KARACHI: Central Chairman Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) Saqib Naseem has sought the cooperation of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) to convince the government for reducing the duties on taxes and abolish anti-dumping duty on polyester yarn, the main raw material of textile industry and SMEs.
While addressing a meeting on the sidelines of the KCCI visit, Saqib Naseem paid rich tributes to Siraj Kassam Teli, founder of Businessmen Group (BMG), and said that when BMG was formed, he stood by the side of late Siraj Kassam Teli, which was a great honour for him.
The meeting was also attended by Muhammad Idrees, President KCCI, Abdul Rehman Naqi, SVP KCCI, A. Q Khalil, Secretary-General BMG, Junaid Teli, Vice Chairman PYMA, Khurshid Shaikh, M. Usman, M. Saqib Goodluck, Sohail Nisar, Khurram Bharara, Rizwan Diwan, Behroze Kapadia and members of KCCI Managing Committee.
PYMA Chairman congratulated BMG Chairman Zubair Motiwala and KCCI officials on their uncontested election and said that KCCI should solve the problems of the business & industrial community as it was a strong platform whose voice is heard in government officials and institutions.
Saqib Naseem requested the KCCI President to take up the issue of excessive taxes and duties imposed on polyester yarn before the federal government to reduce the 11 percent customs duty on polyester yarn to 7 percent. While the government had promised to come down the customs duty to 9 percent in the current financial year’s budget, this promise has not been fulfilled so far, he added.
PYMA delegation also demanded the abolition of anti-dumping duty in the wider interest of the textile sector and at the same time mentioned that previous governments had provided relief to this important industry through textile packages. On the contrary, under the present government, the industry has been burdened with taxes.
“Commercial importers of yarn act as a bank for thousands of small-scale textile industries, which cannot import large quantities of yarn. Therefore, commercial importers play a vital role in meeting their production demand. That is why the government should reduce taxes & duties to reduce the cost of production,” he said.
Saqib also demanded that the government reduce the turnover tax to 0.1 percent as excessive turnover tax has made it extremely difficult to continue business as compared to the limited profit which needs to be seriously considered.
KCCI president Muhammad Idrees assured the PYMA delegation of all possible cooperation from KCCI in order to facilitate doing business, running industries, and promoting business, industrial activities as well as increase domestic exports.
KCCI president said that Karachi Chamber would play its full role in resolving the issues facing the textile industry and SMEs and will raise a strong voice in front of the federal government.
