Category: Business

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed  a recent investment worth $85 million by the world’s leading Venture Capitals (VCs) in a Pakistani tech start-up, Airlift. “We welcome the recent investment of 85 million USD by leading VCs of the world in Airlift, a company led by young Pakistanis,” the premier wrote on Twitter.

He said Pakistan had huge potential as the country is open for business. The premier expressed the government’s commitment to create opportunities for foreign investors. “My government is fully committed to creating opportunities,” the prime minister said.

Airlift, a Lahore-based online shopping delivery service, has raised $85 million in Series B financing, the largest single private funding round in Pakistan’s history. The financing is about twice the size of the largest private company IPO in the country’s history and the highest in the Middle East and North Africa region.

A pioneer in the recent wave of technology businesses, Airlift Technologies was started in Pakistan by local entrepreneurs for local populations in the recent wave of technology businesses.

Airlift operates a quick commerce service in eight cities including Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in Pakistan. Users can order groceries, fresh produce, other essential items including medicines as well as sports goods from the Airlift website or app and have the items delivered to them in 30 minutes.

 

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

A new helpline has been launched for dairy farmers in Sahiwal to facilitate and provide them with a touchpoint for answering queries pertaining to dairy-related matters. According to a statement issued by FrieslandCampina Engro Pakistan Limited (FCEPL), the Farmer Helpline (03041111804) was inaugurated on Friday.

The helpline will be operational from Monday to Friday, from noon till 2pm and it will be managed by dairy experts available to guide existing and potential dairy farmers in pursuit of business excellence.

While inaugurating the helpline, Commissioner Sahiwal Division Ali Bahadur Qazi, who was also the chief guest of the ceremony, said that Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producer in the world, therefore, there is an utmost need for an ever-increasing number of dairy farmers to be educated in terms following the industry’s standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“Farmers must be able to maximise yield so that the dairy sector’s contribution to the economy is enhanced,” he said. “As a result of this, we will eventually be able to export our dairy produce and bolster the national exchequer.”

“We are certain that more farmers will be inducted in a formal dairy net across the country which will have a significant impact on the economy at large.”

Head of Agri-Business at Friesland Campina Engro Pakistan Limited Sohail Sawwar said that the helpline has been established considering the need of our dairy farmers and is now operational on a national level with experts well-versed in local languages, other than Urdu, to guide them.

“The company brings 150 years of world-class dairy knowledge that its dedicated team of professionals is facilitating the dairy farmers with, especially those who are unable to commute and don’t have access to the right expertise and training; the ‘Farmer Helpline’ has thus been launched keeping these factors in mind,” he said.

Friesland Campina Engro Pakistan Limited (previously known as Engro Foods Ltd) is a Pakistani dairy company that is a subsidiary of the Dutch multinational corporative FrieslandCampina. The company operates two processing plants in Sukkur and Sahiwal, with its head office based in Karachi, Pakistan.

 

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

President Arif Alvi on Sunday disposed of 42 representations of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) pertaining to cases of bogus sales tax invoices, worth over Rs 1.2 billion. According to details, President Alvi, in view of the findings of the committees, disposed of the representations of the FBR pertaining to the cases in which full or partial refunds were paid fraudulently.

He directed the FBR for submission of a monthly implementation report to the Federal Tax Ombudsman’s Secretariat till the completion of the action on each case. He also ordered to afford an opportunity of show-cause and hearing to the official in case of any departmental action proposed against him, to satisfy the requirement of due process and the principles of natural justice.

The FBR had filed the representations with the President of Pakistan assailing the orders of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) passed in suo moto cases, in which bogus Sales Tax Refunds were reimbursed fully or partially by the delinquent officials of the FBR to the fake claimants. The huge scam was unearthed by FBR’s Directorate General Intelligence & Investigation-Inland Revenue and the Red Alerts were issued to the concerned field formations.

However, no action was initiated against the FBR officials and the fake claimants. The FTO on taking suo moto notice of the matter had issued directions to the FBR to investigate and identify the officials involved in the verification of the registered persons (RPs) and initiate disciplinary action.

