January to July: Rs 231 million collected on import of 120,741 mobile phones, Senate body told

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected Rs 231 million on the import of 120,741 mobile phones from January 15, 2019 to July 15, 2910 under the baggage scheme. According to the data presented by the FBR before the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications, a total of 715,990 duty free mobile phones have been imported from January 15, 2019 to July 15, 2910.
The FBR data revealed that the six slabs of duties and taxes have been made applicable on the import of mobile phone under the baggage scheme in the Finance Act 2019.
In light of the federal cabinet decision as of January 15, 2019, a total of 357 million IMEIs were converted to compliant and paired status. All devices that were connected after January 15, 2019 were required to be registered within 60 days from first seen on the network. A total of 10,273,531 devices seen on network were blocked on rolling basis upon lapse of 60 days period. Prior to blocking, as per SOP an SMS was sent to consumer informing of device being blocked due to non-registration.
The data revealed that the fixed rate of Rs 300 duties and taxes are applicable on the import of mobile phone having value up to US $300; mobile phone with value between US $30-100, fixed duties and taxes of Rs 2,940; mobile phone value of US $100-200, fixed rate of duties and taxes of Rs 4,510; mobile phone value of US $202-350, fixed rate of duties and taxes of Rs 6,180; mobile phone value of US $350-500, fixed rate of duties and taxes of Rs 17,650; and mobile phone value of above US $500, fixed rate of duties and taxes of Rs 31,250 would be applicable.