India DGFT Notification No. 06/2025-26 — blanket ban on imports from Pakistan

Mechanism

DGFT Notification No. 06/2025-26 (2 May 2025) is issued under Section 3 read with Section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992, and takes effect by inserting a new Para 2.20A into the Foreign Trade Policy 2023: "Direct or indirect import or transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, whether or not freely importable or otherwise permitted, shall be prohibited with immediate effect, until further orders." The prohibition is blanket — it is not limited by HS code, sector, or value threshold — and covers both direct bilateral trade and indirect flows routed through third countries. Any exemption requires prior approval from the Government of India, i.e. there is no administrative carve-out process short of a cabinet-level decision. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs reinforced the notification on 3 May 2025 via Instruction No. 07/2025-Customs, directing customs field formations on enforcement.

The action was India's first formal trade-policy response to the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, issued before the subsequent early-May military exchange between India and Pakistan. It supersedes what had already been a heavily restricted bilateral trade relationship since India revoked Pakistan's Most-Favoured-Nation status in 2019 after the Pulwama attack — so the notification's practical trade-volume effect was smaller than a "blanket ban" headline implies, but it closes off the residual indirect and third-country-transit channels that had remained open.

Two days later, on 4 May 2025, Pakistan responded in kind with SRO 750(I)/2025, banning Indian-origin imports, transit of Indian goods through Pakistani territory, and third-country exports to India via Pakistani routes (see 2025-05-04-pakistan-sro-750-india-transit-trade-ban).

Downstream implications

• Residual bilateral trade flows halted: the notification closes the

indirect/third-country channels that had persisted despite the 2019 MFN withdrawal, effectively zeroing out the already-small formal India-Pakistan trade relationship.

• Precedent for reciprocal action: the notification triggered

Pakistan's SRO 750(I)/2025 two days later, extending the freeze to transit and third-country flows through Pakistani territory as well.

• No sunset clause: the ban is open-ended ("until further orders")

and, per the precedent of the 2019 MFN withdrawal, plausibly persists as a structural feature independent of near-term kinetic de-escalation.

Open questions

• Whether any exceptions have been granted under the "prior Government

of India approval" carve-out since May 2025.

• Whether the notification is formally rescinded, narrowed, or left in

place as a standing instrument once broader India-Pakistan relations normalise.

• Full enforcement details of CBIC Instruction No. 07/2025-Customs at

land, air, and sea points of entry.