Daily Times

Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mehmood said on Tuesday that Pakistan economic and industrial development hinged on promoting, incentivizing, financing and strengthening the SMEs, besides establishing one platform for their facilitation.

He stated this while addressing a ceremony regarding World Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Day organized by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) here. On this occasion, SMEDA signed six Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with six public sector organizations including Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC), Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO), Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), Messaliha International Center for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (MICADR), Urban Unit Government of the Punjab and Government of Gilgit Baltistan.

The Federal Minister cited that in other countries, a company that started in the backyard grew speedily and ultimately turned into a multi-billion global company but unfortunately in Pakistan, it was very hard for SMEs to survive. He added that the world had done a lot regarding SMEs and also micro businesses but Pakistan had not done enough as there was a lot it could have done.

The SMEs in Pakistan faced too many issues especially regarding finances as there were too many bottle necks and hurdles in the bureaucracy and government, he said and mentioned that as federal minister, his focus was to get rid of these bottle necks and facilitate SMEs, which could also turned into a multi-national companies and ‘this is our vision and focus.’

He was of the view that government should not be intervening and interfering but it should be facilitating, incentivizing and focusing on making policies. “I am very lucky to have a best SMEDA team and we worked together. Today, we have signed MoUs with public sector organizations,” he maintained.

The Federal Minister also appreciated the very important incentives introduced with regards to single window operation like MoU was signed between Punjab government and SMEDA. “I think, more has to be done when I see different organizations working on Pakistan’s single window; they all are working on single window but actually there is no one platform for the single window.

So I had a meeting with SMEDA team and asked them that we have to get in touch with all government organizations working on the single window and there should a one platform wherein an entrepreneur can come and get registered and facilitated regarding taxation, financing and other incentives, and it should also be helped to get finance. Now, I am happy to sign MoUs with Punjab government but I would also ask SMEDA to sign MoUs with Pakistan’s single window and other provinces,” he maintained.

In Pakistan, he said, SMEs did not grow while the large scale industry was given all the incentives, finances and subsidies by the government and the commercial banks also preferred the large-scale industry as it was easier for them to deal with a single big company rather than dealing with 100 small companies. Government and large industries get major borrowings from banks while SMEs were unable to grow due to no or low provision of financing by the banks.

The Minister believed that Pakistan was enriched with resources and potential to progress speedily but unfortunately, it had to depend on huge imports even for food security therefore reforms in every sector were indispensable to bring the country at par with developed economies.

He also stressed the need to focus on value-addition that would prove to be a catalyst for export and economy. He also advised the SMEDA to work out viable plans for incentivizing and promoting the value-addition sector that would definitely enhance substantially the country’s exports revenues, adding that IT sector of Pakistan also had the potential to grow and earn foreign exchange reserves.

He also appreciated SMEDA teams for signing MoUs and said that government also approved the SMEDA’s budget proposals as well.