Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan visited All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab, along with Customs member, IT Operations member, Customs chief commissioner, LTU and RTOs from Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad regions on November 25, 2017. APTMA Chairman Amir Fayyaz, APTMA Patron-in-Chief Gohar Ejaz, APTMA Punjab Chairman Ali Pervaiz and other office-bearers of the association received him on the occasion.
Both sides discussed in detail issues pertaining to sales tax refunds on deferred, current and rolled back refund payment orders (RPOs). Issues relating to the import of raw material by basic textile industry were also taken up during the meeting. The APTMA management appreciated special assistant to prime minister and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officers of field formation for prioritising clearance of pending refunds of the industry and let it come out of the adverse situation due to the liquidity crunch being confronted with at present.
The management pointed out that release of sales tax refunds will help restoration of viability of the textile industry ahead. The APTMA management also appreciated Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for directing the Commerce and Textile minister to formulate a long term textile policy to ensure viability and growth to meet target of doubling exports in next five years.
The APTMA leadership reiterated that only the availability of internationally competitive energy, improvement of industrial liquidity through prompt payment of duty drawbacks and sales tax refunds and putting in place the safeguards for the domestic textile industry against the entry of dumped, subsidised and undeclared yarns and fabrics from across the border.
APTMA management hoped that the interaction between the two sides would boost industrial growth that would also be contributing to the revenue generation goal of the government. APTMA Punjab Chairman Ali Pervaiz urged the visiting FBR authorities to evaluate the performance of their filed staff on gross revenue collection, otherwise they would keep holding refunds back to achieve revenue target.
Special Assistant to PM on Revenue Haroon Akhtar Khan assured the APTMA management of early resolution of industry issues in line with the proposals put forward by the industry in the meeting.
