Current Final

Category: Business

  • Remove ban on imported cars, petitioner moves Lahore High Court

    Remove ban on imported cars, petitioner moves Lahore High Court

    While hearing a case on prices of locally manufactured vehicles, the Lahore High Court (LHC) court has asked the government to level the prices of domestically assembled cars and also mitigate the ban on imported cars. The government had decided in principle to impose a temporary ban on the imported cars from Jan 2022 – June 2022 to help reduce the current account deficit .

    On Monday, the LHC was hearing a case in which looked for strategy concerning fixing cost of locally assembled cars. The plaintiff said that the demand for locally manufactured cars had increased drastically ever since the government had banned the import or vehicles.

    The plaintiff said that the government has failed in stabilising prices and the prices of cars are increasing daily. He pleaded to the court to make a decision regarding the fixing of prices of the vehicles and relaxing the ban.

    The LHC has been pleaded to pass judgment regarding the fixing of the domestically manufactured vehicles and the ban on the import of vehicles should also be relaxed.

  • PTA grants manufacturing license to Select Technologies for the manufacturing of Xiaomi mobile phones in Pakistan

    Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has granted manufacturing license to Select Technologies Pvt. Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Link Communication Ltd.) for the manufacturing of Xiaomi mobile phones in Pakistan. Air Link Communication Limited is consolidating its position as one of the leading mobile phone distributors and manufacturing company of the country.

    Air Link Group already has license to manufacture mobile phones of Transsion Holding’s major brands i.e. Tecno & iTel. This license makes Air Link Communication Ltd, the only company in Pakistan having manufacturing contracts and license for two leading mobile phone companies in the world.


    Earlier this month, Xiaomi, the global consumer electronics and smartphone giant, joined hands with Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited (SELECT), as its manufacturing partner for Xiaomi mobile phones in Pakistan targeting a production of initially around 2.5 million to 3 million handsets annually.

    This is a significant milestone for the economy as it will reduce the import bill and create jobs for the local population. This a result of Government’s policies to enhance localization and stimulate the industrial growth of the country.

  • Manufacturing Business Partnership between Xiaomi and Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited

    Xiaomi, the global consumer electronics, and smartphone giant which recently become the world’s second-largest vendor by handset shipments in the second quarter 2021, has joined hands with Select Technologies (Pvt) Limited (SELECT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air Link Communication Limited (AIRLINK) as its manufacturing partner for Xiaomi smartphones in Pakistan.


    Xiaomi shipped 53.1 Million units in the second quarter of 2021 that accounted for 17% of the global market. Xiaomi aims to be the world’s number one mobile phone company in the next few quarters.

    AIRLINK is one of the leading manufacturers, retailers, and distributors of smartphones in Pakistan with all the major global brands as their partners in the smartphone industry.

    AIRLINK recently executed the largest private sector IPO in the history of Pakistan and is the first company in this sector to have achieved this milestone. AIRLINK already has an established state-of-the-art mobile phone manufacturing facility working with leading global brands since the start of 2021.

    Embracing their vision of “Make friends with users and be the coolest company in the users’ hearts”, Xiaomi continuously pursues innovations, high-quality user experience, and operational efficiency. With its motto of making quality technology accessible to everyone, the company has ventured into manufacturing devices in Pakistan with SELECT. The smartphone production facility is located at Quaid-eAzam Industrial Estate, Kot Lakhpat, Lahore and will be fully functional within the month of January, 2022.

    Companies around the globe consider Pakistan’s mobile market as an emerging market with a plethora of opportunities for businesses. With the emergence of 3G/4G technology there has been a significant increase subscriber base of mobile operators. Locking on this opportunity mobile brands are providing consumers with a wider choice of smartphones at more affordable prices in the low tier range.

    This initiative will help us in the creation of jobs, development of a higher level of skills, encouragement of R&D culture and innovation in the industry.


  • Facebook to change its name next week: report

    Facebook to change its name next week: report

    Social media platform Facebook has reportedly planned to rebrand itself with a new name to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users, reported The Verge.

