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India’s unfair trade practices lambasted
Pakistan has threatened to respond if India continues to obstruct exports through the use of non-trade barrier.
Indian exports to Pakistan were valued at approximately $2 billion last year while Pakistan’s exports were only about $400 million.
KARACHI: Pakistan has threatened to respond in kind if India continues to obstruct exports through the use of non-trade barriers. This was asserted by Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik, on Thursday.
“In theory, they have no trade barriers against us but in practice, they have employed a number of non-trade barriers against our products,” he told a press conference at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
Malik explained that the Indian government has created an extremely complicated schedule of duties and tariffs for imports which has made it impossible to calculate the exact landing cost of exports to the country.
He pointed out that the neighbouring government has ignored the development of its customs facilities at the Wagah border. “While we have the capacity to handle 30 to 40 trucks simultaneously, the Indian side can only facilitate two trucks at a time,” he highlighted.
Malik also pinned responsibility for the absence of a direct banking system on India. All transactions between Pakistan and its eastern neighbour are currently either routed through third-party banking channels or the illegal ‘hundi’ system.
The high commission has received many complaints from local businesses regarding the unfair barriers erected by the Indian authorities to restrict the entry of good coming from Pakistan.
Participants at the event highlighted that Pakistani cement manufacturers had lost out on export opportunities after the Indian government refused to accept certifications issued by the Pakistan Quality Control Authority. Instead, the government insisted that certification be acquired from a quality control authority belonging to a third country.
Attendees also complained that Pakistan’s delegations to the international trade fair in Delhi received unfair treatment and were ignored by their hosts. “The stalls allotted to our business delegates were small and in a distant corner of the trade fair,” explained KCCI chairman Abdul Majid Haji Mohammad.
He urged the speaker to request his Indian counterpart to assure that Pakistani businessmen would receive better treatment during this year’s fair, scheduled to be held in November.
It also surfaced that the Indian embassy was delaying visa applications and in many cases, denying visas altogether without assigning any reason. “Indian visas used to be processed in two days but now it takes more than 40 days and often, visas are refused without any justifiable explanation,” remarked former chairman KCCI Anjum Nisar.
Nisar suggested that similar treatment be meted out to Indian businesses until the Indian government sorted out the ‘diplomatic and technical hurdles’ created by it.
Trade between the two countries is currently heavily skewed in India’s favour. According to the high commissioner, Indian exports to Pakistan were valued at approximately $2 billion last year while Pakistan’s exports were only about $400 million.
Many Pakistani products have the potential to compete in Indian markets, particularly the southern states. These are especially lucrative for exporters because goods can be provided at a much lower cost than those shipped to these states from the northern parts of India. During a recent trip to Pakistan, the Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee commented that the sky was the limit for trade between India and Pakistan. However, Pakistani business owners are of the opinion that this is only possible if unfair trade practices are stopped and competitive forces are allowed to shape market trends.
Malik assured the audience that Pakistan would respond with similar barriers if the Indian authorities continued to employ unfair trade practices. “India has granted the status of most preferred nation to Pakistan but it is still using technicalities to limit market access to our firms,” he commented.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2010.
Reader Comments (25)
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If the ‘facts’ produced in the blog are correct then India should ease up the irritants in the trade. India has given Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan. Pakistan too should give India MFN status.Recommend
How are we going to do it? Any idea Mr. President? If you think India cares, you have a long thought coming. We, however, could profit by trade with India. Did you know that angiography catheters, Made in India, are being used in Europe and they cost half the price. We should import the Indian car Nano in bulk quantities and try to get rid of the motorbike nuisance in the main cities of Pakistan.Recommend
Pakistan should provide MFN status to India. It has provided it to China, are you telling that China is less competitive than India? I dont know why is Pakistan scared of trade with India. When the brilliant economist Dr.Singh wants to talk about trade that will benefit directly millions of iives in both the countries then Pakistan wants to talk about Kashmir first. Dont you want a good economy?
@Dr. Asad Sadick,
I agree with you.Recommend
I hardly think simply providing most favored status is the end of the problem. Yes we want a good economy, do you want a good relationship with your neightbour Mr. Anoop? Is your side even half committed to it? Any body passing through Wagah (as I have) knows the gulf in facilities on both sides. Isn’t India supposed to have an economy many times the size of Pakistan? Then what’s keeping the development there. Get some of your civil servants up there please and the “facts” become straight forward.Recommend
As far as the issue of Kashmir goes, we want to make sure the Indian side comes due on its forgotten promises of 50 years ago matters of economic cooperation are trusted. Raising that issue of course, is rational from that perspective.Recommend
If India is supposed to do something to increase Trade with Pakistan then it should do it. I think you better check what MFN really means.
Kashmir,Kashmir,Kashmir. Pakistanis have ruined themselves because of this. Economy is in shambles, your PMs and Presidents go on ‘Begging tours’, dominant military.
