Afghans prefer India, Pakistan loses 50% market share

Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Zubair Motiwala said that Pakistan has lost its 50 percent market share in Kabul as India has succeeded to penetrate the market.

The Dawn quoted Motiwala, who recently visited Kabul, as saying that Pakistan's trade with Afghanistan fell to $1.2 billion from USD 2.7 billion within in the last two years and the country has been losing even the traditional markets of flour, men and women's clothes and red meat.

He further said that the main reason behind Pakistan's downfall in Afghan market is India, which has been providing goods at subsidised rates to capture the market and are providing air tickets with a 75 percent rebate.

According to data given by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, exports to Afghanistan dropped to $ 1.271 billion in Financial Year 2017 from USD 1.437 billion in Financial Year 2016. Exports in the first quarter of 2017-18 stood at USD 319 million.

Motiwala highlighted that "Medical tourism of Peshawar, which was mainly due to Afghans, is now at zero level; hospitals in Hayatabad are empty" as they now prefer India due to affordable treatments and concessions.