Auto parts makers seek consultations

Air concern over draft being sent to IMF without taking industry input

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts & Accessories Manufacturers (Paapam) has voiced concern over reports that the draft Automobile & Auto Parts Manufacturing Policy (2026-31) is being forwarded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without meaningful consultation with the Engineering Development Board (EDB), parts vendors and other key industry stakeholders .

In a statement, Paapam Chairman Usman Aslam Malik said that the unilateral approach had caused alarm across Pakistan's auto parts manufacturing ecosystem, which sustains over one million livelihoods.

He emphasised that more than 300,000 workers were directly employed in machining, tooling, moulding, forging, casting and assembly works while another 700,000 depended on logistics, raw materials, aftermarket distribution and engineering services. Any weakening of the sector, he warned, would directly affect national employment and industrial stability.

Senior Vice Chairman Shehryar Qadir cautioned that applying the National Tariff Policy uniformly to the auto sector without safeguards risked reversing four decades of localisation, undermining billions invested by Pakistani vendors, shrinking the domestic vendor base and eroding industrial self-reliance. He stressed that auto was a technology-intensive industry, not a trading sector, and it required a tailoured policy framework.

Both industry leaders pointed out that the auto parts industry was not only supplying goods to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) but also for agriculture, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, appliances and defence engineering while contributing to foreign exchange through exports. Paapam called on the government to stop the submission of the draft policy to the IMF, re-engage with industry stakeholders, protect localised parts through tariff differentiation and adopt a balanced, export-oriented framework.