STAFF REPORT IBD: Mobile phone handsets import posted about 50 per cent in April last after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had imposed GST of Rs 1,000 to Rs 500 on each unit of smartphone and medium/low end handset.
According to a fresh report of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the mobile phone imports recorded at Rs 3.819 billion or $38.84 million in April which were stood at Rs 7.576 billion or $77.25 million in March 2013.
Local market dealers and retailers are of the view that the sales of mobile handsets did not continue its pace as it dropped more than 60 per cent to less than one million units in April from two million recorded in March 2013 after the imposition of new taxes.
Experts say that mobile phone imports will continue to record drop in imports and sales, however, it will likely to be improved in the months to come on the customers demand and price adjustment.
It stated that Smartphones having features of touch screen, dual core, 5 or higher mega pixels camera, 4 GB memory will be taxed at Rs 1000 per unit. Also, mobile phone sets having operating systems such as Android, iOS and etc,. Blackberry will also be taxed at Rs 1000 per handset.

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