The government has received 15 applications so far from Pakistan seeking licence from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to export cement to India."The applications are at different stages of processing in the Bureau of Indian Standards. The cement to be imported from Pakistan cannot be quantified at this stage and will be open to market forces," Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.The BIS licence is mandatory for any cement to be imported into India.India is facing a shortage of 10 million tonne of cement, and Pakistan can bridge the gap given its surplus stocks.
