The suggestion was made at the first meeting of the KCCI sub-Committee on Industry and Privatisation, which met under the chairmanship of Naqi Bari.
It asked the government to make customs duty, sales tax and withholding tax zero-rated on all sorts of raw materials to cope with the challenges emerging after the implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime.
Addressing the meeting, Naqi Bari said that with the start of the WTO quota-free regime, Pakistan's exports, mainly textile goods, must be of the world standard both in quality, timely delivery and price to fit into the new scenario.
The KCCI strongly recommended that the purchase or import of raw material, accessories as well as packing material be made zero-rated, particularly for the garment, bed linen and towel industries.
He said that the scope of duty-free import of raw material should be extended to all industries registered with the sales tax department.
The KCCI sub-Committee submitted a national industrial strategy to the Federal Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Jahangir Khan Tareen.
THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THE STRATEGY ARE:
-- Procedure for export should be made simple and efficient. Instead of plethora of export documents, it should be reduced to one single form.
-- Sales tax, customs, withholding tax should only be levied when the goods are sold in domestic market through sales tax invoice.
-- No question should be asked about source of income for new investments in industries both in machinery and capital.
-- Pakistan should be converted under a whole producing and exporting country, considering over-runs and irregulars enough for domestic consumption. Target markets should be India, China, Gulf Co-operation Countries (GCC), Iran, Turkey, Central Asian states and Africa.
-- To control dumping of finished goods in the local market, the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) and the Ministry of Commerce should provide details of monthly imports to the relevant manufacturing associations to monitor their price.
-- Anti-dumping duty should be imposed on finished imported goods instead of on industrial raw materials because these raw materials are utilised by small and medium industries.
-- Import of finished goods should be made against dollar or Euro, which is purchased from open market or without the State Bank of Pakistan support for foreign exchange.