India may withdraw MFN Status from Pakistan amid Tensions

[Indx TechStyle]

Okay, getting reports and opinions from a number of sources and members.

Thought of collecting at one place. Thread is about India's possible withdrawl (or probably impossible submission of MFN to India by Pak), may end up with one of the results.

Posting the latest one I got.

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Decision on Pakistan's MFN status today, PM Modi to hold review meeting
File photo PM to hold meet to review Pak's MFN status
HIGHLIGHTS

1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting to review the Most Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan
2. India granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate to that
3. Meeting may consider the option of dragging Pak in the World Trade Organisation's dispute settlement mechanism

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting on Thursday to review the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted to Pakistan.

The decision to review the MFN status comes in the wake of the Uri attack after which India is weighing various options to respond and isolate Islamabad.

Among others, officials from commerce and external affairs ministries are expected to attend the meeting.

The meeting, according to sources, may deliberate upon the option of dragging Pakistan to the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism for not according similar status to India.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate to that. The neighbouring country has missed its own deadline of December 2012 for this.

Under MFN, a WTO member country is obliged to treat other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

According to experts, withdrawal of the MFN status by India is likely to hurt Pakistani industries as it might stop flow of raw materials at competitive prices.

In 2015-16, India's exports to Pakistan stood at $2.17 billion, while imports were $441 million.

As per the WTO rules, India can roll back the MFN status from Pakistan.

This meeting comes after the Prime Minister chaired a review meeting of 56-year-old Indus Waters Treaty during which it was decided that India will "exploit to the maximum" the water of Pakistan-controlled rivers, including Jhelum, as per the water sharing pact.

India's main exports to Pakistan include sugar, cotton, man-made filaments, chemicals, carpets, furniture fresh fruits and vegetables while its imports comprise mineral fuels, precious stones, wooden handicrafts among others.

 

[aditya10r]

BTW how much is the trade volume between India and Pakistan???

 

[Brood Father]

BTW how much is the trade volume between India and Pakistan???

A little more than 2 billion and mostly export
However it's contribution to our GDP is as low as 0.8% ..

 

[kamaal]

There is no use of imposing such ban on Pakistan, as we have surplus trade with them. Taking away MFN status will be an overkill.

According to current trade data, the figure is around 2.6 billion $

India exports 2.0 B $ and imports 600 million $ from Pakistan.

Also we export some 700 $ million of cotton every year and if we divert this raw material for their industry then Pakistan might loose somewhere around 50k jobs. And looking at current situation of their textile industry, we should not divert, as in last 6 month 6-7 thousands Pakistanis have already lost jobs in textile industry.

 

[IndianHawk]

2B$ don't mean much to us we can divert export easily but 700millions means a lot to porki they are trying to raise 900millions desperately through bonds and other shit.
We should kick their but right now.
We should also identify their important textile customers and dump our textile their just to destroy their market.

 

[kamaal]

2B$ don't mean much to us we can divert export easily but 700millions means a lot to porki they are trying to raise 900millions desperately through bonds and other shit.
We should kick their but right now.
We should also identify their important textile customers and dump our textile their just to destroy their market.

IW treaty is ok but, diverting the cotton to other country is also an challenge and we should not carry such steps which is not beneficial to our country. Our main objective is to keep minimum damage at our side and affect the Pakistan side. So building 3 dams on Chenab is the right way to go.

 

[IndianHawk]

IW treaty is ok but, diverting the cotton to other country is also an challenge and we should not carry such steps which is not beneficial to our country. Our main objective is to keep minimum damage at our side and affect the Pakistan side. So building 3 dams on Chenab is the right way to go.

No harm to us , with paki mfn gone Bangladesh would get advantage into our own market for that they will need excess cotton . Dams will take long time while we need to build momentum right now

 

[kamaal]

No harm to us , with paki mfn gone Bangladesh would get advantage into our own market for that they will need excess cotton . Dams will take long time while we need to build momentum right now

What momentum you are talking about ? The current situation will pacify in 5-6 months from now. But we should not do something crazy which we might regret afterwards, our cottons can't used domestically because the farmers don't get the proper price here. Bangladesh might be the alternative but it does not had the capacity to absorb 700 million worth of cotton. So our govt should keep the interest of our farmers first and then think about Pakistan.

First India's interest and then if time permits then Pakistan. We should not get carried away by one incident.

 

[Akshay_Fenix]

There is no use of imposing such ban on Pakistan, as we have surplus trade with them. Taking away MFN status will be an overkill.

According to current trade data, the figure is around 2.6 billion $

India exports 2.0 B $ and imports 600 million $ from Pakistan.

Also we export some 700 $ million of cotton every year and if we divert this raw material for their industry then Pakistan might loose somewhere around 50k jobs. And looking at current situation of their textile industry, we should not divert, as in last 6 month 6-7 thousands Pakistanis have already lost jobs in textile industry.

Its actually a loss for us. Our products are expensive in their markets so less sale, where as their products are of same price compared to our other products. Pakistan did not give us MFN title because of this reason, else this 2b $ you talk of would have been 10b $ by now.

 

[kamaal]

Its actually a loss for us. Our products are expensive in their markets so less sale, where as their products are of same price compared to our other products. Pakistan did not give us MFN title because of this reason, else this 2b $ you talk of would have been 10b $ by now.

We should understand their stand, Pakistanis are mostly radicalized by some warmongers on news channels. They have actually given India an "Enemy State" status, and we have given them MFN status in return.

But as I have said previously, it will be overkill if we take the status from them.

 

[IndianHawk]

@kamaal that's exactly the problem we see this as one incident. It's not one incident but a sustained covert warfare. We should not pacify in 5-6 months but we should Harras them regularly. We should be on the sustained low intensity offensive plus covert warfare. If we will pacify soon we will make a fool of ourselves.

 

[Akshay_Fenix]

What momentum you are talking about ? The current situation will pacify in 5-6 months from now. But we should not do something crazy which we might regret afterwards, our cottons can't used domestically because the farmers don't get the proper price here. Bangladesh might be the alternative but it does not had the capacity to absorb 700 million worth of cotton. So our govt should keep the interest of our farmers first and then think about Pakistan.

First India's interest and then if time permits then Pakistan. We should not get carried away by one incident.

What are you going on about. Trade never stops between two nations. MFN is just an added bonus for them so that their products remain competitive in our markets. I don't know who came with this stupid one sided policy.

If the MFN title is taken away, Our exports will still be the same (2b $) but the good thing is that imports will reduce.

 

[busesaway]

I agree. The amount of trade between India and Pakistan is dismal. They have better trade partners with the Middle East.