From Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, May 17: India on Saturday imposed restrictions on the import of certain goods, including readymade garments and processed food items — two of the most commonly imported products from Bangladesh through land ports.
The new restrictions for Bangladeshi consumer goods came over five weeks after New Delhi ended a nearly five-year-old arrangement for trans-shipment of Bangladeshi export cargo to third countries via Indian airports and ports.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, issued a notification enforcing the new port restrictions. However, the restrictions will not apply to Bangladeshi goods transiting through India en route to Nepal or Bhutan.
According to the notification, the import of all kinds of readymade garments from Bangladesh will no longer be permitted through any land port. Such imports will only be allowed via the Nhava Sheva and Kolkata seaports.
Additionally, the import of fruit and fruit-flavoured or carbonated drinks, processed food items, cotton and cotton yarn waste, plastic and PVC finished goods (excluding pigments, dyes, plasticisers, and granules used as industrial inputs), and wooden furniture will be prohibited through Land Customs Stations (LCSs) and Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) located in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, as well as LCS Changrabandha and Fulbari in West Bengal.
India’s fresh restrictions on limiting access to Bangladeshi exports appears to be in response to Dhaka denying certain value added items from the Northeast to enter that country through the land transit points.
The friction in trade ties between the two countries came amid increasing strain in the overall relations after deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka in August last year in the face of a massive anti-government protest.
There are 11 land transit points in the northeast for trade between India and Bangladesh. Out of them, three are in Assam, two in Meghalaya and six in Tripura. (With PTI inputs)