Pakistan’s Trade with India – Disaggregated Prospects

Abstract

The study has made an attempt to expose the disaggregated dynamics Pakistan’s trade with India for a period of 2004-14 at HS-2 digit classification. It was observed that at least three quarters of Pakistan’s total exports to as well as imports from India comprised of top ten categories at HS-2 digit classification in each case. Nearly half of Pakistan’s bilateral trade with India comprised of edible vegetables, organic chemicals, plastics and its articles and cotton, almost consistently during 2004-14 and each of these four categories were also included in Pakistan’s top ten exports to and imports from India. The study further revealed that Indian exports to Pakistan enjoyed three times more complementarity in Pakistan than Pakistani exports enjoyed in India, consistently during this period. Pakistan’s imports from India were more than expectations in all the top ten categories though India possessed consistent revealed comparative advantage only in three of the top ten categories.