    The announcement is likely to take place at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th.

    “The metaverse is going to be a big focus, and I think that this is just going to be a big part of the next chapter for the way that the internet evolves after the mobile internet,” Facebook Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg told The Verge.

    The Verge stated a possible name for the company could have something to do with Horizon. Recently, Facebook renamed its in-development Virtual Reality (VR) gaming platform named “Horizon” to “Horizon Worlds”.

    Since July, Zuckerberg has been talking about the metaverse.

    Earlier this week, the social media company also announced plans to create 10,000 jobs in Europe over the next five years to help build this metaverse.

    Facebook isn’t the first tech company to change its company name as in 2015 Google entirely reorganized under a holding company called Alphabet.

  • Mark Zuckerberg loses $6 billion in hours after Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage

    Mark Zuckerberg loses $6 billion in hours after Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage

    Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth has fallen by more than $6 billion (roughly Rs44,790 cores) in a few hours, knocking him down a notch on the list of the world’s richest people, after a whistle blower came forward and outages took Facebook’s flagship products offline.

    As per details, a selloff sent the social-media giant’s stock crashing 4.9 per cent on Monday, adding to a drop of about 15 per cent since mid-September.

    Read More – Social media flooded with memes after WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram outage

    The stock slide on Monday sent Zuckerberg’s worth down to $121.6 billion (roughly Rs9,06,050 crores), dropping him below Bill Gates to number five on the  Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s down from almost $140 billion (roughly Rs10,43,150 crores) in a matter of weeks, according to the index.

    On Monday, a technical problem related to Facebook’s DNS records generated at least six hours of outages.

  • FBR extends date for filing income tax returns ‘due to serious technical problems’

    FBR extends date for filing income tax returns ‘due to serious technical problems’

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has extended the date for filing income tax returns till October 15. Earlier, the last date for filling income tax returns was September 30. FBR had said at many times that it would not extend the deadline for people seeking to file their income tax returns, but the deadline was extended on Thursday.

    “In exercise of powers conferred under Section 214A of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, the Federal Board of Revenue is pleased to extend the date of fling of income tax return for tax year 2021, by 15 days i.e. up to 15.10.21 due to serious technical problems in online return filing system (IRIS),” said the notification issued by FBR.

    As per Geo News, Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin decided to extend the date considering the constant demands from the business community. The tax-collection body had received several applications for the extension of the deadline for filing income tax returns.

  • Petrol price goes up by Rs 5 per litre

    The federal government has issued a notice to increase the price of petrol by Rs 5.0 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.1 per litre, reported Geo News.

    Apart from this, the prices of kerosene and light-diesel oil (LDO) have also been increased by Rs 5.46 and Rs 5.92 per litre, respectively. Now the new price for petrol will be Rs. 123.30 per litre, diesel will be 120.4 per litre, kerosene will be 92.26 per litre and LDO will be 90.69.

    Earlier the price of petrol was increased by Rs 5 per litre in July.

    According to Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin the prices will be implemented from today (Thursday).

  • Pakistani digital freight marketplace, ‘BridgeLinx’, raises $10 million

    Pakistani digital freight marketplace, ‘BridgeLinx’, raises $10 million

    A Lahore-based digital freight marketplace called BirdgeLinx has raised nearly $10 million in the country’s largest round. The round was led by Harry Stebbings’ 20 VC, Josh Buckley’s Buckley Ventures, and Indus Valley Capital.

    According to the details, the deal was oversubscribed twice and even included the participation of Wavemaker Partners, Quiet Capital, TrueSight Ventures, Soma Capital, Flexport, Untitled, and some of the largest business groups of Pakistan, including Maple Leaf Capital. This included several angel investors as well as founders of Convoy (US-based freight marketplace) and Bazaar (Pakistani B2B marketplace) also joined the round.

    BridgeLinx enables businesses to move freight by connecting them with carriers such as truckers, owner-operators, transporters, and private fleets through its online marketplace. The startup was launched nearly nine months ago and already the startup has claimed to have onboarded thousands of carriers who are moving thousands of shipments every week.

