Indo-Bangla trade via Bengal land ports likely to normalise soon

Kolkata: Despite ongoing political turmoil in Bangladesh, trade between India and the neighbouring country through land ports in West Bengal is expected to normalise soon while some movements of goods via one of these facilities were reported on Wednesday, officials said. A meeting between the land port authorities of the two countries is scheduled on Wednesday at South Asia’s largest land port Petrapole in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, which is “expected to provide clarity on transportation of goods”, the officials said.

The Director General of the Border Security Force was also in Petrapole on Tuesday to review the situation along the international boundary in the wake of the crisis in Bangladesh.

“Trucks are getting ready, and some cargo movement via Ghojadanga has started for the Bangladeshi side. This is possible because the situation in Bhomra in the neighbouring country, the opposite side of Ghojadanga, remains stable,” Carrying & Forwarding Agents Welfare Association office bearer Joydev Sarkar said.

Key commodities such as black stone, chillies, turmeric and wheat bran are exported to Bangladesh from the North 24 Parganas district land port.

Another trader noted that trucks in Malda’s Mahadipur are also being prepared for exporting cargo.

A C&F agent association official in Benapole port in Bangladesh said that the trade has not yet resumed. “Trucks are ready, but the Indian side is showing some concerns,” he said. During the scheduled meeting, issues are likely to be resolved and trade will be normalised, he claimed.

India remains apprehensive about the law and order situation in Bangladesh and reports of attacks on minorities.

Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia, and India is the second biggest trade partner of the neighbouring country in Asia.

India’s exports to Bangladesh dipped to USD 11 billion in 2023-24 from USD 12.21 billion in 2022-23.

Imports also declined to USD 1.84 billion in the last fiscal from USD 2 billion in 2022-23.

India’s main exports to Bangladesh include vegetables, coffee, tea, spices, sugar, confectionery, refined petroleum oil, chemicals, cotton, iron and steel, and vehicles.

In contrast, Bangladesh’s exports to India are concentrated in a few categories such as textiles and garments comprising 56 per cent of their shipments.

The death toll in the anti-government protests in Bangladesh on Tuesday climbed to 440, according to local media, even as efforts were on by the army to bring the situation under control in the violence-hit nation.

Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus was on Tuesday appointed as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government by President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following deadly protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs.