MULTAN, April 2nd: President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry Muhammad Sarfraz has said that there was a dire need of redesigning of Insurance products to attract the people.Incentives, Tax-free savings, and Islamic touch would also give a new turn to this business. He was addressing Insurance Day celebration followed by cutting a cake here today. He said that Life insurance sector in Pakistan is still in emerging stage with country vide penetration of around 0.6%. Whereas life insurance sector in the region has shown appreciable growth of 3% to 4% of their total population.MCCI Chief said that awareness of Insurance at national level, aims to spread the message to grass root level.He suggested that Tax incentive be allowed to individuals on all personal lines products to help minimize the cost of protection for the citizens of Pakistan.If Health Insurance is made mandatory by the Government it would not only increase insurance penetration but would also be a step forward providing basic health facility to all sections of society. It goes without saying that the Workmen's Compensation Act is hardly adhered to thereby, exposing the vulnerable section of population to industrial injuries/fatalities. Compulsory workmen compensation insurance has the potential to alleviate the difficulties of the industrial and commercial workers. M.Sarfraaz said By assisting the industry with ease of doing business and various other measures the industry has the potential to produce many fold contribution to the national exchequer. The idea is to increase the size of the pie instead of taxation measures which are difficult to implement and at the same time do not add value to contracts. Shehzad Habib, Sajjad Haider Khan, Zia Mohyuddin, Muhammad ZAin Malik Laiq Ahmed ,Ch.Mumtaz and Khurram Javed Butt said that Insurance is on the top in Great Britian while Pakistan is lagged behind even India and Kenya .They said that People of Pakistan prefer to invest their saving in Stock Exchange, Securities and banks. However ,Takaful insurance is progressing by leaps and bounds .Insurers suggested that the Stamp duties in Punjab have been revised upwards through the Punjab Finance Act 2018, the duties have been increased by 230% and are going to be detrimental to the industry. We request the Punjab Government to bring these down to the rates as currently being followed in Sindh. Ammar Naqvi, Syed Ali Azfar ,Waheed Zafar and Rabia Nasir Mehmood also took part to celebrate the day.
