Mobile set manufacturing policy being finalised: chief of EDB's board

Chairman EDB's Board, Almas Hyder on Wednesday said that final touches are being given to Pakistan's mobile set manufacturing policy which will be ready within the month.

While talking to Business Recorder, Hyder stated that the working on mobile set manufacturing policy began eight months ago and so far three-four meetings have been held to prepare the draft policy for the government.

In reply to a question, he said the main reason for the delay in finalization of draft policy was due to gathering of data and the formulation of procedure to acquire technology.

"Policy document is being finalised. I think one more meeting will be required to give it the final touches. We want to make it a driver of export," he added.

Almas Hyder maintained that the main purpose of the policy was to make engineering sector one of largest export-oriented sectors of Pakistan. This implies if the export of textile sector earns $ 12 billion per annum, then engineering sector would cross $ 12 billion benchmark within the next 8 to 10 years. He said that cell phone industry can contribute $500 million to $1 billion in exports of engineering goods.

"We will attract local as well as global players of mobile set manufacturers," he continued.

Mobile phone manufacturing is one of the biggest industries worldwide. This industry is now moving out of China and into countries such as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam.

A couple of days ago, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Industries and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood said that the government will give incentives to local mobile phone manufacturers.

Ministry of Industries and Production announced last year that the mobile set manufacturing policy will be unveiled in November 2019. However, despite several consultations with stakeholders over a period of 10 months EDB has yet to present a draft to the Ministry of Industries for submission to ECC for approval.

Currently, there are more than 10 domestic assemblers of mobile phones. Most of them are producing 2G feature phones & waiting for Government policy to upgrade themselves to manufacturers of 4G smart phones. A Pak-China joint venture to locally assemble smart phones has already been set up in Karachi with an initial investment of Rs 160 million.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has been directing his economic ministries to create an environment conducive for investment, domestic & foreign, in the sub-sector which would lead to creation of job opportunities.

Industry sources state that mobile phone assembly is a labor intensive activity which if duly incentivised, can create over 120,000 jobs within a period of three years. Most of these jobs will be for skilled workers & young electronics engineers graduating from local universities.

Industry is demanding a clear roadmap from the Government - from assembling mobile phones and progressively encouraging localization of components & mother board assembly - over a period of 3-4 years.

Representatives of local manufacturers believe that after successfully introducing IMEI registration by the PTA in March 2019 all chances of smuggling and grey imports of mobile phones have been eliminated. This industry can now be used as a game changer for creating a base of Electronics sector in Pakistan which has a requirement of around 40 Million handsets on an annual basis.