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.

  • Karachi Chamber rejects power tariff hike; demands immediate withdrawal

    Karachi Chamber rejects power tariff hike; demands immediate withdrawal

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has strongly rejected the power tariff hike by K-Electric and demanded the government of immediate withdrawal the relevant notification.

    In a statement issued on Tuesday, KCCI President Shariq Vohra said that the anti-business move would give a serious blow to the trade & industry which was still struggling really hard to recover from the disaster caused by the lockdown for six months imposed to contain Covid-19 pandemic.

    Power Division through a notification allowed K-Electric (KE) to increase rates of electricity ranging from Rs.1.09 to Rs.2.89 per unit with effect from September 1, 2020, stated that this anti-business

    While rejecting outright the federal government’s decision to increase KE’s tariff, Shariq Vohra said Karachiites are already suffering badly due to unbridled inflation hence the hike in KE’s electricity bills was unacceptable and must be withdrawn immediately.

    “Although the lawmakers are assuring that Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government were striving to control inflation by making earnest efforts but it is really unfortunate that they have given go ahead to KE for raising its tariff which would not only intensify the hardships for business community due to high cost of doing business but would also terribly affect the poor masses who are already overburden due to inflation while KE’s tariff hike would further worsen the situation”, he added.

    “Indeed it is a huge disappointment that the Federal Government, instead of providing relief to the already burdened citizens of Karachi during the ongoing difficult times, continues to take anti-business and anti-Karachi actions. It is well known fact that the economic hub of Pakistan is passing through worst possible crisis and suffering badly due to crumbling infrastructure, electricity load shedding, gas and water shortages etc. For God’s sake, please have mercy on poor citizens and the anxious business & industrial community of Karachi which is battling for survival”, he stressed.

    Shariq Vohra pointed out that on one hand, the government has been pushing the business & industrial community to enhance their productivity and exports so that more wealth and employment opportunities could be generated in order to improve the ailing economy but how is it going to be possible when on the other hand, they give go ahead to electricity tariff hike which by all means is an anti-business and anti-people move.

    The cost of utilities in Pakistan are much higher as compared to regional countries, making our products uncompetitive in the international markets.

    “The economy and businesses would only flourish when the cost of doing business is brought down by substantially reducing the electricity, gas and water tariffs while all other exorbitant taxes and duties must also be reduced and the government will have to particularly make all-out efforts to rebuilt Karachi’s dilapidated infrastructure which has been the top most reason behind the poor industrial performance of all the industries situated in seven industrial zones of Karachi.”

    “The decision makers will have to understand that if the cost of input rises, it would lead to poor performance and reduced output of the industry, resulting in lower revenue collection, shrinking employment opportunities and making the production uncompetitive in the domestic as well as international markets”, he added.

    He mentioned that the Karachi Chamber has been strongly opposing this particular increase in K-Electric Tariff and urged the authorities through media statements issued on July 10, 2020 and September 3, 2020 to refrain from raising KE’s tariff. Although the increase was postponed at that time but it has once again been imposed in an odd situation when the businesses are desperately questing hard for survival. 

    He hoped that keeping in view all the above mentioned facts, the government would review KE’s electricity hike notification and immediately withdraw the same which would certainly be highly appreciated not only by the business & industrial community but also by people belonging to all walks of life.

  • Karachi Chamber resents FBR’s decision to install surveillance cameras

    Karachi Chamber resents FBR’s decision to install surveillance cameras

    The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has expressed strong discontent over the recent decision by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to monitor production activities through cameras directly connected to the main tax database.

    (more…)
  • FPCCI demands extending refinance scheme for three months to support employment

    FPCCI demands extending refinance scheme for three months to support employment

    KARACHI: The business community has demanded the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) of extending refinance scheme, which was introduced to prevent layoff owing to coronavirus outbreak, for further three months.

    The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) in a statement on Tuesday urged the central bank to consider extension in refinance scheme to support employees and prevent layoff of workers due outbreak of coronavirus, by December 31, 2020.

    Mian Anjum Nisar, President FPCCI while appreciating the initiative of SBP for introducing Refinance Scheme, which had helped many industrial and service oriented sectors to retain employees during Corona pandemic, stated that since the companies that availed this credit facility through banks have not been recovered from devastating economic impact of covid-19, it would be advisable if Ministry of Finance keep shouldering with SBP and extend this Scheme till end of the year.

    “In many of the countries, the second wave of Corona Virus has already started, Pakistan not being the case of exception, should be prepared to take proactive precautionary in view of increase in corona patients from 4500 in August to more than 1000 in September.

    “Therefore, discontinuation of this facility on September 30, 2020, would not serve the purposes,” added President FPCCI.

