Video monitoring systems at mills: APTMA rejects FBR’s proposal
APTMA rejects FBR's proposal for video monitoring at spinning mills, advocating for a comprehensive cotton traceability system starting at the ginning stage and refuting FBR's revenue loss claims.
- APTMA's rejection of FBR video monitoring.
- Demand for cotton traceability from the ginning stage.
- Refutation of FBR's alleged revenue losses.
LAHORE: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) on Friday rejected the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) proposal to install video monitoring systems exclusively at spinning mills, calling the move misdirected, and demanded that any cotton traceability framework begin instead at the ginning stage, where raw cotton first enters the formal supply chain.
Addressing a press conference, APTMA Chairman Kamran Arshad said the association fully supported the government’s objective of increasing documentation, curbing tax evasion, and improving the tax-to-GDP ratio, but insisted that any framework targeting irregularities in cotton trade must be practical, evidence-based, and applied at the correct point of the supply chain.
He was joined by Chairman North Asad Shafi, former chairmen Syed Ali Ahsan and Abdul Rahim Nasir, senior executives Muhammad Ali Ch and Haroon Ellahi, Secretary General Raza Baqir, and Energy Advisor Tahir Basharat Cheema.
READ MORE: APTMA urges FBR to withdraw video analytics at spinning stage
The Chairman APTMA strongly criticized recent remarks by the FBR Chairman alleging revenue losses in the textile spinning sector due to the absence of video monitoring systems in mills. He clarified that APTMA had never opposed the adoption of modern technology for tax monitoring, but urged the FBR to reconsider its plan to install cameras only in spinning units, calling instead for a comprehensive national cotton traceability system covering the entire value chain from the ginning sector onward.
Responding to the scale of revenue loss alleged by the FBR Chairman in a recent television interview, Arshad termed the claims completely false, baseless, and unfounded, saying they reflected a lack of understanding of actual market data.
He noted that the alleged sales tax evasion of Rs 500 to 700 billion on around 1.5 million cotton bales would imply a value of roughly Rs 1.8 million to Rs 2.6 million per bale, a figure he described as commercially impossible.
He pointed out that the prevailing market value of a cotton bale stood at approximately Rs 85,000 to 90,000, several orders of magnitude lower, and said such claims needed urgent correction to prevent policy decisions from being based on mathematically impossible assumptions.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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