[MUMBAI] A growing number of Indian merchants, companies, and consumers are cutting business ties with Pakistan and some of its allies after a heightened conflict between the South Asian neighbours.
Trade and travel with Turkey and Azerbaijan are being curtailed after they issued statements supporting Pakistan following Indian military strikes. India and Pakistan were thrown into a conflict after gunmen killed 26 civilians in India’s Kashmir region, with military actions escalating before a ceasefire was announced May 10.
The Indian government banned all imports from Pakistan in a May 2 notification, including both goods originating from and transiting through its neighbour.
The Confederation of All India Traders, a body that represents the country’s largest merchants, will stop importing goods from Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as exporting to the two countries, it said in a statement Friday.
Bilateral trade between India and Turkey was about US$10.4 billion in the financial year ended March 2024.
Merchants are also skipping buying Turkish apples and marbles in protest, local media reported.
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Jewelers in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh state are boycotting Turkish jewelry, which typically sees high demand, according to Economic Times.
Bookings to Turkey and Azerbaijan fell 60 per cent and cancellations surged 250 per cent over the past week compared to the period before tensions flared, online platform Makemytrip said Wednesday (May 14).
Other travel platforms including Ixigo operator Le Travenues Technology, Easy Trip Planners and Cox & Kings also stopped offering promotions or travel services to Turkey and Azerbaijan.
“We strongly support this sentiment and advise all against all non-essential travel to Azerbaijan and Turkey,” a spokesperson for MakeMyTrip said.
Air India has lobbied Indian officials to stop IndiGo, run by InterGlobe Aviation, from renewing its leasing tie-up with Turkish Airlines, Reuters reported. The Tata Group-owned carrier also flagged its rival’s codeshare partnership with Turkish Airlines in a document submitted to government departments, Reuters wrote.
India stopped units of a Turkish company Celebi Hava Servisi from operating at its airports Thursday, revoking its security clearance. The Indian aviation ministry said the decision was made on national security grounds, without elaborating.
The ground handling services provider operated in nine cities. Operators of New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad airports later issued statements saying they have ended their contracts with Celebi.
A bakery in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad called Karachi Bakery has been seeing vandalisation and boycotts for its name, according to local media, as Karachi is also the largest city in Pakistan. The owners are said to have no connection to the country.
India’s Central Consumer Protection Authority directed marketplaces including Amazon.com, Walmart-backed Flipkart India, and Etsy to stop the sale of Pakistani flags and related merchandise in India, the country’s Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said Wednesday on X.
Actors from Pakistan have been removed from posters and thumbnails of Indian movies they have acted in on music platforms, local media reported. A Shah Rukh Khan movie made a couple of years ago with a Pakistani actress removed her photo from the thumbnail of a song on YouTube, the report said.
The trade body CAIT also asked filmmakers and commercial houses to boycott film shoots and product promotions that might be shot in Turkey.
The Indian government blocked YouTube channels of Pakistani cricketers such as Shoaib Akhtar, along with channels of some of the country’s news publications, local media reported last month.
Two days before the ceasefire, X said that it had received executive orders from the Indian government requiring it to block over 8,000 accounts in the country, subject to penalties including fines and imprisonment of the firm’s local employees. BLOOMBERG
