Push needed Trucks waiting to unload cargo at Petrapole border. India and Bangladesh are yet to optimise trade potential vis-a-vis the significant bilateral cooperation. Photo: The Business Line

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - India’s export to Bangladesh grew by 13 per cent in the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 after a subdued show for two consecutive years.

The growth is attributed to a significant rise in export of equipment and high-value machinery for project implementation in Bangladesh, the Business Line reported.

According to the Commerce Ministry, exports to Bangladesh touched $6.8 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2017, recording 13 per cent growth. Total bilateral trade had hit an all-time high of $7.5 billion, up 11 per cent.

Bangladesh is the ninth largest importer of Indian goods. According to the Ministry, Indian exports increased by a modest 4.6 per cent ($6.4 billion) in 2014-15 and dropped by 6.4 per cent ($6.03 billion) in 2015-16.

Data confusion

There is, however, difference in trade data between India and Bangladesh. This is due to difference in accounting period (Bangladesh follows July to June accounting year) and difference in estimates between Bangladesh’s Bureau of Statistics and the central bank.

According to the Bureau of Statistics, Indian exports dipped in the two preceding years before reporting 16 per cent growth to $5.7 billion (converted from Bangladeshi Taka) during the 11-month period from July 2016 to May 2017.

All statistics, however, show Bangladesh witnessed a marginal dip in exports in 2016-17, after a five-year long growth spell between 2011-12 and 2015-16. While Indian exports meet 11-12 per cent of Bangladesh’s total import needs, India shares less than two per cent of Bangladesh’s export basket, which primarily includes ready-made garments.

According to Selim Raihan, Executive Director of South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM) and a professor of Dhaka University, India and Bangladesh are yet to optimise trade potential vis-a-vis the significant bilateral cooperation.

One of the major reasons behind is the poor and costly trade logistics. Nearly half of the total trade (in value terms) is routed through Petrapole-Benapole land border by costly road transport. The non-containerised road cargo undergoes repeated loading and unloading operations at the border.

To add to the woes, the border infrastructure is far from adequate especially on the Bangladeshi side leading to congestion. In a recent study, SANEM indicated that Indian export consignments wait for 17-20 days to complete the customs procedure at the Bangladeshi gate of Benapole.

Poor trade logistics is reducing the price competitiveness of both Indian and Bangladeshi exports. According to Raihan, capacity augmentation at Petrapole-Benapole can increase bilateral trade significantly.

New initiatives

Indian observers believe conversion of road traffic to less costly rail, containerisation of cargo and multi-modal transport can reduce the trade logistics costs.

India recently approved ₹40 crore, in the third line of credit worth $4.5 billion to Dhaka, to help Bangladesh build a transhipment facility at Ishwardi that connects Gede-Darshana rail-link. It will help increase rail cargo by road. A parallel effort is on by both the countries to run container trains between Kolkata and Dhaka.

But the most promising news is from shipping sector. Though India and Bangladesh opened direct shipping last year; the cargo volume didn’t grow to the expected levels due to congestion at Chittagong port in Bangladesh.

In a recent trend, Bangladeshi shipping lines started moving containerised cargo from Kolkata to the inland river port at Pangaon, barely 20 km from Dhaka. The port is equipped with container handling facility. Indian authorities are bullish that popularising this route can reduce trade costs significantly.

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Photo: Colombo Gazette

Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on Friday agreed to sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by this year to expedite bilateral trade cooperation between the two countries.
The decision to sign the FTA was finalised at the official bilateral talks between visiting Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina held at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the capital Dhaka.
"President Sirisena and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unanimously came to the decision to sign the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by 2017," Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh M Shahidul Huq said while briefing reporters on the outcome of the meeting.
The foreign secretary said both countries decided to complete all negotiations and studies in this regard as soon as possible to make way for the FTA, which will be the first such agreement of Bangladesh with any country.
"The decision on FTA is a big political push towards trade and investment collaboration between the two countries," Mr. Haq explained.
PM's press secretary Ihsanul Karim and Bangladesh Ambassador to Sri Lanka Reaz Hamidullah were present.
The foreign secretary also out of 14 instruments signed between the two countries seven are on trade and investment and agriculture.
Sri Lanka is keen to learn from the success of Bangladesh in agricultural sector to bring revolution in seed production, he added.
In addition to the 14 documents, a joint statement would also be issued at the end of the visit of Maithripala Sirisena, the secretary said adding that a framework has been given for the first time regarding the relations between Dhaka and Colombo.

