Bangladeshi exporters eye wider Indian market

DHAKA - Bangladeshi apparel exporters are happy that India will import 14 million pieces of duty free garments annually, as against eight million now, following talks held during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi.

“This time, we did not see any negative attitude from India as we did in the past,” said Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Abdus Salam Murshedy here.

“We will soon hold some single-country trade fairs in some large Indian cities to let them know our capacity,” Murshedy was quoted as saying by Star Online Thursday.

Nearly 50 business leaders accompanied the Bangladeshi prime minister during her visit to India Jan 10-13.

Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told reporters here that currently, India’s retail apparel market is worth $27 billion with an annual growth rate of 18 percent.

“We are amazed to see the size of India’s retail apparel market and its growth rate,” Hoque said.

Standard Bank chairman Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed described the trip as successful, adding: “Bilateral relationships have reached a new height. Long standing distrust has gone.”

According to him, Indians are now interested in investing in Bangladesh.

Amjad Khan Chowdhury, chief executive of Pran-RFL, the largest Bangladeshi exporter to India, is also upbeat.

“We have a strong business opportunity in India,” Chowdhury said, and identified the India’s north-eastern states as potential Bangladesh’s market.

Pran-RFL, which produces a variety of consumer products, is also trying to set up a factory in Tripura. But the Bangladesh government is not allowing “export of capital”, Chowdhury alleged.

Standard Bank’s Ahmed said Bangladesh should allow India, Nepal and Bhutan to use its ports, arguing that this would not only boost revenue earnings but also improve infrastructure.

Currently, those ports are seriously under-used, he said.