Foreign Cos keen in manufacturing electric cars, mobile-phone in Pakistan
- “VIVO [Chinese smartphone manufacturer] is purchasing land to establish a mobile manufacturing plant in Pakistan, whereas Samsung [South Korea technology giant] is actively drawing its feasibility but has yet to reach a conclusion, but we are optimistic,” said Azhar.
Minister for Industries and Production, Hamad Azhar has said that foreign companies are taking interest in the manufacturing of electric cars while foreign mobile-phone manufacturing companies are also taking a keen interest in Pakistan.
“Pakistan is among the three countries in the world operating the DIRBS software, which was implemented by PTA in the first year of the incumbent government. The deployment of DIRBS has eliminated smuggled phones from the market and has also helped in increasing taxes,” he said, while talking to a private channel.
He added that the government also announced tax incentives in the previous budget for the local manufacturers. “VIVO [Chinese smartphone manufacturer] is purchasing land to establish a mobile manufacturing plant in Pakistan, whereas Samsung [South Korea technology giant] is actively drawing its feasibility but has yet to reach a conclusion, but we are optimistic,” said Azhar.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved Mobile Device Manufacturing and Electric Vehicles Policy (02-03 wheelers and HCDs) presented by the Ministry of Industries and Production.
After due deliberations, the forum approved removal of withholding tax of four percent on manufacturing to retailers of locally-manufactured phones to incentivize the sector.
Moreover, removal of sales tax on locally-manufactured phones was also approved in principle and modalities would be worked out in consultation with the Finance Division.
About EV Policy, Hammad informed that there are two points in the policy, the first point revolves around the import of cars, for which we have proposed tax/duy cuts, which were approved by the ECC. “This will make it more competitive, because the EV technology at the moment is more expensive than the internal combustion engine technology,” he said.
He said introducing electric vehicles in the country would help address environmental issues, secondly switching towards EVs would help in reducing our import bill which is mostly made up of POL products
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