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Photo: BBC

Assam, India (BBN)- India has inaugurated a 9.15km (5.68-mile) bridge over the Lohit river, easily its longest ever, which connects the disputed state of Arunachal Pradesh with the north-eastern state of Assam.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, and refers to it as "southern Tibet", reports BBC.
Beijing recently strongly objected to India's decision to allow Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to visit the state and has also protested against the development of military infrastructure there.
But India has defended its right to do so.
"With China getting more and more aggressive, it is time we strengthened our physical infrastructure to defend our territory," India's junior Home Minister Khiren Rijiju, a native of Arunachal Pradesh, told journalists.
Mr Rijiju had earlier said that "Arunachal Pradesh is part of India and that reality will not change, regardless of who likes it or not".
Construction of the Dhola Sadiya bridge began in 2011.
"It was real tough work, a major engineering challenge, and the speed was slightly affected by some compensation issues," said an official from Navayuga Engineering, the company which constructed the bridge.
However, it was completed on schedule.
Apart from the bridge, India is constructing a two-lane trans-Arunachal highway, upgrading a World War Two vintage road and undertaking a further four projects to widen roads.
Another project, to upgrade a chain of advance landing grounds for heavy lift transport aircraft, has also moved at some speed. This is expected to improve India's strategic airlift capabilities.
"We need infrastructure to move up troops and supplies if we have to fight the Chinese and this bridge is a great thing," retired Major General Gaganjit Singh, who has commanded a division in the state, told the BBC.
"India did not develop physical infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh for two decades after the 1962 war as many stupidly believed the Chinese would use the roads if they attacked again. But now we are on the right track."
India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also stressed the importance of developing physical infrastructure in the state, as part of efforts to defend a long border with China.
"We want peace, but peace with honour. We need to be capable of deterring anyone who may think we are weak," Mr Singh told members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force that guards parts of the frontier with China.
His remarks followed Beijing's strident protests against the "development of military infrastructure in a disputed province".
India has already raised two mountain divisions and is going ahead with raising a strike corps to beef up its defences against China.
"But troop strength is useless if we don't have the roads and bridges to move them fast when we are threatened. Moving them with heavy equipment quickly to the battlefront holds the key to victory," Major General Singh said.
A military engineer told the BBC that the Dhola-Sadiya bridge was capable of supporting 60-ton battle tanks.
Locals are also excited about the opening.
"It was unimaginable that this crossing could be bridged at a point where six rivers meet, all flowing into the mighty Brahmaputra," Gunjan Saharia, a resident, told the BBC.
"I promise this will not just be a military thing, it will help develop the economy of remote regions of Assam and Arunachal, and it will attract tourists in large numbers," Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said.
The bridge will also reduce travel time by as much as eight hours for communities on either side of the river.
"It will be great for us, as much as it will be great for the army," Dimbeswar Gogoi of Sadiya told the BBC.

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Abdullah was the former chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir. Photo: EPA

