New SME policy will catalyse economic activities: FCCI chief

FAISALABAD: New SME policy will catalyze the economic activities in addition to helping the young educated and talented youth to start their own businesses instead of running after the jobs, said Atif Munir Sheikh, President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI).

He was commenting on the new SME policy approved by the federal cabinet. He said that according to the statistics more than one million small manufacturers are working in Pakistan and their contribution in growth is above 78%. “These manufacturers have potential to further grow but they have their own financial limitations”, he said and added that they were earlier denied access to the capital. Hence they could not fully exploit their inherent potential”, he added.

Continuing President FCCI said that SME is the only hope to offset the ill impacts of corona and for this purpose the Government has taken elaborate and comprehensive measures to incentivize them through policy interventions. He said that in Faisalabad the SME sector was also contributing 80% share in industrial production in addition to creating maximum job opportunities for the bursting population.

He appreciated the categorization of the SME sector into low, medium and high-risk industries along with appropriate facilities for each segment. He said that this policy has offered guarantee free loans up to Rs. 10 million but this is not enough in view of rapid depreciation of Pak rupee, hence this limit must be enhanced up to Rs. 20 million. The exemption from NOCs for low-risk industries is also a positive step which would help start-ups to fully concentrate on their businesses instead of visiting offices to get NOCs from different offices.

He said that in the current age of digitalization, it is not a difficult job and the Government could easily manage and facilitate start-ups by saving them from unnecessary bureaucratic procedures and hiccoughs. In this connection, he particularly mentioned the newly introduced “one window operation” and said that its scope must be enhanced to the SME sector. He said that new portals should also be activated so that male and female start-ups could get the required permissions while sitting from their homes.

He mentioned special facilities for the females and said that they could enjoy tax-rebate up to 25%. “It will certainly attract women to start their own businesses with this special incentive”, he said and added that the new policy will play a major role in transforming our import-based economy to a dynamic export oriented sector. He said that it will also encourage our youth to produce imported items locally in order to discourage the increasing imports.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021