India - Pakistan Trade - Customs Efficiency
CUSTOMS efficiency in terms of processing time of documents, time taken for lab testing and checks for security was seen to be the worst at the rail Land Customs Station (LCS) compared to road, sea and airports in India. In India even though a 100 percent security check is conducted on all consignments from Pakistan, the checks were perceived as being excessive at sea ports as they were conducted only on Pakistani consignments and not on consignments from other countries. Therefore, for expediting the movement of goods, the process of electronic submission of bill of entry, randomized checking of consignments, and provision of authorized trader status should be introduced, especially at the sea and land ports.
Overall infrastructure at the seaports was perceived to be the worst compared to that at other ports in both India and Pakistan. Congestion at the port gate was significantly higher at the road and seaports for Indian traders but there was no significant difference between different modes for Pakistani respondents. Warehousing at the road LCS was found to be problem for Indian traders trading by the road route compared to other modes. Pakistani respondents found warehousing a problem largely at the rail and road LCS. Availability of rail wagons was perceived to be a problem on the Indian side but not as much on the Pakistan side. To deal with these issues, increasing the number of gates at customs stations and operating hours of customs would help relieve the impending problem of congestion at ports. Efficiency could also be improved by allowing containerized cargo movement via road and rail modes; along with a provision for adequate rail wagons for exports from India to Pakistan.
Overall, the highest proportion of respondents in both India and Pakistan felt that bilateral trade will increase by up to 25 percent, with the growth of exports from India to Pakistan to be greater than 10 percent for agricultural commodities; chemicals; pharmaceuticals; processed food items including biscuits; cotton; engineering and mechanical goods; glass; jewellery; metal alloys; machinery; paper; pharmaceutical items; tea; textile items including yarn and fabric; and tyres. On the other hand, imports from Pakistan are expected to increase by more than 20 percent for dates; dry fruits; gemstones; and sugar.
[Source: India Pakistan Trade Perception Survey by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relation]