Pakistan Faces Critical Shortages of Medicines and Fertilizers as India Halts Trade Worth Rs 3800 Crores

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): After the brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, the Indian government has taken a tough stand against Pakistan and closed the important trade route Attari border. In this attack, the terrorists shot dead 26 innocent tourists after asking their religion, in which Pakistan is directly believed to be involved. Due to this decision of India, the cross-border trade of Rs 3886.53 crore between the two countries has stopped with immediate effect.

According to an estimate by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), even though direct trade between India and Pakistan is limited, about $10 billion worth of Indian goods reach Pakistan every year through indirect means. This trade mainly takes place through third countries like Dubai, Singapore and Colombo, where the labels and documents of the goods are changed and they are sent to Pakistan by claiming them to be from some other country.

The Attari border in Amritsar, Punjab has been a major center of trade between India and Pakistan through land route. After India closed this border, Pakistan also retaliated and stopped trade with India. It is worth noting that bilateral trade between India and Pakistan reached $ 1.2 billion in the year 2024 with a significant increase of 127 percent, which was $ 0.53 billion in 2023. However, this figure is much lower than the trade level of $ 3 billion before the Pulwama terrorist attack in 2019.

India has been exporting mainly items like pharmaceuticals (drugs and their ingredients), sugar, tea, coffee, cotton, iron, steel, tomatoes, salt, automotive components and fertilizers to Pakistan. On the other hand, spices, dates, almonds, figs, herbs like basil and rosemary are imported to India from Pakistan. The closure of direct trade between the two countries will force Pakistan to depend on third countries for Indian goods. This will increase the cost of transportation of goods, which will directly affect the prices of these goods in Pakistan and make basic commodities expensive. Experts believe that Pakistan's pharma sector may be particularly affected by this move. In comparison, the impact of this trade suspension on India is expected to be much less.