Day: May 21, 2023

Partnering with the tech leaders in the private sector to improve the digital footprint of Pakistan and IT exports is the underlying spirit behind the Punjab Information Technology Board’s (PITB) latest initiative, ‘BizLinks’.

The initiative is a major step forward towards collaborative engagement with tech leaders through strategic partnerships and jointly exploring business opportunities nationwide and globally. In this regard, PITB Chairman Faisal Yousaf hosted an event at Arfa Software Technology Park (ASTP) that included leading players from the IT industry and members of the public sector.

A special portal was also launched during the event which showcases PITB’s products and services and the signup facility for interested partners.

The guests included P@SHA Chairman Zohaib Khan, PITB Board Member Jehan Ara, and other industry leaders including Abacus, Inbox, Lumensoft, InfoTech, CureMD, Autosoft Dynamics, Nextbridge, and CEO of Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT).

Chairman Faisal Yousaf briefed the audience on ‘BizLinks initiative’ underlining the importance of working together for uplifting IT exports. He also highlighted key PITB initiatives in the areas of Supporting Business, Knowledge-Economy, and Citizen Centric Services.

On this occasion, Yousaf remarked that the launch of the BizLinks initiative marks the beginning of a new era of collaboration between PITB and the private sector. “With a special focus on boosting and promoting the local tech industry, PITB aims at working with the private sector to reach out to the world and explore business opportunities within and beyond the region to enhance IT exports and earn valuable foreign exchange,” he added.

P@SHA Chief Zohaib Khan termed the initiative a welcome move towards supporting the local tech industry. “We congratulate PITB for this great initiative and look forward to working together for the cause of Pakistan,” he stated.

Senior officials from PITB including DG IT-Solutions Waqar Naeem Qureshi, DG Government Digital Services Muhammad Waseem Bhatti, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Adil Iqbal Khan, Directors Syed Nayyer Ali, Muhammad Badar Munir, Jahanzeb Akbar and Hasnain Iqbal, as well as Joint Directors Mudassir Paracha and Hammad Bin Khalique, were also present.

PITB flagship products have been made part of this initiative including e-Pay Punjab, Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), e-FOAS, e-Stamping, and School Information System (SIS). e-Pay Punjab, a smart and reliable one-stop solution for making online payments for government taxes, allows citizens to make payments for 26 taxes/levies of 11 different departments from the comfort of their homes.

For Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), an online portal was developed which has improved the Global Ranking of Pakistan for the ‘Starting a Business’ indicator. Owing to this, the same was then extended to Sindh and Balochistan as well.

e-Filing and Office Automation System (e-FOAS) aims at transforming conventional paperwork into a completely paperless environment to enhance efficiency and ensure transparency. e-Stamping System digitizes the issuance of stamp papers eliminating paper and process-related fraudulent practices, and leakage of government revenue while storing information in digital form to ensure transparency.

It is successfully operational across Punjab and is being implemented by Punjab IT Board in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. School Information System (SIS) offers real-time data which helps in improving school administration processes and making timely decisions. The real-time data is also available district-wise. The system is developed by Punjab IT Board in collaboration with Punjab School Education Department.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) is planning to close down its manufacturing unit in Jhelum, top company officials told reporters on Saturday at the company’s Jhelum factory.

Out of 10 production machines, eight production lines in Jhelum have been closed and the company is working with a minimum capacity of two machines. The company will also re-export four of its machines in its manufacturing units owing to the loss of sales volume by the legitimate industry.

The company is likely to shut down if the current situation continues in the coming days, PTC officials added. The representatives of the company shared that a steep decline in the volume of the legitimate industry and a sharp increase in the sales of illicit cigarettes are being witnessed.

The exorbitant increase in federal excise duty (FED) in February this year coupled with the lack of enforcement has amplified the sale of illicit cigarettes including the duty not paid (DNP) and smuggled cigarettes.

As per recent data by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), volumes produced by the legitimate Tobacco Industry declined by 50 percent in March, which is the first month of sales after the excise increase, whereas, the total large-scale manufacturing (LSM) decline was half of the tobacco industry at 25 percent.

This impact has also been witnessed throughout the year, whereas, during the period June 2022 to March 2023, the legitimate tobacco industry suffered a huge loss in production of 24 percent, three times the size of what the LSM sector witnessed, the officials highlighted.

This impact has led to the down-trading of consumers from legitimate cigarette brands to tax-evaded cheaper options, which are locally manufactured DNP cigarettes and undocumented, smuggled cigarettes. Since January 2023, the volumes of non-duty paid cigarettes and smuggled cigarettes have shot up by 32.5 percent and 67 percent respectively. This has led to the illicit sector growing to upwards of 42.5 percent of the total market.

In 2022-23, the share of the legitimate tobacco sector was 41.4 billion sticks while the illicit sector’s share was 41.6 billion sticks. However, after the recent hike in FED on the tobacco industry, it is projected that the share of the legitimate tobacco sector in 2023-24 will be 29.6 billion sticks while the illicit cigarette share will reach 53.4 billion sticks in 2023-24. This means that 11.8 billion sticks will shift to illicit cigarettes.

Dispelling the impression that the illicit cigarette industry share is only 9-18 percent, PTC officials said that the figures have no relevance. All these figures are neither authentic nor backed by any actual market research.

Qasim Tariq, Senior Business Development Manager, shared that because of a more than 200 percent increase in excise in February 2023, it will be the first time in the history of the country that the tax loss caused by the illicit sector in the fiscal year will be more than the legitimate industry’s contribution to the national exchequer. If the current fiscal regime prevails, damage to the national exchequer, as well as the legitimate industry, will be immense and hard decisions will have to be taken.

A key initiative to curb illicit trade was the implementation of Track and Trace in the tobacco industry, however, despite multiple directives by the prime minister for across-the-board implementation of Track and Trace nationwide, it remains a distant dream.

Tariq shared that the company has informed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) that it is exploring the option of re-exporting four of its machines in its manufacturing units owing to the loss of sales volume by the legitimate industry.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The country’s petroleum group imports witnessed a negative growth of 17.96 percent during the first 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) and stood at $13.974 billion compared to $17.033 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The data of exports and imports released by the PBS revealed that petroleum group imports in April 2023 stood at $891.468 million, registering a 59.91 percent negative growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis compared to $2.223 billion in April 2022.

Petroleum products witnessed 28.07 percent negative growth during the first 10 months of FY23 and stood at $6.149 billion compared to $8.549 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. On MoM basis, the imports stood at $312.588 million in April 2023 compared to $484.024 million in March 2023 and registered 35.42 percent negative growth.

The total imports during July- April FY23 stood at $46.882 billion (provisional) against $65,519 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 28.45 percent. The imports in April 2023 were $2.997 billion (provisional) compared to $3.816 billion in March 2023 showing a decrease of 21.46 percent and 55.01 percent as compared to $6.661 billion in April 2022.

The main commodities of imports during April 2023 were petroleum products (Rs. 89,071 million), petroleum crude (Rs. 78,928 million), natural gas, liquified (Rs. 73,700 million), palm oil (Rs. 51,310 million), Plastic materials (Rs. 36,918 million), raw cotton (Rs. 33,683 million), electric machinery and apparatus (Rs. 33,358 million), iron and steel (Rs. 26,249 million), medicinal products (Rs. 20,304 million), and pulses (leguminous vegetables) (Rs. 17,304 million).

Source: Pro Pakistani