Marble manufacturers get tax exemption
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue on January 25, 2008 exempted from general sales tax (GST) manufacturers of marble and granite having annual turnover less than five million rupees.
This exemption would be available to said units even if their annual electricity bill were more than six hundred thousand rupees.
The notification has been issued on the recommendation of ministry of production as special initiatives for encouraging the marble industry in Pakistan. The issuance of this notification would exempt the small manufacturers of marble industry from requirement of getting sales tax registration. In Pakistan marble is processed in more than 1,600 units in the country including 685 small and medium size units. These units have been defined in three categories according to their sizes, small, medium and comparatively large, but not up to the international level.
Marble and Granite are the sixth largest mineral extracted among coal, rock salt, lime stone, china clay, dolomite, fire clay, gypsum, silica sand etc. Since 1990, mining & quarrying has consistently contributed 0.5 percent to the Gross Domestic Product.
In Pakistan only a few unit are equipped with proper equipments and produce quality marble and marble products. Generally Pakistani finished goods are of poor quality. Processing wastage of 45 percent to 55 percent has been estimated.
The extraction in Pakistan comprised boring of holes in the bedrock, which were filled with explosives to blast the block, which results not only in a high wastage (up to 73 percent), but also in smaller stone size, which substantially reduces the price, which is directly proportional to size.
The extraction of marble in Pakistan was yet to be developed and value-addition to all marble products can be done with the help of modern machinery from Italy. It is considered that Pakistan is the right place for foreign investment, in mining as well as the training of manpower involved in the marble sector and Italian businessmen can avail this opportunity.
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