Pakistani goods via 'secret' routes? After Operation Sindoor, India doubles down on Gulf imports: Report

Is Pakistan sending goods to India via Gulf? This is the question officials in New Delhi are tackling in post Operation Sindoor reality of the Indian Subcontinent. Amid the strained ties since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, India has been scrutiniing all secret trade routes for Pakistani goods, an Economic Times report said on Saturday.

Since the attack, India has announced raft of measures to snap both diplomatic and trade ties with its nuclear-armed neighbour. Stopping all kinds of bilateral trade was one of the steps taken by the Narendra Modi government against Pakistan. The ET report says the imports coming from Iran and the UAE are under radar for spotting the Pakistani goods.

The report cited previous instance when dates from Pakistan were being sent to India via UAE. Post-Operation Sindoor, India has launched stricter checks of labels, country of origin criteria for goods from Pakistan disguised as Gulf import, the report added. All the re-routing of Pakistani goods from UAE is misuse of critical trade pact between the Emirates and India, the official was quoted as saying.

Additionally, in FY25, India’s imports from UAE stood at $63.42 billion, while Indian exports to the UAE were around $36.63 billion. Dates have been popular import for Indian. New Delhi buying this popular dryfruit worth $270.4 million alone for the period of April-February in FY25.Out of this, share of UAE dates stood at $123.82 million came. Curiously, there was a sharp increase between Pakistan and UAE trade with Islamabad’s exports to the country going up 28% to $1.2 billion between July 2024 and February 2025.