Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of General Tyre and Rubber Company of Pakistan (GTR), Hussain Kuli Khan, has said that the country bears losses of billions of rupees due to smuggling of tyres.
He said that in the year 2017-18, the national exchequer incurred a loss of Rs. 30 billion (at the current rate of duty) because of tyre smuggling.
Kuli Khan added that tyres are mostly smuggled from China even though there is ‘zero percent duty on imports from China.’
“There should be no smuggling of tyres from China but that is not the case as the majority of the smuggled truck-bus radial tyres are from China,” said Hussain.
He released a statement on Wednesday saying that the tyre imports from China or other countries through proper channels could bring additional revenue to the government.
He blamed the government’s negligence behind local industries’ departure from the market which resulted in the loss of job and foreign exchange because of this illegal trade.
Hussain said his company was also suffering huge losses from misdeclaration of sizes by counterparts to avoid duty/tax and heavily under invoiced tyres.
He urged the concerned authorities to take necessary steps and make sure no undocumented tyre is sold in the market.
He also asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to conduct raids in the markets and seize the stock from the dealers who can’t produce papers.
“Secondly, the government should ensure that smuggled tyres do not come in through the border check posts at Chamman, Taftan, and LandiKotal,” he added.
Via: Profit