Commercial importers have requested the government to grant them the status of industry, citing they play a critical role in supporting other domestic industries.
Pakistan Chemicals and Dyes Merchants Association (PCDMA) Chairman Amin Yousuf Balagamwala requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to give commercial importers the status of industry similar to that for the construction industry.
“Commercial importers play a vital role in supplying raw material to local or export-oriented industries, which cannot function without them,” he said at an event held to mark the 50th anniversary of PCDMA.
Balagamwala recalled that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had issued a notification according to which the matter of inclusion of chemical and dye raw material from Part 2 (raw material) to Part 3 (finished goods) in the Income Tax Act had been handed over to the budget anomalies committee.
“Until the committee gives its final decision, commercial importers have to pay 2% income tax instead of 5.5% while under Section 81, a pay order of 3.5% has to be submitted, which will be returned after the decision is taken,” he said.
He demanded that the FBR chairman place commercial importers in the fixed tax regime and called for steps to be taken to ensure 2% income tax payment instead of 5.5% given that traders were facing severe financial difficulties.
“In addition, the cost of imported raw material has also increased as a result of which industries are also receiving expensive raw material,” he said. Therefore, the government should reduce the import cost of raw material so that export-oriented industries could get cheap raw material and be able to compete in the international market.
Speaking at the event as chief guest, Karachi Administrator Iftikhar Shalwani termed the role of commercial importers important in continuing industrial production activities.
“When industries grow, employment opportunities are created and the country becomes economically stable,” he said and promised to extend all possible support to commercial importers for economic prosperity of the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2020.
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