SME Times News Bureau | 21 Feb, 2012
Encouraged by duty-free entry of its textile products into India, the value of total exports from Bangladesh to India is expected to double to USD 1 billion by the end of June 2012, the Indo-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Monday.

"Exports from Bangladesh to India were about USD 500 million in the last financial year (Bangladesh's financial year ends June 30). This fiscal, because (Indian Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh has given duty-free access to Bangladesh, our exports are shooting up. Garment export to India is doubling," chamber president Abdul Matlub Ahmad told reporters on the sidelines of a BCIM Business Forum programme here.

"We are expecting that exports from Bangladesh to India at the end of this fiscal will be USD 1 billion. Garment exports to India during this period will be USD 0.5 billion," Ahmad said.

In the last fiscal, textile exports from Bangladesh to India were nominal.

A total of 46 Bangladeshi textile items have been given duty-free access to Indian markets since September 2011 after the Indian prime minister's two-day visit to Dhaka.

Ahmad, who is also Nitol-Niloy Group chairman, is currently setting up two 100-acre industrial zones with SEZ status in Bangladesh - one for garment in Kishoregunj near Dhaka and another multi-product in Chattak (Sylhet).

Saying that the industrial zones were mainly targeting garment manufacturers from India, Ahmad said: "We are receiving positive feedback."

He said Indian apparel manufacturers could now join Bangladeshi companies and use the country as its new, cheaper production base.

"The joint-venture companies in Bangladesh can export duty-free products to India and many parts of the world from their plants in Bangladesh," Ahmad added.