In a major achievement for Pakistan, the country produced over 18 million mobile phones in the first ten months of 2021. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood revealed the news earlier today.
Taking to Twitter, the Adviser quoted the figures from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). He noted how Pakistan increased its domestic production of mobile phones.
“MOC pleased to announce that during the period of Jan to Oct 2021, domestic manufacturing mobile plants in Pakistan produced 18.87 Million mobile units, including 7.93 million 4G mobile phones compared to 9.45 Million imported mobile phones,” Abdul Razak noted.
“MOC’s Make in Pakistan philosophy is giving the results and we look forward to sustainable growth in the long run,” he further added.
Important to note, earlier this year, three mobile phone companies set up manufacturing plants in Pakistan.
Last year in May, the government announced tax incentives for assembling/manufacturing mobile phones. Due to this, locally assembled and manufactured phones will be exempted from a 4% withholding tax on domestic sales. Cheaper mobile sets from foreign countries, especially India, threatened the local market of Pakistan. In a bid to eliminate the threat, the government abolished withholding tax on locally manufactured mobile sets.
As a result, this sparked interest in Vivo Mobiles, Airlink, and Advance Telecom to set up their plants in Pakistan.
Xiaomi to start its smartphone manufacturing in Pakistan
Earlier this month, Abdul Razak Dawood said the world’s second-largest mobile manufacturer ‘Xiaomi’ ensured to start its smartphone manufacturing from Pakistan.
The Adviser said the initial production will be 2.5 to 3 million handsets annually. He informed that the production facility will be established in ‘Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Estate, Lahore.
The production facility will be functional in Jan 2022 and it will create 3000 direct/indirect jobs, he said. While he said that Pakistan’s non-energy import bill shrank by 12.5 percent in October 2021, i.e. by $624 million, compared to September 2021.
Source: globalvillagespace