With duty hike on Pakistani Goods, India loses out on High-Quality Sports Equipment
The ongoing hostility between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama terrorist attack on 14th February is triggering surprising fallouts every other day. Indian sports is already paying the price for not allowing Pakistani athletes to participate in the ISSF World Cup last month. Following a censure by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) along with revoking of Olympic quotas, the world wrestling body, United World Wrestling (UWW) has sought all national federations under it to stop communication with the Wrestling Federation of India. In the latest development, Indian hockey has found itself hit by a crisis. The growing tension between the two neighbouring countries has made it difficult to import hockey sticks from Pakistan, reported by . As India lifted its Most Favoured Status (MFN) given to Pakistan, it resulted in up to 200 per cent surge in customs duty on goods from across the border. Consignments of Sachin branded hockey sticks, among the most fancied in India, as well as other sports equipment from Pakistan are unclaimed at the border post. Indian importers that had placed orders aren’t willing to pay the increased duty and take delivery of consignments. The Indian Express The sporting goods of Sialkot. (Image: Dost Pakistan) Sialkot is a globally renowned producer of superior quality sports equipment, surgical instruments, gloves & accessories and sportswear. The Indian Express quoted a senior hockey player who said the sticks created in Sialkot are superior in quality compared to the ones made in Jalandhar, the Indian sports manufacturing hub. “A ball hit with the best available Indian stick travels at a speed of 80-90 kmph whereas even the second-best Pakistani stick will send the ball flying at approximately 140 kmph. There is a vast difference in quality,” a former Indian national team coach, on request of anonymity, also told The Indian Express. Sachin is now the most popular Pakistani brand in India, with Malik and Ehsaan being other sought-after sticks. The business has now come to a virtual standstill. A consignment which was worth $6,000 will now cost another $12,000 if the Indian importers are to pay the customs duty. While China and Pakistan are manufacturing fibre hockey sticks, India is still making wooden sticks.
According to the Department of Commerce, the import of hockey sticks from Pakistan has grown eight-fold in the last four years. In 2015-16, the estimated value of sticks imported from Pakistan was Rs 24.48 lakh, which jumped to Rs 2 crore by December 2018. Pakistan, in fact, accounts for almost 90 per cent of India’s total hockey stick imports, with Taiwan a distant second.
"A ball hit with the best available Indian stick travels at a speed of 80-90 kmph whereas even the second-best Pakistani stick will send the ball flying at approximately 140 kmph. There is a vast difference in quality.”