Professor Mustafizur Rahman on export opportunities and the Indian market

Published in The Financial Express and on BSS Online on Thursday, 15 May 2014.

Indian mkt largely unexplored by BD despite record export 

The vast market of India has remained largely unexplored by Bangladeshi exporters although major trade barriers significantly eased with the negative list coming down to 25 items from 763 only six years ago, and the export surged to a record high.

The reasons, as some economists and cross-border trade experts identified, are the tunnelled focus of exporters that kept them away from taking the advantage of duty-free, quota-free access to the Indian market.

“The vast Indian market has remained untapped by our exporters because they are relying on conventional products for cross-border trade,” Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Prof Mustafizur Rahman told BSS.

Bangladesh exports to India highly rely on textile fibre, woven fabric, knitwear, hand-made textile and raw jute and jute goods, which constitute around 40 per cent of the export earnings from the Indian market. Other major exports to India include fruit, nuts, cotton and cotton waste, copper, animal fodder and fish.

Mr Rahman, a trade expert, said our exporters should explore new avenues in the Indian market instead of relying on conventional products to take full advantage of the duty-free, quota-free market access to India.

Bangladesh’s export to India surged to a new high of US$ 563.9 million in fiscal year (FY) 2012-13 with a 13.15 per cent rise over $ 498.42 million in FY 2011-12.

The export maintained the strong trend in the first quarter of the current FY, 2013-14, when the amount reached $ 245 million.

According to Indian High Commission in Dhaka, Bangladesh exports to India grew 10 times since 2002.