Bangladesh’s garment shipments to India have more than doubled in the first 11 months of the fiscal year. Between July last year and May this year, $187.37 million worth of woven garment items were shipped to India and $65.70 million worth of knitwear products.

The reason for exponential rise is bulk purchase by western brands with operations in India and Indian clothing chains, which are finding Bangladesh’s garment items more competitively priced for India’s bulging middle-class demographic. Besides Indian retailers like Tata, Reliance and Arvind, western brands like H&M, Zara and Mango are sourcing garments from Bangladesh in bulk. Like in previous years, woven garment shipments outnumbered knitwear as the demand for formal shirts is high in the country packed with office-going executives.

Bangladesh’s garment manufacturers see India as an emerging market. In the next few years, they expect garment exports to India to cross the $1 billion mark. Bangladeshi garment exporters face a 12.5 per cent countervailing duty for shipments to India, although India has duty-free facility on all Bangladeshi products except some alcoholic and beverage items. Overall, Bangladesh exports to India increased 24.67 per cent year on year in the July-May period.