Kashmir is a problem which might never be solved on Pakistan’s interests. Its just not possible. As India rises and moves to a completely different level of playing field than that of Pakistan, it is in the best interests of both countries,especially Pakistan, to improve trade ties with India. If not its Pakistan’s karma, India will continue at a phenomenal rate and become one of the top 3 economies by 2040 even by current growth rates,which will only increase.Recommend
I see a comment written in complete ignorance of history and economic cycles. Time will tell, it always has and it always does. Your macroeconomic indicators are great, the lives of your middle class and citizens however are nothing in tune to the amazing pace you talk of. Not even close. I visited India for quite a few trips, I got a fair number of sayings from people who had been at both sides of the border. A prominent one was “hum chaand pohanch jaaein ge par rahein ge inhi darboon mein”. (We Indians will reach the moon very quickly, but our houses will remain the size of chicken sheds.) You need to grasp some realities as well. Im good with you reaching the moon as long as I retain what I have. I know what MFN means, thankyouRecommend
And might I add, 3rd largest economy by 2040 with current growth rates and current trends….you need to study concept of duality really badly.Recommend
Mr.Jibran,only time will tell whether India will be 3rd largest economy by 2040 or not.But what about Pakistan.Forget where Pakistan will stand economically in 2040,the question is whether Pakistan will be there as one nation or not.It seems you are facinated by India,I would request you to concentrate more on pakistan so that it can come to that level atleast where it will not to beg from US and other countries.Recommend
Thank you for your insightful comment and recommendations for me. Now please give me some time so I can provide you with a list of books to read regarding Naxalites, Nagaland, Operation Blue Star and the history of the separatist movement that is nowadays making news in the North. I am not fascinated by India however may I point out. Quite the contrary.Recommend
@ Jibran
Quote “I am not fascinated by India” Unquote. Nor are we, but we are realistic. You must be fascinated by our economy and the way the executive works. True?Recommend
Anybody would be fascinated with Pakistan’s economy and the way the executive works. On a more serious note, realism does not mean undermining rationality. There is a history here and that requires being figured into our economic models. These rely very much on certain assumptions which I can not simply blindly trust to operate freely in the case of economic cooperation with our neighbor.Recommend
Mr. Jibran,sorry to say but India is not bothered at all regarding trade with Pakistan.Why should we? What you produce?nothg apart from militancy…Recommend
Aah, now there’s a comment influenced by a biased domestic media if I have ever seen one. Yes absolutely, I live in a land of militancy. I don’t have clothes to wear, food to eat or a job to go to because I am a militant. Please grow up and start getting balanced perspectives. There are problems with Pakistan, no doubt, but I seem to find more of a fascination with Pakistan on the other side than here to say the least.Recommend
Jibran,
The term “biased domestic media” is interesting to me. I didnt know Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and Ger Speigel were Indian media organizations! Most of the stuff I am telling you is from these very organizations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/27/afghanistan-war-logs-tensions-strained
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Pakistan-Ally-or-Enemy-4469
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072605657.html
The negative articles about Pakistan from the recent past. Indian media is nothing compared to series of article that come out every day accusing Pakistan of spreading terror, supporting the Taliban, blaming it for Mumbai, accusing it of hiding Osama, nuclear proliferating, etc.
Pakistanis beg from the West, want to send their children there but at the same time hate it and want to bomb it to the stone age. A new word has to be invented to describe this behavior.
So, I ask you, who has the balanced perspective? Me? Or, is it you?
Is the whole world+India wrong or just Pakistan?Recommend
And, yes, Pakistan does fascinate me. I keep wondering how can a country which was once part of the Greater India, a Gandhian India, the country considered to the Jewel in the crown of the English Empire, turn out to be so fanatical, violent and destructive.
It makes me wonder how can that country uphold a divisive theory as the Two nation theory,which essentially says 2 set of human beings are different and which can institutionally declare(blasphemy laws for one) minorities,especially Ahmedis, to be lesser citizens than the over-whelming majority(who by the way are fighting among themselves be it on the Provincial level or ethnic level or Religious level).
http://www.religioustolerance.org/rt_pakis.htm
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/fear-and-silence-760Recommend
Jibran,
Have a look at the head-in-the-sand syndrome.
