India clamps down on imports from neighbor
India has banned imports of several categories of goods from neighboring Bangladesh via land. The ban enters force with immediate effect and includes imports of garments, processed foods, plastics, and wood furniture, New Delhi’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Saturday.
Imports are still allowed through the sea ports of Nhava Sheva in western India and Kolkata, which is close to Bangladesh, the ministry added. On Monday, at least 36 trucks carrying ready-made garments from Bangladesh were left stranded at the Benapole customs point following the ban.
“We haven’t received any official notification from the Indian government,” Mamun Kabir Tarafdar, deputy director (traffic) of the Benapole Land Port Authority, was quoted as saying to Bangladeshi news outlet Bdnews24.
The move comes roughly a month after Bangladesh restricted the import of Indian yarn via land. New Delhi reacted almost immediately by ending a facility that allowed Dhaka to use its land routes and ports to export goods to third countries besides Nepal and Bhutan.
India is navigating strained relations with Dhaka over the ouster of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. New Delhi is also believed to be angered over recent remarks made in Beijing by Dhaka’s interim government chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, that India’s seven northeastern states which border his country were landlocked and that Bangladesh was the “only guardian of the ocean for all this region.”
Yunus has also pitched Bangladesh as a prospective trade and logistics partner to India’s rival, China. At an April meeting with Yunus on the sidelines of a summit in Bangkok, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed New Delhi’s desire to establish a positive and constructive relationship with Dhaka, based on pragmatism.
However, he also emphasized the importance of avoiding rhetoric that could negatively impact the environment, as stated in a post-meeting statement. Bangladesh exported goods worth about $1.57 billion to India in the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Approximately $700 million worth of garments are exported to India annually and it is reported that 93% of these exports move through land ports.