    Nisar further added that before discontinuing credit facility on concessional markup rate, Ministry of Finance and SBP need to review the prevailing economic situation closely as such the small and medium sized businesses have not been able to regain pre-corona economic stability. Further, processing of documentation and furnishing of employees’ data to avail credit facility was also a time consuming activity.

    Therefore, withdrawal of this facility at this stage would neither be in the interest of private sector nor in the interest of the Government that aimed at controlling unemployment situation in the country.

    Under the SBP’s Refinance Scheme to Support Employment and Prevent Layoff of Workers due to the impact of COVID-19, businesses that commit to not lay off workers in the next three months can avail credit through banks for the three months of wages and salaries expenses at a concessional markup rate.

  • CCP raids cement manufacturers association for possible cartelization

    CCP raids cement manufacturers association for possible cartelization

    ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Thursday raided the central office of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) and seized suspicious record.

    In a statement the CCP said that as part of an enquiry launched in May 2020 to investigate the possible anti-competitive activities by the cement manufacturers, carried out a search and inspection of the APCMA in Lahore on Thursday.

    It said that two different teams entered and searched the APCMA main office and a member of APCMA. “Since a senior employee of one of major cement company is also the office bearer of the APCMA’s Executive Committee, representing the north region, therefore, the commission also conducted search and inspection of the premises of member concern with the objective to gather evidence of any collusive arrangement for the purposes of the Act,” it added.

    The CCP said that the enquiry was started based on the information gathered through various media reports, and concerns and complaints expressed regarding a concurrent increase in cement prices, particularly during the month of April 2020.

    The reports indicating that an increase of Rs45 – Rs55 per cement bag was apparently decided in a meeting of the cement manufacturers held under the umbrella of APCMA. Some of the media reports also quoted cement dealers saying that the leading cement companies in the north region had collectively decided to increase the cement prices by Rs55 per bag.

    From the analysis done by the CCP’s enquiry officers to see the cement companies’ profitability trend, it transpired that due to the lower demand of cement in the first quarter of 2020, the companies had to undergo financial losses at variance, however, the increase in price was starkly parallel, raising concerns of collective decision making and price fixing by the cement manufacturers.

    “Some of the players of the construction industry also hinted upon the cement cartel in the North Region becoming active following price increase trend in northern region.”

    The official data available with the CCP indicated the cement price increase of 4 percent in Islamabad, 10 percent in Lahore, and 6 percent in Peshawar from the second week of April 2020.

    From analysis of the information obtained from the news reports, price trends and facts gathered pertaining the same, it appears that objective basis, if any, needed to be assessed and / or the correlation between increase in the price of cement and grounds presented by the representatives of cement industry.

    Sudden rise in price by the cement manufacturers at the time when there is low demand compared to the installed capacity of the manufacturers at a time when there is low demand compared to the installed capacity of manufacturers and considering the input fuel cost (coal and oil), transportation and interest rate have declined raises suspicion of a collective rise in price by cement companies.

    It may be noted that the production capacity of cement sector has increased from 44 million tons in 2014 to 69 million tons in 2020. The losses incurred by the cement sector and increase in the price of cement in a similar time period raises suspicion of collective decision of the cement companies to recover losses incurred due unutilized installed capacities.

    The CCP said that the cement sector has history of collusive activities and they have been penalized in the past to an amount of collectively more than Rs6.3 billion on account of involvement in the prohibited agreement in violation of Section 04 of the Act.

    In 2012 the commission again initiated enquiry against cement companies, however, the same could not be proceeded further due to stay order granted to cement companies by the Lahore High Court.

    The CCP said that the latest search had been carried out to gather the evidence of possible communication, arrangement, agreement, or understanding between the cement producers pertaining to the violation of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2010.

  • Boycott against foodpanda expands to major cities

    Boycott against foodpanda expands to major cities

    KARACHI: Restaurant owners of major cities of the country have joined boycott against foodpanda as food delivery company failed to negotiate, a statement said on Wednesday.

    The All Pakistan Restaurant Association (APRA), after successful boycott in Karachi of foodpanda, has now started protest in Punjab province and restaurants owners of Lahore, Islamabad and other cities, have joined the protest, the statement said.

    APRA chairman, Muhammad Naeem Siddiqui pointed out that foodpanda has started putting more pressure on restaurants after boycotting its services and threatened that it would not deliver the food if 30 percent commission was not paid.

    “APRA has strongly protested the imposition of a 30 percent self-imposed commission on restaurants, calling it against the rules of the Competition Commission of Pakistan and the CCP is asked to play its role in ending the food panda monopoly and malpractices so that all food delivery companies have equal business opportunities”, he said.

    Chairman APRA, after consultation with the Islamabad Restaurant Association (IRA), Lahore Restaurant Association (LRA) and Lahore Restaurant Unity Association, subjected to certain conditions for the restoration of foodpanda’s services.