“…an overwhelming number of Pakistanis polled continue to have a negative view of the United States (68 percent), and a majority of Pakistanis (53 percent) see India as the greatest threat to the country, over the Taliban (23 percent) and al-Qaeda (3 percent)…”
http://changinguppakistan.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/giving-nuance-to-the-pew-poll/
3000 people died in vain last year due to suicide attacks, neither the people nor the govt cares it turns out.Recommend
Mr Jibran,Your situation is similar to that person who closes his eyes and thinks that it is night..Recommend
Now here you have your biased history books talking. You wont find this in the Guardian or the New York Times or Der Speigel. Part of Greater India? The Muslim League’s elements only took up demand for a separate country AFTER some of the religious shenanigans conducted there by the Congress. In the final two efforts made by the British in India, the Cabinet Mission Plan and the Cripps Mission, something akin to solution was turning out. There was a federation being formed with provinces having right to secede after ten years in one case, but the federation was being kept intact. Muslim League accepted that proposal, Congress rejected it. They wanted ultimate control over the center. The whole ploy was that let this country be formed, it won’t be viable, it doesn’t have the infrastructure, it simply isn’t sustainable. The non-payment of funds from the Central Bank, train carriages being divided, not to mention a host of other resources that were due to Pakistan was a part in this ploy. In the end the country would come begging back in a few years for a federation again, when greater powers could be retained by the Center, a Congress held centre. It did not happen, the country survived. Despite all odds, the country survived. That’s the history you will never be told in your history book. The ones that do, you stigmatize.Recommend
Head in the sand syndrome? India’s no where off. Please refer to the situation of some of your minorities. Here, you have ther unique case of the institutional put up and maintenance of a facade of calm, over anything that is but, helped of course by the Der Speigels’ and the Guardians’ home countries seeing economic benefits to turn a blind eye to them. This doesn’t last for long. When your eyes are able to pierce through the sand grains, then comment on my position please.
Yes Pakistan supports the “Afghan” taliban. It is a well known fact. And it will. Its in its interest to do so. They are pashtun. Pakistan has a historic link with Pashtun. We support them because India supports the Tajik Northern Alliance, who are the power in Kabul. When the NATO forces leave, and they will, there will be a power struggle as last time and Pakistan wants its interests to be safeguarded there by the pashtun Afghan Taliban to vie for the centre so that the Indian supported, minority Tajik group does not come to power and Pakistan has a hostile neighbor that is a puppet for India, opening up 2 fronts. Its rational. Your international new media says so as well! The problem is not whether the international news media + India is flat, the problem is which one you allow yourself to read.Recommend
Your constant assertion that the world is flat does not made it so mate. No matter how much one howls or cries.Recommend
Anoop, Kamal perhaps this link will help you see better which country is more willing to trade with the other”
http://tribune.com.pk/story/33945/pakistan-set-to-allow-22-more-indian-products/
I notice that Anoop has made the same ill-informed comment on that story too. I think you missed the whole point of this article that India has technically granted MFN to Pakistan, but it has a complex network of non-tariff barriers in place that defeat the purpose of this status.
Pakistan, meanwhile has done more to liberalize trade policies and that has been beneficial to BOTH countries. I believe your bias against Pakistan is obvious and it keeps you from REALLY looking for solutions that can help people in both countries.
Terrorism is as much a reality in Pakistan, as are India’s human rights abuses in its own states. People like you are just too used to your government quashing the rights of minorities for you to actually care, otherwise you would worry more about getting your house in order.Recommend
Also, the survey Anoop referred to does not assert that 53% Pakistanis support Lashkar-e-Taiba. He would’ve seen that if he had actually made the effort to read the survey itself instead of referring to a blog written about it.
But since Anoop doesn’t like to do that, here’s a similar response on the same survey (at least mine shows the actual findings of the PEW survey).
http://uk.asiancorrespondent.com/fiverupeesRecommend
Echo C,
I picked it from a Pakistani source, a Pakistani blog.
Let me make my point clear. India offers MFN status but Pakistan does not respond. This will make trade a one way street benefiting only Pakistan. Hence, the trade barriers. Offer us MFN status then complain if the trade barriers still exist. Until then, respectfully shut up.
And, another thing, I support free trade in every sense of the word. There should be no such barriers between India and Pakistan. But, there should be reciprocity. That is a must.
“Terrorism is as much a reality in Pakistan, as are India’s human rights abuses in its own states. People like you are just too used to your government quashing the rights of minorities for you to actually care, otherwise you would worry more about getting your house in order.”
Read my comments yet again. I have listed many ills that plague India. I have not shied away from expressing my disgust at them. I support equal rights among all in the true sense of the word. Institutionally India has given lot of rights than even demanded by the minorities. They enjoy reservations in education, jobs as enshrined in the constitution. But, lot more needs to be done on the societal level and that can be done through secular education. That will be done in the coming decades in India. My own state plans to achieve 100% literacy in 4-5 years.Recommend
The MFN issue is being debated at the committee level before being taken up by the National Assembly. Let us hope that better sense will prevail. I still think India should redress its customs because at present it is vey multi-layered and complex. A regular businessman trying to export water coolers or some grain just cant figure these out.
And BOTH India and Pakistan have to establish direct banking links. This system of sending money through a third country or hundi is simply absurd!Recommend