Over 18 million mobile phones were manufactured in Pakistan’s first 10 months of fiscal year 2021, marking a significant milestone in the country’s history. Abdul Razak Dawood, the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Commerce and Investment, announced the announcement earlier today at a press conference.
According to the Adviser, the numbers from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority were shared on Twitter (PTA). He remarked on Pakistan’s growing local manufacture of mobile phones in recent years
“The Ministry of Commerce is pleased to announce that domestic manufacturing mobile plants in Pakistan produced 18.87 million mobile units, including 7.93 million 4G mobile phones, during the period January to October 2021, as compared to 9.45 million imported mobile phones,” Abdul Razak said in a statement.
In May of last year, the government provided tax breaks for companies that assemble and manufacture mobile phones. As a result, phones that are constructed and produced in the United States will be free from a withholding tax of 4 percent on domestic sales. Lower-cost mobile phones from other nations, particularly India, threatened to undermine the local market in Pakistan. In an effort to neutralise the danger, the government eliminated withholding tax on mobile phones that were made in the country.
As a consequence, companies such as Vivo Mobiles, Airlink, and Advance Telecom expressed an interest in establishing manufacturing facilities in Pakistan.
According to the Adviser, the first manufacturing would be 2.5 to 3 million cell phones per year at first. He said that the manufacturing plant will be located in the ‘Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate’ in Lahore.
According to him, the manufacturing plant would be operational in January 2022 and will generate 3000 direct and indirect employments. Moreover, he said that Pakistan’s non-energy import bill decreased by 12.5 percent in October 2021, a total of $624 million, as compared to the previous month of September.
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