Mandviwalla assures PCDMA to take up key issues at parliamentary level

Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance & Revenue, has pledged to raise the chemicals and dyes trade's tax, import, Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS) and e-invoicing concerns in Parliament. Addressing the annual dinner of the Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association (PCDMA), he said the Senate panel would call in the Federal Board of Revenue and the Finance Ministry. Business Recorder reported that he urged trade bodies to engage lawmakers and officials year-round rather than only around the federal budget.

Mandviwalla noted that chambers often press demands only shortly before or while the budget is framed, when most proposals are already far along. He urged business bodies to raise EFS matters, the three percent additional tax and the gap between commercial importers and industrial users throughout the year. He also said importer groups do not always share interests, and that fiscal targets and IMF commitments limit the room for relief.

PCDMA chairman Salim Valimuhammad called for urgent steps to curb EFS misuse and remove tax disparities, noting the sector supplies textile, leather and pharmaceutical industries. He said EFS imports rose by more than 70 percent without a matching rise in exports, and proposed a 40 percent limit on such imports and annual audits. He also sought scrapping of the three percent extra sales levy and faster e-invoicing fixes.