In pursuance of the FTO’s recommendations and also the previous orders of the President of Pakistan passed in similar cases, the FBR constituted six fact-finding inquiry committees to deal with 130 suo moto cases relating to fake refund claims. The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the committees were meant to identify the wrong-doings and involvement of officials in each case, and fix responsibility. Also, these committees were tasked to prepare a draft charge sheet and statement of allegations with respect to each official and submit a report to the Board within 30 days.

 

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

In a landmark development, Pakistani startup Airlift has secured $85 million Series B financing with an aim to expand internationally, the firm said in a press statement.

A pioneer in the recent wave of technology businesses, Airlift Technologies was started in Pakistan by local entrepreneurs for local populations in the recent wave of technology businesses.

According to reports, Airlift operates a quick commerce service in eight cities including Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in Pakistan. Users can order groceries, fresh produce, other essential items including medicines as well as sports goods from the Airlift website or app and have the items delivered to them in 30 minutes.

“Today, Airlift is announcing an $85 Million Series B financing led by some of the most iconic investors on the globe. Airlift’s $85m Series B financing marks the largest in the MENA region, co-led by Josh Buckley (Buckley Ventures) and Harry Stebbings (20VC),” the statement said.

Other major participants included Sam Altman (ex-President YCombinator), Biz Stone (Co-founder at Twitter/Medium), Jeffrey Katzenberg (ex-CEO, Disney), Taavet Hinrikus (Founder/CEO at TransferWise), and Seve Pagliuca (Co-Chairman, Bain Capital).

The financing is about twice the size of the largest private company IPO in Pakistan’s history and the highest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The firm said that the development would bring world-class investors to invest in Pakistan and would garner confidence that great technology and consumer products can be built in Pakistan.

“Airlift Express alone with its series B funding of $85 Million has added 5% to Pakistan’s FDI for the Fiscal year 2021. This financing round lays the foundations of a new dawn in Pakistan where technology startups alone can contribute to more than 10% of FDI in the upcoming years,” it added.

Speaking on the occasion, Usman Gul, Co-Founder and CEO of Airlift said that a year ago, Airlift halted operations on the transit service and diversified into last-mile grocery delivery.

“Today, our team closed $85m in Series B financing to scale our delivery platform across continents. With this financing, we as Pakistanis must return to where we started from — fighting against the odds and staying true to our core values of hustle, teamwork, resourcefulness, and bias to action. If this is the journey of a thousand miles, we have taken only the first step.”

Meanwhile, Bloomberg has reported that the fund raised by Airlift is equal to the entire amount raised by Pakistani startups in the first half of the year. “It also eclipses the largest initial public offering by the nation’s private sector,” the report adds.

It added that the company now plans to expand its operations to 15 Pakistani cities by Dec 2021 and also increasing its core workforce to 400 by the end of next year.

 

Lahore (But-Desk)

Bolan holds a special place in the heart of many people from the 1990s and has been used by many for carrying big families or pick and drop services. Eight people including the driver can sit in the vehicle.

It is, however, being speculated that Pak Suzuki may discontinue Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) 800cc Bolan by next year, which will mark its 40^th year in Pakistan.

“Suzuki Bolan was launched as Hi-Roof in 1982/83,” said auto sector expert Usman Ansari, who runs an auto blog carspiritpk.com. “It was later renamed Bolan and its pickup version Ravi in 1991 when its local assembly started in 1991 at Karachi’s Bin Qasim plant.”

“Suzuki localised the names of all of its cars, including Margalla (Swift sedan), Mehran (Alto), Khyber (Swift hatchback), and Potohar (Jimny),” he added.

At least four independent sources, who are privy to the matter, said that the eleventh-generation 660cc Suzuki Every is on Pak Suzuki’s cards to replace the seventh-generation Bolan.

This was denied by the company, which is a listed entity and required by the law to first inform the stock exchange about any such plans.

“Yes, we have been told that the newest sixth-generation minivan Every will be launched next year and Bolan will be discontinued,” said an official at a Suzuki dealership.

An official of an auto part company also said that they have gotten orders from Pak Suzuki to manufacture parts that are supposed to be used in Every minivan.

