ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said here on Wednesday that most of the exporters and textile industries were opting for Duty and Tax Remission for Export (DTRE) scheme.

The DTRE rules have been widely welcomed by exporters and as many as 280 companies are already availing the facility under the scheme.

It is worth mentioning that the system based on ‘no duty no drawback’ was evolved on the demand of the major exporting companies represented through their respective associations.

Mr Aziz said that it was expected that maximum exporters would avail the facility under the DTRE scheme by the end of the current financial year.

Talking to Dawn, he said that to this effect instructions had already been issued to the Central Board of Revenue to facilitate exporters opting for the new scheme.

Furthermore, he said that the scheme had equally received favourable response from the textile industries.

About 70 textile manufacturers have so far registered themselves under the scheme and 150,000 bales of lint cotton have been purchased by the spinners without payment of sales tax under the DTRE scheme.

The finance minister said that revenue collection during December 2001 stood at Rs37 billion against the revised target of Rs42 billion for the same month.

“The revenue collection target of Rs430 billion for the current financial year will be achieved as customs revenue has started picking up,” he added.

The minister said the DTRE scheme was being encouraged by the government to resolve the issue of rebates. The government, he said, wanted to recover genuine taxes so that there was no piling of rebates.

He also said that declining imports had been arrested, which were experienced following the September 11 events last year.

He said the CBR had been directed to expedite the cases of refunds as his ministry would not tolerate delays. He said a private sector committee comprising Wajid Jawad and Tariq Ikram was also helping to expedite the cases of refunds.

Answering a question, he said that loss of revenue and smuggling were two menaces, which were adversely affecting revenues. “We are addressing both these menaces,” he said, adding that under-invoicing was another problems, which was being tackled effectively.