Indo-Pak bilateral trade falls by 30% during Apr-Jan of FY12

NEW DELHI: The India-Pakistan bilateral trade has slipped by nearly 30% to $1.56 billion in the April-January period of fiscal 2011-12.

In the corresponding period of 2010-11 fiscal, the bilateral trade stood at $2.22 billion, said Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia in Lok Sabha.

Due to the bilateral deliberations held in the last one year between both the neighbours, Pakistan has replaced 'positive list' – consisting 1,963 items - with a 'negative list' including 1,209 items.

Scindia said, “This implies that except for these 1,209 items, all other items can be exported. Such substantial increase in tradable commodities is expected to reduce trade through third countries.”

It was also informed that the bilateral trade between India and Japan in April-January 2011-12 has crossed the figure of overall trade witnessed during the financial year 2010-11.

In April-January 2011-12, the two-way commerce was at $14.7 billion as against $13.71 billion in 2010-11.