Pakistan orders spinning mills to stream production video to the FBR

Pakistan orders spinning mills to stream production video to the FBR

23 October 2026: Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has ordered every registered textile spinning unit to install video-analytics cameras on its fibre-feeding machinery by 15 November 2026. Sales Tax General Order No. 30 of 2026, dated 23 October and effective immediately, requires the systems to come from FBR-approved vendors and to send real-time production counts to the Board's Central Control Unit.

Not yet independently verified. This rests on the two FBR letters. We have not seen the list of approved vendors or any penalty for missing 15 November, and the scan of the 21 October letter is too poor to read the date and sector of STGO 27 of 2026. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

The order is issued under section 40C(2) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 and rules 150ZQR and 150ZQT of Chapter XIV-BA of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006. It adds to Sales Tax General Order 08 of 2025, dated 20 November 2025, which stays in force.

Which machines must be watched

The aim is to monitor fibre that enters production in loose, opened or other non-bale forms, including cotton, polyester, viscose, wool and acrylic, whether natural, man-made or blended. The order lists the camera points:

• hopper bale openers and hopper feeders with a feeding lattice, where loose or opened fibre is fed by hand
• weighing hoppers and blending feeders
• blow room lines dedicated to man-made fibres
• waste openers and recycling lines
• mixing and laydown areas

Cameras must be installed "as part of the video analytics solution (including hardware and software)" and provided by vendors approved by the Board.

What the analytics vendors must deliver

The heavier obligation falls on the vendors. Every vendor authorised under Chapter XIV-BA must integrate its video analytics with the cameras at those points and be able to detect, count and quantify fibre fed in loose or opened form. Under rule 150ZQT the system must capture the production process in real time, collect data showing production through object detection and object counting, transmit it to the Central Control Unit at the Board in real time with storage and archiving, detect unexpected stops, provide quantitative analysis of production, and support data analytics for legal action.

In practice this turns a tax rule into a computer vision contract. A mill cannot meet it with ordinary CCTV; it needs a system that counts material and talks to the FBR's servers, from a vendor on the Board's list. The order is signed by Khalid Mehmood, Second Secretary (ST-L&P), and copied to the FBR's IT and digital transformation directorate and to all authorised vendors.

A second deadline already moved

The FBR has been extending such deadlines. A separate letter dated 21 October extends the installation date under STGO 27 of 2026 from 15 October to 31 October 2026, with the other terms unchanged.

For a spinning mill, the practical steps are to confirm which FBR-approved vendor will supply the system, to check that the vendor's analytics can count fibre at each listed point rather than simply record video, and to plan the network link that carries data to the Board. With about three weeks to 15 November, mills that have not yet contracted a vendor have little room.

Sources

• Federal Board of Revenue: Sales Tax General Order No. 30 of 2026, IR Operations (PDF), 23 October 2026
• Federal Board of Revenue: Extension in time for installation of video surveillance systems under STGO 27 of 2026 (PDF), 21 October 2026