A government official said India and the US are exploring an interim trade deal within 90 days.
With US President Donald Trump "temporarily suspending" country-specific reciprocal tariffs until July 9, India sees the three-month window as an opportunity to renew its push for a proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US and expedite finalisation of the first tranche of the trade deal.
New Delhi and Islamabad have, in the recent past, taken many positive steps to make bilateral relations cordial. For instance, the two countries have firmed up a draft bilateral visa agreement that will ease travel between the two countries.
India is optimistic that Pakistan would soon reciprocate by giving it the most favoured nation status, which would lead to a "win-win" situation for both countries.
The MFN status, which means that Pakistan will give trade treatment to India at par with its other partners, is likely to boost bilateral economic ties.
Removal of this status means India can now enhance customs duties to any level on goods coming from Pakistan.
Khar made the remarks while speaking during question hour in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament.
India and Pakistan agreed last year on a number of steps aimed at increasing bilateral trade.
Industry bodies said India's move to grant the status to Pakistan had not made much of a difference as it was not reciprocated
India on Wednesday ruled out withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation status given to Pakistan despite Islamabad's refusal to grant the same to New Delhi.
India is unlikely to be granted the Most Favoured Nation status before 2014 Lok Sabha elections and resumption of composite dialogue between the two nations, Pakistan finance minister has said.
Pakistan on Thursday said Most Favoured Nation status cannot be granted to India at a time when there is tension on the borders.
Pakistan has delayed the grant of Most Favoured Nation-status to India along with abolition of a negative trade list regime "for a short time" because of reservations expressed by several industries, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has said.
After announcing on November 2 that its Cabinet has decided to grant the MFN status to India, Pakistan issued several confusing statements on Thursday.
India granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996
While admitting that there is still a long way to go before India-Pakistan relationship can be termed excellent, government sources on Wednesday expressed happiness over the progress made in the ties between the two Asian neighbours.
There is no proposal under consideration to give India the Most Favoured Nation status, Pakistan Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has said.
India should convert the Trump threat to an India opportunity, re-embracing a more liberal trade regime as a way of reviving manufacturing output and exports.
Gilani said the people and Parliament would be taken into confidence on the issue of giving MFN status to India.
Over a year after the deadline to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trading status to India, the Pakistani government on Thursday declined to specify any time limit to meet the long-pending demand from here.
Efforts to normalise trading relations expected during the first such meet on Saturday
Here is a list of Q & As to explain these issues and implications of the US move.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Wednesday said Islamabad is not backtracking on its decision to normalise bilateral trade with New Delhi.
Certain stakeholders in Pakistan have 'some reservations' about giving Most Favoured Nation-status to India and the issue will be discussed at an upcoming meeting between the two sides, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani said on Thursday.
'But I don't think the government is in a great hurry to sign the BTA.'
'When Prime Minister Modi met President Trump, they agreed to initiate a bilateral trade dialogue.' 'It makes sense to give these negotiations a chance.'
As uncertainty over the timeframe in granting of Most Favoured Nation to it by Pakistan continues, India on Wednesday said it has to wait for the May 11 general elections' outcome there even as the Pakistani government had assured it that the process was "on track".
Pakistan has not yet taken any decision about granting the Most Favoured Nation status to India, Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali said.
It would be quite a strenuous journey for India before it obtains the much-awaited most favoured nation (MFN) trade status from Pakistan next year. India would not be allowed to immediately start exporting the remaining tariff lines yet, even as Pakistan's Cabinet has given its approval to shift towards a negative list containing 1,209 items.
Hours after announcing that it would grant the much-delayed MFN status to India, Pakistan government issued several confusing statements which made no direct mention of the significant step aimed at boosting bilateral trade.
Pakistan minister says move part of confidence building measures.
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Zubair Ahmed Malik also said that the negative list should also be pruned to boost bilateral trade with India.
Rao added that the agreement on relaxing the visa regime for Pakistan businessmen would be notified soon.
'Modi's intention was to create goodwill that will allow India to be seen by Trump as more than just a bad tariff problem.' 'He succeeded brilliantly on that count but none of these wins are unfortunately permanent.' 'Modi will have to do this again and again if Trump's grievances are to be durably assuaged.'
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has made it clear that Pakistan has not granted the Most Favoured Nation status to India, saying the commerce ministry has only been tasked to move forward on the issue in bilateral negotiations.
The steep cut in Customs duty on silver in the FY25 Budget to 6 per cent from 15 per cent may provide the government temporary relief by checking the spurt in silver imports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). In FY24, silver imports from the UAE jumped to $1.7 billion from only $11.18 million in FY23, according to commerce department data. In May, about 87 per cent of India's silver imports came from Dubai.
Domestic customers will get access to high-quality Swiss products such as watches, chocolates, biscuits, and clocks at lower prices as India will phase out customs duties under its trade pact with the EFTA bloc on these goods over a period of time. India and the four-European nation bloc EFTA signed a trade and economic partnership agreement (TEPA) on Sunday to boost trade and investments between the two regions. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.
Goyal said, there is no proposal under consideration on withdrawal of MFN status to China.