Kashmir, India (BBN) - Eight people have been killed and scores injured after police clashed with protesters during a by-election in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Paramilitary forces fired bullets and shotgun pellets as people protesting against Indian rule stormed polling stations near Srinagar on Sunday, reports BBC.
Separatist leaders had called for a boycott of the vote.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is at the centre of a decades-old territorial dispute between India and Pakistan.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting separatist sentiment in Kashmir, but Islamabad denies this.
Both countries claim Kashmir in its entirety and control different parts of it.
The region has seen heightened tension and increased unrest since July last year when influential militant Burhan Wani was killed by Indian forces.
Reports said the voter turnout in Sunday's election was a mere 7 per cent - the lowest in three decades.
Two schools were set on fire by unknown protesters, The Times of India reported.
Security was tightened on Monday across the region - roads were blocked with barricades and some train services were also suspended.
WHY WERE THEY PROTESTING?
Rebel groups in Indian-administered Kashmir have for decades called for either independence or a union with Pakistan.
These groups have rejected local elections and urged voters to boycott Sunday's poll, which took place after a politician resigned over what he described as the "anti-people" agenda of the Indian government.
The Indian government deployed tight security ahead of the polling, with 20,000 additional troops sent to the area.
Internet services were also shut down in an attempt to hold a peaceful poll.
HOW DID THE VIOLENCE ESCALATE?
On Sunday thousands of protesters charged into polling stations in the Budgam district.
The state's chief electoral officer Shantmanu told AFP news agency that protesters damaged and snatched voting machines.
Clashes erupted when police and troops moved in and used tear gas - and later opened fire - on protesters, who fought back by pelting stones.
Mr Shantmanu told reporters later that there were more than 200 incidents of violence including petrol bomb attacks and a polling station set on fire.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BY-ELECTION?
Polling had to be suspended in some places, while voters generally stayed away.
Another by-election, to fill a separate parliamentary seat, is set to take place in the Anantnag district on 12 April.
The results of both polls are expected on 15 April.
Farooq Abdullah, a former chief minister for Indian-administered Kashmir and a candidate for the by-election, has condemned the violence.
He told reporters: "Elections should have been peaceful.
This government has failed in giving a peaceful atmosphere for people to come and vote."
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Cow vigilante groups have been actively checking vehicles for illegal transportation of the animal in different states. Photo: Getty Images

Rajasthan, India (BBN) - Police in the the northern Indian state of Rajasthan are investigating the death of a Muslim man at the hands of a suspected cow vigilante group.
Police officials told the BBC that some men had attacked three vehicles that were transporting cows on Saturday, reports BBC.
Five people were taken to hospital after suffering injuries in the attack, and one of them died on Tuesday night.
The cow is considered sacred by Hindus, and killing the animal is illegal in several states, including Rajasthan.
Senior officer Parmal Gurjar told the BBC that the police had registered a murder case against unknown people after the death of a man identified as Pehlu Khan.
"We are checking video footage to identify the attackers. It seems they were part of a a cow vigilante group," he said.
Khan's uncle, Husain Khan, told the BBC that his nephew was not a butcher but a cattle farmer, and he had bought the cows for his dairy business.
Police have also seized the three vehicles, and registered a case against four people for illegally transporting cows.
Many states have actively started enforcing bans on cow slaughter after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party formed India's federal government in 2014.
The western state of Gujarat last month passed a law making the slaughter of cows punishable with life imprisonment.
In addition to government bans, several vigilante groups who portray themselves as protectors of cows have also been active in several states.
The groups routinely check vehicles and often beat up cattle traders.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year criticised the vigilantes, saying such people made him "angry".
However this has not stopped attacks against cattle traders.
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Open LoC
“The $5 billion is an open LoC; we can use it to enhance the level of trade, movement, connectivity. The projects are yet to be fully identified, and there is no time line. We can spend it all at once, or as we need it. But where the Indian side has an interest is in connectivity: railway projects, road transportation, road maintenance,” Mr. Rahman said.
A senior Indian official said lines of credit were part of India’s “well-thought-out” strategy to “give Bangladesh smaller sums it can absorb” and building capacity.
The two sides are expected to announce a slew of agreements including one for the reconstruction of a seventh India-Bangladesh railway line between Agartala and Akhaura, a ₹1,000-crore project, for which Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu laid the foundation stone in August 2016.
The 15-km line from Bangladesh to Tripura is significant as it is part of India’s larger strategy of assisting Bangladesh’s infrastructure while using it to transit to the “north-eastern” States.
The line is expected to shorten rail routes by as much as 1,000 km once completed.
“In principle, we will be able to send trains from our western border with Bangladesh through to the eastern side, but in practice, we will have to wait until they standardise their track sizes as some are still on broad gauge and some on metre gauge,” the official said.

