Pakistan’s new auto policy still not finalised and now heads for IMF review as electric output triples
Pakistan’s auto policy for 2025–30 has yet to be finalised and will be sent to the IMF for review, senators were told, even as local production of electric two- and three-wheelers more than tripled to 210,268 units in a year.
Pakistan’s new auto policy for 2025–30 has still not been finalised and will now be forwarded to the International Monetary Fund for review, a Senate committee was told on Tuesday, in the latest delay for a framework the automobile industry has been waiting on for months.
Officials of the Ministry of Industries and Production briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandwiwala, saying the draft policy would first go to the Ministry of Finance, which would then share it with the IMF. The committee expressed concern over the delay, saying the automobile sector was facing challenges because the policy had not been approved.
The briefing came weeks after officials had suggested that cabinet approval for the new policy could come within two weeks. That timeline has now slipped, and the IMF review adds another stage before manufacturers, investors and consumers will know the final rules.
Yet the delay sits alongside a striking change on the factory floor. Officials of the Engineering Development Board told the committee that local production of electric two- and three-wheelers had more than tripled, reaching 210,268 units in fiscal year 2025–26, up from 59,756 a year earlier.
The figures point to a sector already moving quickly, even without the new policy in place. Under the New Energy Vehicle Policy 2025–30, the government aims for electric and hybrid vehicles to account for 30 per cent of new vehicle sales by 2030, with a target of 2.223 million such vehicles.
But committee members raised serious questions about whether the rest of the system is ready for that shift. They questioned the availability of charging infrastructure and trained workers to support the transition, and the government has said it aims to establish at least 3,000 charging stations nationwide, with a discounted electricity tariff of Rs40 per unit for charging facilities.
Senator Anusha Rehman put the infrastructure concern bluntly during the meeting, saying that globally infrastructure is developed first and then vehicles are manufactured, whereas in Pakistan the order is reversed. She also called for vocational training facilities to be integrated with electric vehicle manufacturing, with training curricula updated in coordination with the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission.
The tariff framework at the heart of the draft policy also came under discussion. It includes customs duties of 15 per cent for non-localised completely knocked down kits, 46 per cent for localised kits, and one per cent for specific electric vehicle components such as batteries, motors, converters and chargers.
For the industry, the stakes go beyond any single duty rate. Carmakers and parts suppliers say they need a settled policy to plan investment, localisation and hiring, and repeated delays have left them working under older frameworks — the National Electric Vehicle Policy 2020 and the Auto Industry Development and Export Policy 2021 to 2026 — while the replacement remains unfinished.
What happens next now depends on the IMF review and the cabinet decision that must follow it. A swift clearance could finally give the industry the certainty it has sought, while a long review would prolong the uncertainty — even as electric two- and three-wheelers roll off local production lines in ever greater numbers.
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