Pakistan's famous cotton suits reach India for the first time.

AMRITSAR: For the very first time since partition, a truckload of Pakistan's famous cotton suits for women arrived here through Attari border on Wednesday.

"A local trader has imported cotton suits for women from Pakistan," said Central Warehousing Corporation manager Rameshwar.

"This was for the first time that women's dresses had been imported through Attari border which shows that the land route had become the first choice of traders, due to improved infrastructure and facilities for trade," he said.

Pakistani women dress material enjoys immense demand from fashion lovers here.

"It is a good as well as bad news," said owner of a ladies' garment showroom, Raman Kumar. It was good as Pakistani dress material sells at high price and give better profit margins, but at the same time it will impact local businessmen, he said.

"There should be balance in trade. If Pak exports its garments to our market, we should also start doing the same, else there will be unrest in the market," he said.

Meanwhile, the cement industry is bearing the brunt of recent rupee depreciation as no cement trucks arrived in India from Pakistan on Wednesday. Ever since the rupee witnessed depreciation against dollar, cement imports from Pakistan have decreased, Rameshwar said.

"Not even a single truck of cement arrived from Pak on Wednesday. Imports have drastically dropped in the past few days," he said. Average cement imports from Pakistan has dropped to less than 5 trucks a day as compared to 15 to 20 trucks before the rupee value fell as against dollar, he added.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com