The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has prohibited sugar mills from clearing any sugar production from factory stores during the upcoming crushing season until Inland Revenue officials verify production through video surveillance, analytics, or Digital Eye software.
According to a Sales Tax General Order (STGO) No. 5 of 2025 issued on Wednesday, sugar mills are required to purchase and install Production Monitoring Equipment (PME) before the start of crushing operations.
Mills that fail to comply will face enforcement action under the Sales Tax Act, 1990.
The directive, issued under Section 40C(2) of the Sales Tax Act and Rule 150ZQT(2) of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006, makes production monitoring mandatory through electronic or video-based systems at all sugar manufacturing sites.
The FBR stated that no manufacturer will be allowed to remove any quantity of sugar from business premises without completing the prescribed monitoring process.
Technical specifications for PME include Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, or Huawei and Central Processing Units (CPUs) from AMD or Intel that meet the required performance standards. All hardware must be installed in dust-proof, lockable environmental control cabinets for equipment safety.
The installed systems must integrate with existing production monitoring hardware and enable continuous observation through video surveillance, analytics, or Digital Eye software. The order was issued with approval from the competent authority to ensure transparent tracking of sugar output and sales.