In 2019, after 30 years of its launch, Pak Suzuki also discontinued Mehran, which was actually the localized version of Alto. Suzuki later launched Alto again in the year 2000 and manufactured older second-generation Alto (Mehran) and newer fifth-generation Alto side by side.

“But Pakistan officially adopted Euro-2 fuel standards in 2012, which forced production of Alto and Coure to be stopped as they cannot be upgraded to new standards. Mehran was upgraded with the EFI system and is adapted to Euro 2 standards,” said Usman Ansari.

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has given Lucky Motor Corporation Limited the license to manufacture Samsung smartphones in the country and Production facility will become functional by December 2021.

The Lucky Motor Corporation is a subsidiary of Lucky Cement Limited and assembles Kia cars in Pakistan.

“In accordance with Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations 2021, PTA has issued MDM authorization to Lucky Motor Corporation Limited for manufacturing of Samsung brand mobile devices,” the PTA announced on Tuesday.

The company had applied for authorization to set up a mobile device manufacturing plant in Karachi where it will manufacture Samsung mobile devices.

“The manufacturing of Samsung mobile devices in Pakistan is a landmark achievement and will further revolutionize the vibrant mobile manufacturing ecosystem in the country by ensuring presence of major local and foreign players in the market,” PTA said in a media release.

PTA has so far issued MDM authorizations to 25 foreign and local companies for the production of mobile devices (2G/3G/4G) locally.

Earlier, LMC announced it had entered into an agreement with Samsung Gulf Electronics Co. for producing the brand’s mobile devices in Pakistan.

Muhammad Rizwan, the president of the Karachi Electronics Dealers Association, who also has stakes in the retail business of mobile phones, says one can expect a 10% to 15% decrease price of Samsung cell phones after local assembling begins.

Seven months ago, Chinese smartphone maker Vivo also announced its plan to establish a manufacturing facility in Pakistan. Q-Mobile, G-Five, Infinix, and Tecno among other companies are already manufacturing mobile phones in Pakistan.

 

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Authorization holder Inovi Telecom has started exporting smart phones to other countries. The first consignment of 5500 units of 4G smart phones carrying “Manufactured in Pakistan” tag has been exported to UAE.

PTA congratulates the company for this landmark achievement. This is the result of concerted efforts for the development of mobile device manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The successful implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) and enabling government policies including the Mobile Manufacturing Policy have created a favorable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan.

As a part of this policy, Inovi Telecom Pvt. Ltd was issued mobile manufacturing authorization by PTA on 9th April 2021. Within 4 months, the company has managed to achieve exporting ‘Manufactured in Pakistan’ phones.

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The overall car sales rose by 104 per cent during the month of July 2021 as compared to the same month of last year, according to the latest data released by Pakistan Automobile Manufacturing Association (PAMA).

As per data released by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), passenger car sales increased to 20,669 units in the period under review, which compared to the same month last year, showed sales of 10,123 units.

In the period under review, sales of trucks, buses, jeeps, tractors, and pickups increased notably, while that of three and two-wheelers dropped, the data showed.Link of complete report is below.

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According to data, 1700 units of Honda Civic and City were sold during the month as compared to the sale of 2,210 units last year, showing a decline of 23.15%.

Toyota Corolla car sales, however, witnessed an increase of 52% as it soared to 2,320 units in the corresponding month from 1,528 units in the same period of previous year.

Suzuki Swift’s sale surged by 23.62 percent as its sale increased to 225 units from 182 units in July, the report said.

Similarly, the newly launched Toyota Yaris also witnessed an increase as its sale jumped to 2,700 units in the year under review from 1,830 units in July 2020.

The sale of Suzuki Cultus increased to 4,213 units in the corresponding year whereas, during the same period last year, the sale was recorded at 1,077 units.

Suzuki Alto also witnessed a sharp increase as it went up from 2,158 units in FY21 to 6,110 units in the previous year.

Meanwhile, the sale of motorbikes witnessed a decrease of 11% as it went down to 133,426 units in July 2021 compared to sale of 149,921 units in the same month of last year.