India's move to restrict select Bangladeshi exports targets parity: Report

India limits Bangladeshi ready-made garment and consumer goods imports via land ports in response to trade barriers imposed by Dhaka on Indian rice and yarn

Aiming to ensure fairness and equality in bilateral trade, the Centre has decided to curb Bangladeshi exports of ready-made garments and other consumer goods through land ports, the Press Trust of India reported on Sunday.

 

According to the report, the decision to restrict exports of ready-made garments from the neighbouring country is in response to Dhaka imposing similar trade barriers on Indian yarn and rice, as well as increasing inspection of all Indian goods.

 

Notably, the decision reflects India’s intent to align trade practices with Bangladesh on a reciprocal basis.

 

Effective from Saturday, India has limited the entry of Bangladeshi RMG to just two seaports—Kolkata and Nhava Sheva—and prohibited the import of several consumer products through land ports, especially those situated in the northeastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram, as well as through Phulbari and Changrabandha in West Bengal.

 

 

New Delhi is also opposed to Bangladesh considering the Northeast region as being its captive market. 

 

“Bangladesh needs to realise that it cannot cherry-pick terms of bilateral trade solely for its benefit or assume the Northeast is a captive market for its exports, while denying it market access and transit,” said a government source to PTI.

 

“The equal market space now available in the resource-rich Northeast is expected to give a fillip to manufacturing and entrepreneurship in the region under the Atmanirbhar Bharat schemes and policies,” it added.

 

India sees this policy as consistent with its commitments to regional cooperation through BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), a grouping that includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.