India curbs Bangladeshi exports via land ports
Bangladesh will no longer be allowed to use Indian land ports to export ready-made garments to India. A notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued in this regard on Saturday will come into immediate effect, officials here said.
The same notification has also ordered that specified commodities from Bangladesh will be prevented from entering India through the land ports of Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
“Bangladesh has recently imposed port restrictions on the import of Indian yarn via land ports, allowing our yarn exports only via sea ports. It has been decided to reciprocate this measure by imposing port restrictions on imports from Bangladesh of ready-made garments of all categories across all land ports – LCS (Land Customs Stations) and ICP (Integrated Check Posts),” said a senior official, who said that in recent months India has noticed aggressive inspection of Indian trucks on the Bangladeshi side.
From now, ready-made garments from Bangladesh will be allowed to enter India only through the sea ports of Kolkata and Nhava Sheva (Mumbai) where the cargo shipments will be subjected to “mandated inspections”, the official said.
On April 13, Bangladesh stopped Indian yarn exports through land ports. Bangladesh has also stopped from April 15 Indian rice exports via Hili and Benapole ICPs of West Bengal.
“India has decided to impose port restrictions across all LCSs and ICPs in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram on specified Bangladesh exports to India, targeting those commodities that can be locally manufactured,” said the official explaining the second part of the notification.
The specified items under this order will include ready-made garments, plastic, wooden furniture, juices, carbonated drinks, fruit-flavoured drinks, bakery, confectionery, cotton yarn, and dyes.
The official said that Bangladesh, which is a major global producer of textile items, has been “cherry-picking” on trade issues and that India did not want it to continue doing so.