India and Pakistan may have officially stopped trading, but business between the two countries has not completely disappeared.
According to Pakistan’s State Bank, Pakistan imported goods worth $61.7 million, around ₹580 crore, from India between July and September 2026. That is a 69 per cent rise compared with the same period last year.
So, how are Indian products reaching Pakistan despite trade restrictions? What is Pakistan buying, and can India stop these supplies? Let’s understand.
1. When did trade stop?
In February 2019, after the Pulwama terror attack, India withdrew Pakistan’s Most Favoured Nation status and imposed a 200 per cent customs duty on Pakistani imports.
After India revoked Article 370 in August 2019, Pakistan suspended trade with India, later exempting therapeutic and medical products.
The second phase followed the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025, in which 26 people were killed. India closed the Attari Integrated Check Post on April 24. On May 2, it prohibited direct or indirect imports and transit of goods originating in or exported from Pakistan. Pakistan also suspended trade with India, including through third countries.
2. What is Pakistan buying?
State Bank data show that import payments to India rose from $36.6 million in July-September 2025 to $61.7 million in the same period of 2026.
However, Pakistan’s commodity-based trade data show imports worth $62.6 million in the latest quarter, compared with $66.6 million a year earlier. The 69 per cent increase appears in bank payment data; it is not reflected in every trade measure.
The main categories include medicines, pharmaceutical products and organic chemicals. In 2025-26, these categories accounted for 96.2 per cent of Pakistan’s recorded imports from India.
Vaccines, blood products and related items were worth $93.6 million, compared with $70.3 million the previous year. Human-use vaccine imports rose from $11.1 million to $32.3 million.
3. How could Indian goods reach Pakistan?
Muhammad Zubair Motiwala, former chief of Pakistan’s Trade Development Authority, has said Indian goods reach Pakistan through hubs such as Dubai and Malaysia.
Dubai, Singapore, Colombo and Malaysia have been mentioned in reports about these routes. But the latest import figures do not prove that every shipment travelled through these locations. Exact routes and volumes have not been publicly verified.
4. Why does Pakistan need Indian supplies?
Indian companies supply medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients, including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, or APIs. These are the basic substances used to manufacture medicines.
Khaqan Najeeb, a former adviser to Pakistan’s Finance Ministry, has pointed to the price and availability of Indian supplies. Motiwala has said switching suppliers could raise costs for some Pakistani pharmaceutical companies by 40 to 50 per cent.
5. Can India stop these supplies?
India can regulate exports leaving its territory, enforce customs rules and investigate suspected violations. But once goods have legally entered another country, their resale and onward movement are also governed by that country’s laws.
If a product is legally exported to the UAE and later bought by a Pakistani importer, India cannot automatically control every subsequent transaction. Authorities can investigate false declarations, suspicious shipments and attempts to evade restrictions.
In June 2025, India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized 39 containers of Pakistani-origin goods worth around ₹9 crore. They had been routed through Dubai and falsely declared as UAE-origin products.
6. Has trade restarted?
No. These figures do not mean India and Pakistan have restored normal trade. They show that payments and demand for certain products continue despite formal restrictions.
Political restrictions do not automatically erase economic connections. Pharmaceutical needs, prices and international supply chains can keep goods moving through complex channels.
For Pakistan, Indian medicines and chemical ingredients remain commercially important. For India, the challenge is enforcing its rules and preventing deliberate circumvention.
So, the question is not simply whether trade has stopped. It is whether two neighbouring economies can fully separate when businesses and essential supply chains still have reasons to remain connected in the future.