    The conditions are:

    Restaurants should be allowed to deliver foodpanda orders directly through their own riders.

    There should be standardized commission structure for all brands.

    Customer data should be shared with restaurants.

    Restaurants should not be threatened with commission increases, otherwise they will be closed.

    Exclusive agreement should not be signed with any restaurant as it’s against competition laws.

    Chairman APRA warned, if their demands will not meet, they will continue foodpanda boycott.

  • Karachi Chamber disagrees with FBR tax collection analysis

    Karachi Chamber disagrees with FBR tax collection analysis

    KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has expressed disagreement with the analysis released by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) regarding tax collection by cities and markets.

    Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan President KCCI in a statement on Tuesday expressed total mistrust over the statistical figures recently disclosed by the FBR in its Tax Directory Analysis 2018.

    He said that FBR recently released an analysis of Tax Directory 2018 based on income tax, in which it made some claims which were based on partial information creating a wrong perception about the income tax collection from different cities while some important information was skipped by which a reader could have verified the data.

    President KCCI noted that under this report, Karachi’s income tax collection was reported to be Rs209 billion while district-wise it revealed that Karachi contributed Rs186.3 billion (Karachi Central added Rs9.06 billion; Karachi East: Rs34.09 billion; Karachi South: Rs114.23 billion, and Karachi West contributed Rs28.89 billion) which clearly indicates a discrepancy of Rs23 billion. It was unclear whether Karachi’s share was Rs209 billion in total or the district wise collection was to be added to it.

    “This mismatch in income tax collection figures has raised serious doubts amongst business circles who are terming it as yet another conspiracy against Karachi.”

    Likewise, he pointed out that the province-wise share was only revealed in percentage terms and the total value was not disclosed anywhere in the document to authenticate the claims.

    Even while disclosing the income tax collection from major markets, many important markets including the DHA’s Gold Mark & Khadda Market and other important markets of Malir, Korangi, Banaras and Bahria Town etc. were not included in the data which gave a wrong impression that the tax collection from Karachi is low in comparison of other cities.

    President KCCI further stated that the selected market data of the cities constituted just 25.7 percent (413,859 filers out of 1,606,424 non-salaried individuals and AOP filers), making it an incorrect estimate of the size and share of any city. President KCCI added that the data analysis given by FBR is just a number game and it is an attempt to undermine the share of Karachi.

    According to the said document, the income tax collection of Rs209 billion from Karachi is very close to Rs204 billion collection from Islamabad which is impossible keeping in view the size, population and the immense industrial & economic activities in Karachi.

    “We totally disagree to FBR’s analysis as Karachi is a port city where most of the Head Offices of multinational companies, banks, DFIs and insurance companies etc. are based while the highest number of institutions, hundreds of commercial markets, shopping malls and plazas etc. are also present in this city, making it the country’s leading industrial and commercial hub.

    How could Islamabad with a population of just 1 million and negligible industrial activity compete with Karachi which holds a whopping population of around 20 million that makes it one of the largest cities of the world with seven industrial zones hosting thousands of industrial units?

    He said: “Such pitiful attempts had been made in the past as well which were widely protested and completely rejected by KCCI and it has been proven from time to time that Karachi contributes the highest revenue of around 65 percent revenue to the national exchequer which has also admitted by the decision makers like Federal Minister Asad Umer and many others.

    Karachi has always been the leading contributor of revenue to the national exchequer, hence we fear that FBR’s figures have been finalized cunningly through statistical juggling and it is a conspiracy to tone down the significance of Karachi which will not be accepted and widely protested at all available platforms”, Agha Shahab warned.

    He requested Prime Minister Imran Khan and his entire team of economic experts to look into this serious matter and grill the FBR for releasing such an irresponsible analysis, besides directing the revenue collection authority to immediately withdraw the fabricated analysis and issue a revised version which must carry comprehensive and accurate fact and figures about Karachi.

  • FPCCI lambasts shipping companies, terminal operators for unfriendly behavior

    FPCCI lambasts shipping companies, terminal operators for unfriendly behavior

    KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has lambasted shipping companies and terminal operators for their non-cooperative behavior in trade facilitation, a statement said on Monday.

    (more…)
  • Iran ready for barter trade with Pakistan

    Iran ready for barter trade with Pakistan

    KARACHI: Iran is ready for barter trade with Pakistan to strengthen the economic ties between the two neighboring countries. Iranian Consul General Reza Nazeri has stressed the need for strengthening trade ties between two neighboring countries, saying Iran is ready for barter trade and it will export petrochemical, steel and LPG to Pakistan while importing rice, meat and other agriculture products from Pakistan.

    (more…)
  • Restaurants boycott foodpanda over unfair practices

    Restaurants boycott foodpanda over unfair practices

    KARACHI: The All Pakistan Restaurant Association (APRA) has protested over the unfair practices by foodpanda and boycotted, also announced to stop food delivery from September 15, 2020 in the first phase in Karachi.

