Make (Indo-Pak) trade trendy again
trade with Pakistan means expanding their export base and extending economic influence in the region. For Pakistan, reopening structured trade with India could be a lifeline.
Institutional frameworks built during the Indo-Pak trade discussions of 2011-12 still exist. Rather than settling for a hesitant revival of pre-2019 trade, both nations have the chance to build a structured, high-impact trade corridor that turns decades of rivalry into economic interdependence, stretching beyond Afghanistan to CIS countries.
Despite ad-hoc bans and restrictions, trade has not vanished. But it has been driven underground, morphing into an informal, fragmented and inefficient shadow of its true potential. In 2023-24, India officially imported only $3 mn worth of goods from Pakistan, while its exports to Pakistan reached $1.2 bn.
Demand is undeniable, and the need is glaring. Yet, policy barriers continue to stifle progress. Significantly, before the trade embargo between India and Pakistan in August 2019, one- fourth (₹4,476 cr) of their total trade of ₹17,903 cr used to take place through the Attari Integrated Checkpost (ICP). So, opening this border is critical to unlocking over ₹5,000 cr of annual trade potential. This can help the debt-ridden economy of Punjab and augment trade and industry in the state.
In 2018, a World Bank report, 'A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia', highlighted that bilateral trade could be 18x pre-2019 levels. The strongest evidence of this untapped potential lies in