Ferry services
Ferry services connecting Assam, Bangladesh and West Bengal and permissions for running cruise liners between the two countries, along with several road projects, are expected to be among more than 40 agreements to be announced when Ms. Hasina meets Mr. Modi on April 8. Also included are power projects and a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, diplomats privy to the negotiations said.
Officials said the next part of the plan is to link Bangladesh to other neighbourhood countries. While the plan under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal initiative has hit a roadblock over the Bhutanese Parliament’s refusal to ratify the network, officials are understood to be working around it, to link Bangladesh, India and Nepal.
“When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came here [in 2011], we had signed a framework for cooperation. The focus was on identifying projects that were mutually beneficial and bring in neighbours such as Bhutan and Nepal and increase the levels of cross-border investment. Because as you increase the investment, you can address the issues that people on both sides face, such as taxes, duties, transport problems,” Mr. Rahman said.

‘India a friend’
Bangladesh officials rejected comparisons of the plan for India’s $5 billion LoC in infrastructure with the recent announcement by Chinese President Xi Jinping of $24 billion in development aid, with $13 billion more in the private sector for Bangladesh, which joined China’s “Belt and Road initiative” in October 2016.
“India is a friend and neighbour, while all other countries including China are development partners,” Information Minister Hassanul Haq Inu said.
Mashiur Rahman, one of the key interlocutors, who visited India last year, said the difference between the loans from India and China was also cultural.

“The main difference is, in the case of China, the project is identified first and then the money comes in. With India, you get the promise of money first, and then they identify the projects,” he said adding that projects under the B&RI were new projects, while those with India consisted of restoring historical links.

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The court was responding to litigation seeking daily hearings in a long-running case about the disputed site in the northern town of Ayodhya, reports BBC.

Hindu mobs destroyed a 16th Century mosque at the site in 1992, sparking riots that killed nearly 2,000 people.

Hindus want a temple to be built at the site, while Muslims want a new mosque.

Hindus claim the mosque was the birthplace of one of their most revered deities, Lord Ram, and that it was built after the destruction of a Hindu temple by a Muslim invader in the 16th Century.

Chief Justice JS Khehar said "such sensitive matters" needed to be resolved through negotiations.

He also offered to act as a mediator between the two parties.

The court has been sporadically hearing the case since 2011 after setting aside a lower court's order which in a 8,500-page judgement said that two-thirds of the disputed site should be allocated to Hindu groups, with the remainder going to Muslims.

The Allahabad High Court's ruling in September 2010 addressed three major issues.

It said the disputed spot was the Hindu God Ram's birthplace, that the mosque had been built after the demolition of a temple and that it was not built in accordance with the tenets of Islam.

For the first time in a judicial ruling, it also said that the disputed site was the birthplace of the Hindu god.

But both parties appealed against the order in the Supreme Court.

The case has already languished in India's famously sluggish legal system for so long that most of the original petitioners have died.

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Modi personally led the campaign in the country's most populous state against regional rivals Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj party (BSP), reports BBC.

Trend suggest that BJP is also set to win the northern state of Uttarakhand.

The main opposition Congress party is leading in Punjab, and Manipur states.

Modi has been central to his party's election strategy, and aggressively campaigned on a promise to bring growth and modernisation, and to root out corruption.

These were strong promises in an impoverished state like Uttar Pradesh where caste, family and religious affiliations are deeply entrenched.

Modi also strongly backed his move to ban high value notes - amounting to 86 per cent of India's currency - last year as a measure to tackle corruption.

The incumbent chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, opposed the currency move, and told the electorate that Modi had "taken money out of people's pockets", and hurt businesses in the state.

He also told people that he was the best person to bring development in the state.

"My track record in the past five years shows that I have a vision for the state," he said at a rally recently.

Analysts say Yadav's decision to form an alliance with the Congress party, and his direct attack on Modi's policies probably hurt his prospects.

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