    In a letter of complaint to the CEO of the company, Muhammad Naeem Siddiqui, chairman APRA apprised their member’s grievances and concerns, pointing out that foodpanda repeatedly pressed for increase in commission and non-implementation of the agreement and made some important demands. In which it is clearly stated that if unfair practices will not stop then APRA consider to stop work with foodpanda on a permanent basis.

    “Vendor Delivery was the original concept by foodpanda and FP’s own delivery was launched as an optional service. Forcing restaurants to close their Vendor Delivery, which has not only increased unemployment but have “disconnected” them from customers and is not acceptable at all. We demand Vendor Delivery to be operational for all regardless of the size of the brand”, he added.

    APRA chairman said that majority of our members are being pressurized to increase commissions but our industry already runs on razor thin margins and it’s impossible to pay 25-35pc commissions for aggregation services. It is especially difficult for new entrants, as their startup costs gets drastically higher. We need to ensure that there is a cap on commission that foodpanda may charge.

    “Managers blackmail APRA members to increase the commission many folds, for e.g. from 18pc to be increased to 25pc, threatening and shutting their brands from your portal. This is the most unethical way of extorting any member to accept foodpanda terms & conditions and it needs to be stopped immediately”, Naeem demanded.

    APRA president opined that our members have also complained that foodpanda ask them to work with restaurants exclusively which falls under anti-competitive business conduct and can be challenged in Competition Commission of Pakistan.

    He further said that Restaurant industry was majorly hit during Covid-19 and now is the time when they need maximum support from their stakeholders. We did raise similar concerns earlier but there has been no permanent solution from their higher-ups, which has lead us to announce Suspension of Services by all our members.

    APRA president warned that all APRA members will be closing their tablets from 15th September onwards initially in Karachi and if no resolution is achieved, we will be left with no option than to close the services permanently Nationwide.

  • Foreign investors express concern over high turnover tax

    Foreign investors express concern over high turnover tax

    KARACHI: Foreign investors have expressed concerns over high rate of turnover tax rate, especially for those sectors where margins are very low.

    Overseas Investors’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) expressed this concern at an interactive session with Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh held on September 12, 2020, a statement said on Monday.

    The statement said that the foreign investors expressed concern on the continuation of the high rate of turnover tax especially for high turnover but low margin sectors like petroleum and chemical businesses.

    OICCI members also vented concern on the recent incident on the Lahore-Sialkot ring road which has damaged the morale of the stakeholders, who were otherwise satisfied with the highly improved security environment in Pakistan.

    OICCI President Haroon Rashid, welcomed Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and briefed him about the critical role of OICCI and its members in the economy of Pakistan and shared that delays in tax refunds and some other issues are creating hurdles in bringing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, as well as not being in sync with the government’s agenda of Ease of Doing Business (EODB).

    The participants representing the major foreign investors operating in the country appreciated the GOP’s effort in successfully overcoming the Covid 19 challenge to the economy and taking appropriate measures for the health and safety of the people of Pakistan.

    OICCI members complimented the Advisor on Finance for the constructive approach adopted during the 2020-21 Budgeting process where the tariff rationalization of over 1600 items, together with rationalization of withholding taxes at import stage and many other measures contributing towards Ease of Doing Business.

    OICCI also appreciated the recent launch of Roshan Digital Account for overseas Pakistanis as a step in the right direction.

    Haroon Rasheed recommended that the government should take a collective view of the measures to encourage foreign investment in Pakistan, including appointing a focal ministry for streamlining operating issues of foreign investors.

    OICCI strongly recommended that the government should ensure that incentives once given to foreign investors, for example vide Section 65 of the IT Ordinance 2001 in respect of new investments, should not be withdrawn while the respective projects are in implementation phase. OICCI also requested for orderly and prompt settlement of long pending tax refunds and circular debt.

    OICCI members were optimistic that the country can attract large FDI by ensuring predictable, consistent and transparent policy framework and its implementation.

    The participants also sought Finance Advisor review of the recent announcement that investment in the National Saving scheme will not be available to retirement funds after 2022.

    On questions from the audience, Finance Advisor assured that the GIDC issue will be managed amicably in accordance with the Supreme Court decision and that the FBR will be more proactive and will regularly engage with key stakeholders like OICCI members in resolving all legitimate issues especially on tax refunds.

    At the meeting Advisor to PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh gave a comprehensive overview of the challenges faced by the economy in the past two years and how the GOP has successfully managed to stabilize the economy which is now on a recovery path.

    Dr Hafeez Shaikh added that the growth trend in some industries like cement, automobile and fertilizer and rapid growth noticed at PSX are very encouraging and should give confidence to investors.