Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected over PKR 5.8 billion from expatriates and travellers during fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 – on mobile phone import under baggage, according to a news source published on August 30.
Since July 1 of 2019, the government has withdrawn the facility of duty-free mobile phones under the baggage rules from abroad. As per the FBR’ statistics, the international travellers brought as many as 1,389,707 handsets and had them registered with the Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).
Moreover, the government has also launched the DIRBS system to discourage the illegal flow of mobile phones and to facilitate the genuine users. Also, the new policy was aimed to boost revenue and discourage potential misuse and smuggling.
Furthermore, in the non-commercial individuals’ category, the authority registered revenue of PKR 7.04 billion on import of popular brands from January 2019 until August 25 of this year. Under the commercial imports, PKR 39.414 billion revenue was collected on 19.806 million handsets that were imported in FY2020.
Reportedly, the Ministry of Industries and Production is expecting the leading mobile phone brands to explore the investment possibilities in Pakistan’s mobile manufacturing industry.
Hazafa reveres the art of writing and has been turned into a property enthusiast by profession. Her daily survival kit includes; tea, coffee, keyboard and paperbacks.
