India on Saturday hiked the basic customs duty on all goods imported from Pakistan to 200 per cent with immediate effect. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a tweet said: “India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect. #Pulwama.”

This comes a day after India withdrew the ‘most-favoured nation’ status to Pakistan following the dastardly attack on security forces. The move would impact USD 488.5 million worth of goods that Pakistan exports to India. After New Delhi withdrew the MFN status, it was expected that New Delhi could raise customs duties on several goods imported from Pakistan.

Among the main thing that India imports from Pakistan are fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores and finished leather. The MFN status to Pakistan was granted way back in 1996. However, Pakistan had not granted the same to India.

The MFN status was accorded under WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Both India and Pakistan are signatories to this and are members of the WTO.