DHAKA, Aug 29, 2021 (BSS) – Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh
Vikram K Doraiswami today said Bangladesh is a good home for
investment and that’s why the Indian companies that have already
invested, they are reinvesting in this country.
“The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of Indian companies in
Bangladesh is over US$ 3 billion. The investment of Indian companies
in Bangladesh is increasing. If you look, the companies that have
already invested in the country, they are reinvesting,” he said.
The Indian High Commissioner said this while speaking at a seminar
for ‘Business and Economic Journalists’ at Indian High Commission in
Dhaka.
Indian High Commission in Dhaka organized the seminar to discuss the
immense scope for improving bilateral trade relations between India
and Bangladesh.
Vikram K Doraiswami said there is huge trade potential between
Bangladesh and India if Dhaka improves the process of ease of doing
business and completes the development of connectivity.
“India is giving duty-free access to its market almost all products
except for 25 products of Bangladesh, including alcohol, to reduce the
trade gap between the neighboring nations since 2011,” he added.
Doraiswami said Bangladesh’s export does is not dependents on single
product rather the export is diversifying, like plastic, food
processing, leather and etc.
The data of bilateral trade shows that the trade is still in favor
of India but the situation is improving year on year as the export of
Bangladesh is increasing, he said.
The Indian envoy said now India is the top export destination of
Bangladesh with $1279.67 million in the fiscal year 2019-20 followed by
Japan with $1183.64 million.
During the seminar, the Commercial Officer of the High Commission of
India Dr. Pramyesh Basall presented a paper on ‘India-Bangladesh
Bilateral Trade and Connectivity, Accelerating Growth and Shared
Prosperity’.
In his speech, Pramyesh Basall informed that as per Bangladesh
Investment Development Authority (BIDA), total registered Indian FDI
investment stands at $3.55 billion.
He mentioned that Indian and Bangladeshi companies have signed
agreements worth nearly $10 billion of Indian investments, mainly in
the power and energy sectors, during the visit of Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina to India in April 2017.
He also informed that 355 Indian companies have invested in
Bangladesh and with the Indian Economic Zones coming up at Mongla and
Mirsarai, Indian FDI is bound to increase manifolds.
Regarding connectivity and its benefit, Pramyesh Basall said
Bangladesh’s exports to India could increase by 182 percent and
India’s exports to Bangladesh by 126 percent if the countries sign a
free trade agreement.
“Improving transport connectivity could increase exports even
further, yielding a 297 percent increase in Bangladesh’s exports to
India and 172 percent increase in India’s export to Bangladesh,” he
noted.
He also said seamless transport connectivity between India and
Bangladesh has the potential to increase national income by as much as
17 percent in Bangladesh and 8 percent in India.
Basall sees huge potentiality export of Bangladeshi contraction
materials like cement and steel to northeastern states of India as
huge infrastructure development work is going on.
According to him Bangladesh can use river route reduce transport
cost as well as use Sabroom Land Port in south Tripura near Ramgarh of
Khagrachari from products can be transported to other northeastern
state at a cheaper cost.
Railway Adviser of the High Commission of India Anita Barik
presented a paper on ‘India-Bangladesh Railway Cooperation’.
In her speech, Anita Barik suggested using railway transpiration to
reduce transport costs from India as well as India is helping
Bangladesh to develop rail connectivity with Bangladesh to reduce
trade gap between two countries.
She reminded previous rail connectivity between Bangladesh and India
that has been suspended during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1965.
“We are emphasizing to reconnecting all previous alignments between
two countries to make cheaper the bilateral trade,” she noted.
Deputy High Commissioner Binoy George and Resident Representative of
Exim Bank of India Priyanshu Tiwari also spoke.
