India on Saturday hiked customs duty on all goods imported from the neighbouring country to 200%. This came a day after India withdrew the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN) status granted to Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack,
The decision to withdraw the status was taken soon after a convoy of CRPF vehicles was targeted by a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) suicide bomber on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday, resulting in at least 40 deaths.
“India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted on Saturday evening.
Increasing duties would significantly hit Pakistan’s exports to India, which stood at $488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18.
The main items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, ores, finished leather and mineral oils.
According to the official sources, slapping an import duty of 200 per cent effectively means almost banning the imports from Pakistan.
