HYDERABAD: A leader of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has called for a complete rationalisation of industrial energy tariffs to match regional competitors and ensure a steady, affordable power supply.

Adeel Siddiqui, a member of the FPCCI Executive Committee from Hyderabad, on Monday said the tech-driven tax regime should be simplified and harassment completely eliminated, particularly for export-oriented industries, and urged the State Bank of Pakistan and the government to create a targeted financing window for labour-intensive industries at subsidised rates.

In a statement, he expressed frustration over the government’s failure to capitalise on Pakistan’s most competitive economic advantage: cheapest labour in the region and warned that without immediate structural alignment, the demographic dividend would turn into a demographic disaster.

He said Pakistan’s labour cost was nearly 34pc cheaper than India, 41pc cheaper than Vietnam, and a massive 62pc cheaper than China, giving Pakistan a distinct edge in labour-intensive manufacturing, textiles, and export-oriented industries.

He said China was exactly where Pakistan was decades ago and, by leveraging its vast pool of cheap labour, attracted massive foreign direct investment (FDI), built a robust manufacturing base, and sparked an industrial revolution that transformed it into the world’s factory.

He said cheap labour alone was not a strategy, adding that Pakistan’s advantage was being undermined by what he called “Big 3 trouble alignments” — an energy pricing crisis, a taxation quagmire, and high interest rates and costs.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2026