ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has brushed aside accusations hurdled at a recent meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce.
The association, in a statement said textile has recently been criticized as a non-performing sector despite conferred with ample ‘subsidies’ from the government. Syed Naveed Qamar has also suggested that subsidies should be given to sectors which are performing, and the commerce secretary said subsidies need to be stabilized. Moreover, it has also been alleged that yarn manufacturers and spinners sell maximum products locally but enjoy the status of an export-oriented industry. The textile sector is also wrongly indicted of presenting ‘fake invoices’ to reap the benefits of subsidies. “These accusations indicate a complete lack of understanding of the textile sector and its existing contributions to the economy in the form of investments, employment and exports,” the association said adding that this is because the so-called ‘subsidies’ are actually the cost-of-service including the cross- subsidy the sector is paying.
The implementation of FBR’s faster and WeBOC systems ensure invoices are scrutinized digitally without any human involvement. The taxes and processing of refunds are also done automatically after complete verification of transactions. Thus, faking invoices for ‘subsidies’ is highly improbable, given the efficiency of FBR’s portal. The companies in this sector pay their dues in full in a timely manner, and with honesty. APTMA is of the view that yarn manufacturers lie at the bottom of the textile value chain feeding raw materials to value-added entities to make exportable products. Spinners are indirect exporters. A quick analysis would reveal that yarn export decreased since larger firms were locally procuring raw material for the export of value-added products – earning precious foreign reserves, reducing import bill, and promoting the domestic industry.
The performance of textile sector has been unprecedented. While other regional economies fell short in exports, there has been an astonishing increase of 18.3 percent in exports in December 2020, despite the pandemic. The order books are already full, and the sector is operating at full capacity and expanding to meet the enhanced demand. In fact, the increase in production has been such that the sector is short of labour. It is clarified that the sector’s brief dip is not because of incompetence but the non-provision of a level playing field, including factors such as the absence of Regionally Competitive Energy Tariffs (RCET) and a long-term policy, gas moratorium, irregular supply of grid electricity etc. APTMA has been tackling these issues fiercely to ensure export-led sustainable economic growth in Pakistan.—PR
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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