the cost of importing edible oils in their countries by 10 percent and 4 percent through providing various relief measures to edible oil manufacturers.

    Moreover, Nasir Khan has said that instead of providing billions of rupees to Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to sell subsidized edible oils, the federal government should facilitate edible oil manufacturers. In that manner, they will be able to cut down the edible oil prices; and, provide better and greater relief to consumers in the entire country than the USC could ever achieve. This illogical and illegal inclusion has caused more than 10 percent increase in edible oil prices due to hoarding by commercial importers.

    FPCCI demands immediate withdrawal of inclusion of edible oil manufacturers from above-mentioned SRO to help edible oil manufacturers to avoid bankruptcy and continue to play their role in economic growth and employment generation.

  • Business community welcomes Pakistan’s inclusion in Amazon list

    Business community welcomes Pakistan’s inclusion in Amazon list

    KARACHI: Business community has welcomed inclusion of Pakistan in the seller list by the online retail company Amazon.com, Inc. and said it will help the country to boost its exports.

    Faisal Moiz Khan, President North Karachi Association of Trade & Industry (NKATI), while welcoming the inclusion of Pakistan in the seller list by the world-renowned online retail company Amazon, termed the move of the present government as excellent, stated that the business community appreciates the efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Abdul Razak Dawood,  Adviser for Commerce & Investment, as the move will result in billions in investment and vast employment opportunities, also boost the country’s exports.

    In a statement, NKATI president said that Amazon is a huge global distribution network, which is successfully providing services all over the world including Europe and USA. Earlier, Pakistan was not included in Amazon’s seller list due to which shipments from Pakistan were not directly on Amazon.

    “Due to the efforts of the government, direct shipments will now be possible on Amazon and Pakistan’s exporters will reap significant benefits and will be able to easily sell their products to consumers through Amazon, which will boost Pakistan’s trade and exports”, he hoped.

    Faisal Moiz Khan further said that Amazon’s business platform can significantly increase Pakistan’s business activities as not only textiles but all kinds of goods are sold on Amazon. He proposed, if the government really wants to boost and double the exports, the government should provide professional, technical services to people working at Amazon through TDAP and a significant fund from the EDF to be allocated so that it can be used to promote trade & exports.

    Moiz also suggested that efforts be made to include Pakistan in the selling list of other Amazon-style international companies so that Pakistan’s exports could be significantly boosted.

  • SBP hailed for allowing opening of banks during Eid Holidays

    SBP hailed for allowing opening of banks during Eid Holidays

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Friday hailed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for allowing banks to open their branches during Eid holidays to facilitate general public.

    Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala and President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Shariq Vohra appreciated the central bank for paying attention to KCCI’s legitimate demand and accordingly deciding to keep those authorized branches of banks operational on May 10th and 11th who are dealing in foreign exchange & trade activities.

    “We are very grateful to the government and SBP for keeping the authorized branches operational on first two days of next week to facilitate trade & industry, particularly the exports during the extended holidays before Eid-ul-Fitr,” said Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala.

    While welcoming Sindh government’s move to keep all businesses operational on Friday and Saturday from 6am till 6pm, Chairman BMG reiterated KCCI’s demand to allow small traders and shopkeepers to keep their businesses operational throughout the remaining few days of Ramazan ul Mubarak while the business hours have to be redefined from 12am till 12pm instead of existing 6am to 6pm. 

    President KCCI Shariq Vohra said that SBP’s move would certainly give some breathing space to the exporters by enabling them to carry out important banking transactions and dispatch shipments either on 10th or 11th May, 2021. Although the Sindh government has issued holidays notification from May 10th to 15th but this needs to be reissued under Factories Act in which holidays should be categorically mentioned from May 12th to 15th which would help in dealing with confusion amongst many circles.

    He also requested the Sindh government to allow shopkeepers to keep their businesses operational during the remaining days of Ramazan and urged the shopkeepers to ensure strict implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) at the commercial markets.

  • Karachi Chamber rejects few-day extension for filing sales tax return

    Karachi Chamber rejects few-day extension for filing sales tax return

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday rejected extension of few days for filing sales tax and federal excise returns and making payments.

    KCCI President Shariq Vohra, while referring to FBR’s Letter dated May 6, 2021, stated that the extension in dates of payment and submission of Sales Tax and Federal Excise Return for the Tax Period of April 2021 up to May 18, 2021 and May 21, 2021 respectively were not enough which have to extended to May 30, 2021 to facilitate taxpayers.

    In a letter sent to Chairman FBR Asim Ahmed, President KCCI pointed out that the nominal extension in such dates for filing Sales Tax and FED Return will create difficulties for taxpayers as it takes time to get back to routine after observing extended holidays of Eid-ul-Fitr which will be starting from 9th May 2021 to 16th May 2021.

    Hence, the business & industrial community may not be able to prepare and submit their Sales Tax and Federal Excise Return for the Month of April 2021 within the announced limited extension of just a few days.

    He opined that the overall situation was not favorable for trade and industries as everybody was facing severe liquidity crunch nowadays due to very limited business activities whereas it appears that the government has announced prolonged holidays with an intention to keep the entire population at homes so that the ongoing third spell of COVID-19 pandemic could be controlled.

