The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Prgmea) in order to attract new investment, revive economic growth and get rid of liquidity crunch has urged for zero rating facility be given to export-oriented, value-added textile industry.

Prgmea Chairman Ijaz Khokhar in a statement on Saturday said that ‘No Tax, No Refund’ formula should be applied to value-added textile chain by including it in zero-rated regime as it is generating more employment and more revenue from other textile chain.

He said that more than 30 percent working capital of the textile sector was stuck-up under refund regime, because several incentives announced in the budget 2014-15 — including ‘rationalization of refund regime’ and ‘complete settlement of all outstanding refund claims till 2014’ — could not be implemented.

He has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to process the sales tax refund in minimum possible time in a transparent manner and to evolve a mechanism to eliminate liquidity problems of refund claimants and frivolous litigation pertaining to refunds.

The FBR should streamline the entire refund verification and sanctioning process to facilitate the export-oriented sector.