Poly bags for sugar, cement and wheat: PBC urges Shamshad to make QR-Code printing mandatory

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar has been requested to make mandatory printing of QR-Code on every polypropylene bag to avoid wastage of flour of about Rs 300 billion per annum, coupled with digital invoices for online data transfer to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

According to Pakistan Business Council (PBC) Pakistan suffers from one of the highest levels of illicit trade that eats up 20% of Pakistan’s formal economy because of the combination of high taxes, ineffective enforcement and poor documentation of economy due to cash-based economy that thrives at the cost of billions of dollars of tax revenue by undermining the formal taxpaying sector.

In a letter to caretaker Finance Minister, PBC Chairman, a key business figure Iskandar Khan, stated that he has been pursuing FBR to document the economy through technology of QR-Code printing on the polypropylene bags, supported by digital invoices for sugar and all industrial packaging, ie, cement, fertilizers, feed, wheat flour, rice, chemicals etc, under the Track and Trace System, since 2020.

The letter says that the Track and Trace System’s success is dependent on the automation and transfer of production data online to FBR. “However, despite our opposition, imported QR-Code printed paper stamps were introduced. As the automated system for affixing paper stamps on the polypropylene sugar bags for online transmission to FBR failed, therefore, the FBR has allowed the manual QR-Code paper stamps affixation, encouraging the use of counterfeit paper stamps.

Iskandar has once again requested issuance of notification of mandatory printing of QR-Code on every polypropylene bag produced, coupled with digital invoices for online data transfer to FBR. The use of QR-Code technology will increase the tax revenue and eradicate the ongoing rampant illicit trade.

The caretaker Finance Minister recently constituted a Task Force on the Tax and FBR reforms that has also requested implementation of QR-Code technology, which is being used across the globe for the documentation of economy.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023