    Keeping in view the overall situation, President KCCI requested FBR to extend the date of payment and submission of Sales Tax and Federal Excise Return for April 2021 up to May 30, 2021 in the larger interest of FBR and the Business Community while the relevant notification for extension may also be reissued which would be widely welcomed by the entire business and industrial community of the country.

  • FPCCI expresses concerns over approval to RLNG power plant

    FPCCI expresses concerns over approval to RLNG power plant

    KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Tuesday voiced strong concerns regarding the federal government’s approval of a 1263MW power plant to be run on imported RLNG. This plant, being developed by Punjab Thermal Power Ltd in Jhang, has sparked significant debate over its economic and environmental implications.

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  • FBR should be given separate tax targets for existing, new taxpayers

    FBR should be given separate tax targets for existing, new taxpayers

    KARACHI: Separate targets should be set for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from existing and new taxpayers, this was recommended Pakistan Business Council (PBC) in its recent letter sent to Khusro Bakhtiar, Federal Minister of Industries and Production.

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  • PBC recommends key reform measures for energy sector

    PBC recommends key reform measures for energy sector

    KARACHI: Pakistan Business Council (PBC) has recommended the government a set of reforms for bringing improvement in the energy sector.

    The PBC sent its recommendations to the federal minister for industries and production and proposed key reform measures for the energy sector:

    • Federal government to restrict its role to removing the existing bottlenecks in power transmission infrastructure and to ensure that the merit order in generation is maintained;

    • Implement the terms of the MOU reached with IPPs to reduce the capacity charges and complete the renegotiation with those IPPs yet to be addressed;

    • Utilize excess generation capacity through marginal pricing to promote industrial use, also to generate economic activity;

    • Either privatize or transfer management of government owned Gencos (which are not due for retirement) to technically qualified private sector companies on an incentive for loss mitigation/incremental profit generation. Facilitate this through adequate protection from NAB and build appropriate safeguards on asset stripping and forced dismissal of employees;

    • Move to multi-seller/multi-buyer arrangements, allowing market dynamics to set the price for both generation and distribution of electricity;

    • Permit wheeling of electricity;

    • Establish power/energy commodity exchange(s) for transparent pricing;

    • Transfer all government owned Discos to the provinces at no cost;

    • Provinces to establish Public Private Partnerships to operate the Discos on prescribed performance improvement incentives;

    • Give consumers choice in the last mile of distribution. The GoP should set an example of this in the federal capital where it owns the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO). Provinces and – KE can follow, the latter after its exclusivity expires in 2023;

    • Unbundle KE post its exclusivity period. In the meantime, expedite the resolution of constraints affecting long term investment in safe and reliable supply of power to the country’s largest city and commercial centre. In doing so, also rectify the harm done to Pakistan’s image as an FDI destination;

    • Phase out the country-wide uniform pricing formula so that the more efficient DISCOs can supply at a lower cost to consumers and provinces are able to use this to attract industry;

    • Remove all “cross subsidies” e.g., from industrial / commercial to residential consumers – The government can provide targeted cash transfers to the most deserving population segment via the Ehsaas program;

    • Any properly justified new capacity addition to be allowed only on renewables, without any take-or-pay sovereign guarantees;

    • Retire all inefficient and costly generation plants in the public sector;

    • Consider facilitating the conversion and deployment of existing coastal furnace oil plants for seawater reverse osmosis desalination;

    • Promote renewables, especially for off grid use;

    • Fast-track additional LNG terminals, storage and transmission to meet the shortfall between demand and supply of gas;

    • Use the Ehsaas programme to subsidize gas to the deserving population. Right price gas to promote conservation;

    • Incentivize conversion of domestic cooking and heating to electricity or other fuels such as LPG etc.;

    • Aggressively promote energy conservation.

  • FPCCI demands only three Eid holidays

    FPCCI demands only three Eid holidays

    KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Monday demanded the government of reducing Eid holidays to three to avoid business and economic losses.

    The apex trade body expressed displeasure over yet another set of SOPs and Public Holidays on account of Eid-Ul-Fitr announced by NCOC without consulting business, industrial, and trade community of Pakistan. 

    Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President FPCCI, has demanded that industries and markets should only be closed for 3 days on account of Eid-Ul-Fitr; otherwise, there will be irreversible loss to already struggling businesses and huge shortfall in tax collection will further decelerate the economic activity.

     Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo maintained that ports, customs, and required banking services for them should not even be closed for 3 days during Eid-Ul-Fitr; as exports are as necessary for survival of Pakistan as airports and hospitals. Even a single day closure of ports during Eid will add to existing huge glut and backlog for exporters and cause financial and goodwill loss for not being able to ship the consignments on agreed schedules. He demanded that ports timings should be extended to 05:00 PM with immediate effect.  

    Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, also expressed his shock over proposed Eid Holidays from 10-15 May, where ports, customs, and banks will remain closed and shipping lines will keep operating.

    This is utterly illogical as without ports, customs, and banks, there will be no use of shipping lines operating.