LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) on Monday urged the government to utilise growth potential of textile industry for employment creation.
Association's Chairman S.M. Tanveer stated here that he had put forward budget proposals which also stressed the need to operationalize closed capacity by providing guaranteed uninterrupted energy supply to export-oriented textile industry at competitive rates.
Fiscal incentives including zero rating tax holiday, interest support for new investments in all textile sectors should be ensured without excluding the spinning sector, which has lagged behind competitors due to present inefficient technology, he added.
The textile industry should be zero rated in terms of all the federal, provincial, local, cess, levies and duties by factoring in the drawback of local taxes and levies by extending five, ten and 15 percent duty drawbacks against the export of yarn, fabrics and made-up/clothing respectively.
He said, the government should clear the long pending refunds, which are estimated to be around Rs 100 billion enabling ample liquidity for the industry to remain afloat, asserting that government should also restore original zero rating regime, and should not burden basic raw materials including polyester, staple fibre (PSF), viscose and cotton with upfront duties and taxes including customs at six percent on PSF/viscose, cotton with five percent Sales Tax and 5.5 percent Withholding Tax.
Allow import of generators/power houses/boilers for industry at zero customs duty for encouraging in-house generation and consumption of electricity. All sustainable energy solutions should stay at zero custom duty slab for Textile Industry to undertake investment initiatives.
He has also demanded zero duty on import of spare parts and all capital goods import. In order to safeguard the domestic commerce, he urged to impose 15 percent regulatory duty on import of yarn and fabrics meant for domestic consumption. The government should curb smuggling of stock lots, un-stitched clothes to protect domestic commerce.
S.M. Tanveer demanded reduction of turnover tax to 0.5 percent with adjustment facility and cut in corporate tax rate to 25 percent and rolling back of presumptive tax regime. It is an opportune time for the financial managers to announce investment and growth oriented budget, he concluded.
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