India Monitors Bangladesh Trade Amid Political Crisis

New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) India is monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and taking steps to improve the cross-border trade between the two nations, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Wednesday.

Domestic exporters have expressed concerns over the political crisis in Bangladesh and said developments in the neighbouring country would have implications on bilateral trade.

Barthwal said that the situation in Bangladesh is improving fast and "we are monitoring the trade which is happening across the borders and what we feel that is whatever disruptions were there, they have been largely addressed".

"We also believe that between India and Bangladesh, there should be improvement in trade. So we feel that whatever best efforts, we can make for improving the trade, we should do that and we are doing that".

On August 8, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned to Bangladesh from Paris to take oath as the head of Bangladesh's interim government, three days after Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and fled the country following widespread protests against her regime.

India's exports to Bangladesh in July rose by 11.13 per cent to USD 803.52 million. During April-July, exports increased by 10.76 per cent to USD 3.58 billion.

Bangladesh is India's biggest trade partner in South Asia and India is the second biggest trade partner of the neighbouring country in Asia.

India's exports to Bangladesh dipped to USD 11 billion in 2023-24 from USD 12.21 billion in 2022-23. Imports too declined to USD 1.84 billion in the last fiscal from USD 2 billion in 2022-23.

India's main exports include vegetables, coffee, tea, spices, sugar, confectionary, refined petroleum oil, chemicals, cotton, iron, steel and vehicles. The main import items are fish, plastic, leather and apparel, among others.

"We are monitoring things. We want that trade relations to be restored...we are watching the situation. It will be premature to say how things will change and happen," he added.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ashwani Kumar said that returning of normalcy of trade between India and Bangladesh will not only further give a boost to the overall order bookings but also to the labour-intensive sectors of exports.