KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has decided to make joint efforts to eliminate budget anomalies in the federal budget 2021-22.
FPCCI, KCCI, and PYMA condemned the self-imposed decisions of the Senate Budget Anomalies Committee and expressed serious concerns. They have also asked for a new meeting to review the budget anomalies.
For the first time, FPCCI, KCCI, and PYMA officials attended the meeting at Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association. Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), Hanif Lakhany, Vice President FPCCI & Senior Vice Chairman Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA), M. Shariq Vohra, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Saqib Goodluck, SVP KCCI, Shamsul Islam, VP KCCI, Farhan Ashrafi, Convener FPCCI Yarn Standing Committee & Vice Chairman PYMA, Athar Chawla, VP FPCCI, M. Usman, Khurshid Shaikh, Aslam Moten, Anwer Aziz, Adnan Riaz, Khurrum Bharara, Junaid Teli, Sohail Nisar, Altaf Haroon, Jawed Khanani, Abdul Samad Gaba, Anis Mandavia, Waheed Umer, Nauman Ilyas, Abdullah Naeem, Shahbuddin Padela and Behroze Kapadia also attended the meeting.
Expressing strong reservations over the Senate Budget Anomalies committee, Nasser Hyatt Maggo said that the self-imposed decisions of the committee were not acceptable to the business community as the committee made decisions on budget enamels without taking the members into confidence and without convening a meeting. He added that this is totally unfair so we will all struggle together with and a letter has been sent by FPCCI to Prime Minister Imran Khan in which the Prime Minister has been apprised of the concerns of the business community.
Shariq Vohra, President, President KCCI, while agreeing with the yarn and textile anomalies in the federal budget 2021-22, said that Karachi Chamber is with the traders in this struggle, and we request the government to address the issues facing the yarn sector on a priority basis. KCCI will extend all possible cooperation to the yarn traders.
Saqib Goodluck, SVP KCCI, Shamsul Islam, VP KCCI said that BMG Chairman Zubair Motiwala had full support in preparing the budget proposals and PYMA suggestions were also included in the budget proposals. Hanif Lakhany, VP FPCCI, SVC PYMA, Farhan Ashrafi Vice-Chairman PYMA, appreciated the role of BMG Chairman Zubair Motiwala and FPCCI President Nasser Hyatt Maggo on their serious efforts in solving the problems of the business community.
“The government had announced in its budget speech that the customs duty on yarn would be increased to 9pc and the additional customs duty, RD on yarn, would be abolished. According to reports, the government has abolished additional customs duty on yarn and the RD has also been removed but the customs duty has not been reduced as promised Which is 11pc”, they mentioned
Hanif Lakhany, Farhan Ashrafi demanded to bring customs duty at 7pc on yarn and additional tax of 3pc be abolished. In addition, 8B should also be abolished as promised. While eliminating the distinction between commercial importers and industrial importers, both should be taxed at the same rate. Because yarn is a raw material it cannot be counted as value added. Yarn is used as a raw material in manufacturing.
PYMA office-bearer further said that by importing yarn, commercial importers play a vital role in continuing the SMEs’ activities, as SMEs do not have enough capital to import yarn. Therefore, in order to save SMEs, tax relief should be given to the yarn sector.