    Moreover, the platform offers an end-to-end solution for load execution starting from matching payments whereas businesses can use the startup’s mobile app to book different types of vehicles to move their load. In addition, clients can track their shipments in the app and oversee all shipment-related documents.

    Salman Gul, co-founder and CEO of BridgeLinx stated the following:


    “With logistics averaging at 10 per cent of GDP globally, deploying technology to optimise and create visibility across global supply chains is a trillion-dollar opportunity. At BridgeLinx, we are on a mission to redefine the way in which businesses manage supply chains – from procurement and shipping to warehousing and distribution. Our journey starts with road freight in Pakistan, and the talent-dense team we are building is incredibly privileged to be backed by some of the best investors from around the world.”

    According to Harry Stebbings of 20VC: “For me, the best investments combine incredible, category-defining entrepreneurs with macro headwinds. BridgeLinx is just that – a team of phenomenal entrepreneurs operating in a space with limitless potential.”

    Indus Valley Capital’s Managing Partner Aatif Awan also added: “BridgeLinx has cracked the code for making end-to-end freight work in a hassle-free manner and therefore signed up some of the top businesses in Pakistan. We believe this team is well on its way to bring unprecedented efficiencies to the country’s economy and are really excited to partner with them.”

    As of now, BridgeLinx aims to utilise the funds in order to “consolidate its position as a market leader by broadening its product stack and expanding across additional verticals, segments, and lanes” as mentioned by the startup.

  • PayPal allows crypto buying and selling

    PayPal has announced that its users in the United Kingdom (UK) will now be able to purchase, sell, and hold bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies starting this week, Reuters has reported.

    Customers will be able to buy bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash through their PayPal wallets online or on the mobile app.

    “The pandemic has accelerated digital change and innovation across all aspects of our lives— including the digitisation of money and greater consumer adoption of digital financial services,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Vice President and General Manager, Blockchain, Crypto and Digital Currencies at PayPal.

    “Our global reach, digital payments expertise, and knowledge of consumer and businesses, combined with rigorous security and compliance controls provides us the unique opportunity, and the responsibility, to help people in the UK to explore cryptocurrency. We are committed to continue working closely with regulators in the UK, and around the world, to offer our support—and meaningfully contribute to shaping the role digital currencies will play in the future of global finance and commerce.”

    Bitcoin is the world’s biggest digital currency, which hit a record high of nearly $65,000 in April before tumbling below $30,000 in July as Chinese regulators extended a crackdown on the market. It has since recovered to a price of $48,400.

  • PM Khan welcomes $85 million foreign investment in Airlift

    PM Khan welcomes $85 million foreign investment in Airlift

    On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed the latest $85 million foreign investment in the quick commerce startup, Airlift, by leading Venture Capitals of the world.

    “Pakistan has huge potential and we are open for business,” PM Imran Khan stated in a tweet. The prime minister further guaranteed his government’s commitment towards creating such investment opportunities in Pakistan.

    Airlift is a Lahore-based online shopping delivery service, has successfully raised $85 million foreign investment in Series B funding round, the largest single private funding round in Pakistan’s history.

    Apart from PM Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar also commented on the success of the private firm. He said he was “glad” to share that international investors were showing confidence in Pakistan’s evolving technology ecosystem.

    The company has set a new model for bringing world-class financers to invest in Pakistan. This will collect confidence that great technology and user products can be developed in Pakistan, and this area of the world has some of the best expertise for producing practical and innovative tech advancement. Furthermore, Airlift Express alone, with its series B funding of $85 million, has added 5 per cent to the country’s FDI for the monetary year 2021.

    Airlift runs a quick commerce service in eight cities covering Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad in Pakistan. Customers can order groceries, farm-fresh produce, other necessary items including medicines as well as sports gear from the company’s website or app and have the articles delivered within 30 minutes.

    In addition to this, using the latest foreign investment, the quick commerce startup, Airlift expects to place more offerings to its services in the near future and create nearly a quarter-million more jobs in Pakistan within the next five years.