FPCCI seeks energy tariff rationalisation

Adeel Siddiqui, an FPCCI executive committee member from Hyderabad, has urged the government to align industrial energy tariffs with those in competing regional economies and provide businesses with reliable, affordable electricity. Dawn reported that he also called for a simpler tax system, an end to harassment of export-focused industries, and subsidised financing for labour-intensive businesses through a targeted State Bank and government facility.

Siddiqui said Pakistani labour costs were 34 per cent below India’s, 41 per cent below Vietnam’s and 62 per cent below China’s, but argued that high energy prices, complex taxation and financing costs were eroding that advantage. He warned that failing to make structural changes could turn the country’s demographic dividend into a liability, and pointed to China’s use of its large, low-cost workforce to build manufacturing and attract foreign investment.