Importing From India to Pakistan

In May 2025 Pakistani customs started holding shipments of Indian medicines. Within days the Ministry of Commerce issued a memo so there'd be "no ambiguity regarding pharmaceutical trade with India" (The News, 7 May 2025 (opens in a new tab)). Medicines could keep coming. Almost nothing else could.

This page is short on purpose. Pakistan and India are both SAFTA members, so a preference exists on paper, and the rules are on the SAFTA bloc page. In practice the border is shut to ordinary trade, and we won't describe an import route that doesn't exist.

Last researched 28 September 2026 · Next review 24 November 2026 · Written by SourcingFrom

The decision in brief is in the playbook: Exporting and trade → /india/#trade.

1. Suspended on Both Sides

On 24 April 2025, two days after the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan's National Security Committee suspended "all trade with India including to and from any third country through Pakistan" (Prime Minister's Office, Pakistan, 24 April 2025 (opens in a new tab)). On 2 May India banned the direct or indirect import and transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan (DGFT Notification 06/2025-26, as reported by The Tribune (opens in a new tab)). Both orders run "until further orders", and we found nothing lifting either as of 28 September 2026.

Note the words "third country". Routing Indian goods to Pakistan through Dubai or Colombo doesn't get around Pakistan's suspension, and we'd steer well clear of anyone offering to relabel the origin. That's origin fraud, and customs on both sides are looking for it.

2. The One Door Still Open

Therapeutic goods regulated by Pakistan's Drug Regulatory Authority (DRAP) are exempt, under SRO 977(I)/2019. That covers active pharmaceutical ingredients, vaccines, anti-cancer drugs, biologicals and finished medicines (The News, 7 May 2025 (opens in a new tab)). It's most of what still moves. Pakistan recorded US$36.6 million of imports from India in July to September 2025, "largely pharma APIs", according to a Karachi analyst (Arab News, 12 November 2025 (opens in a new tab)).

If you're a Pakistani pharma importer, you already know this route and its DRAP paperwork better than we do. Whether a SAFTA preference is granted on those shipments we couldn't confirm, so ask your broker.

Next Step

Every Indian agreement is on India's trade agreements.