Trade Between India, Bangladesh Drops As IndiaRestricts Import

With India restricting imports of specific items from Bangladesh through land ports, a high-level meeting was held on Monday at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Agartala to assess the implications and streamline enforcement. India has imposed restrictions on trade with a ban on items like readymade garments, processed foods, fruits, fruit juice, cotton, plastic, PVC products, and wooden furniture, through its north-eastern states, including Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram. Currently only items like frozen fish, edible oils and jute products are being imported in Tripura from Bangladesh . Trade through land ports have reported a very sharp drop through lands ports like Benapole-Petrapole (West Bengal) and Agartala-Akhaura (Tripura) which handle the maximum amount of trade between the two countries. Several trucks are lying idle at the border at Agartala as the volume of trade has dropped sharply after the decision. The meeting to implement the enforcement of the decision was chaired by Shailesh Kumar Yadav, Director of the Industries & Commerce in the Tripura Government and included officials from Customs, BSF, the Land Port Authority of India, Immigration, and representatives of importers and exporters associations from across the state. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)'s order under the Ministry of Commerce, had limited the import of certain items from Bangladesh to only specific seaports—Nhava Sheva and Kolkata—effectively banning their entry through land ports. Earlier, Bangladesh had banned the import of yarn from India by land route. India had also cancelled the trans-shipment facility for the export of goods from Bangladesh to third countries.