During the first five months of the current fiscal year Bangladesh’s export earnings from India rose 165 per cent. Since giant business groups such as Reliance and Tata have opened up retail chain shops across India, gives an opportunity to Bangladesh to become a prominent supplier to these companies.

Another fact is that the Indian domestic market has grown and the number of fashion conscious consumers has increased. This is a win-win situation for both countries since Bangladesh imports readymade garment raw materials such as cotton and machinery from India.

Goods coming from Bangladesh are exempt from GST. This has a positive impact on imports from Bangladesh into India. What also helps is that the Indian market is closer to Bangladesh compared to the European and the US markets. The shipment time from Bangladesh to India is barely four hours.

In the first five months of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh’s export earnings from Germany grew 15.50 per cent. Export earnings from the UK grew 2.55 per cent. Earnings from Spain grew 12.81 per cent and earnings from the Netherlands were 13.14 per cent more than last year. Bangladesh’s currency has depreciated against the dollar and that is a strong reason behind the continuous growth in exports to European countries.