KCCI chief demands industrial status for IT sector

President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Muffasar Malik has said that the IT sector of the country is fast growing. "Every year 0.8 million desktop computers are imported while only 0.2 million are locally produced to meet the demand of one million desktops," he said, inaugurating two-day "ICT Gala," being held under the aegis of Pakistan Computers Association in collaboration with Viper Technology.
Malik said now almost all the daily household activities and business management were being linked with information technology. Therefore, he said, it has become increasingly important for Pakistan to promote this sector. He called for giving IT sector status of industry and incentives for local production of IT related hardware so that dependence on the imports could be minimized. "It is a matter of concern that with virtually no domestic production, the country completely relies on the imports," he lamented noting that local companies were dying because they could not compete with the ridiculously low prices at which imported materials were available in the market.
KCCI president recalled that the Federal Board of Revenue granted exemption in the budget 2016-17 to promote genuine imports and render informal and illegal imports as non-competitive. However, the parts assembled inside the computers remained subject to 17 percent sales tax. Tax on the import of computer parts including hard drive CPU and some other parts led to 20 percent rise in the prices of the locally-assembled systems. Due to 17 percent tax exemption and 3 percent concession in value-added tax, imported computers and laptops have become 20 percent cheaper, he noted.
Viper Technology's CEO Khushnood Aftab said that only 15% of the youth population is using IT which needs to be increased.
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