National Conference on
Facilitating Indo-Bangladesh Trade at Kolkata
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| Mr. S K Jain, Chairman, FIEO(ER) addressing his welcome speech. On the dais, from left, Mr. S K Patwari, Managing Committee Member & Convenor, Committee on Infrastructure, FIEO; Mr. Pravin Saraf, Managing Committee Member of FIEO; and Mr. Jayanta Sarkar, Director, CSIRD |
In Eastern India, two Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) have been set up in Petrapole to facilitate Indo-Bangladesh Trade and in Moreh to facilitate Indo-Myanmar trade. Another ICP is in the offing at Raxaul to facilitate Indo-Nepal trade. Despite loud objectives, these ICPs are not fully exploiting the potential of trade with countries like Bangladesh, China, Nepal and Myanmar due to issues relating infrastructure, high transaction cost, poor port facilities etc.
In this context, FIEO organized a Conference on 19 April at Kolkata in association with Centre for Studies in International Indian Relations and Developmental Organisations (CSIRD), a leading think-tank based in New Delhi. As revealed at the conference by MoC Director Mr. Rajiv Kumar, his Ministry had engaged Land Port Authority of India for carrying out infrastructure work along land custom stations in India from where goods are being traded with countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and China.
Initiating the Conference, FIEO’s Eastern Region Chairman Mr. S. K. Jain stated that the current bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh stood at only US$ 3 billion despite the two countries being largely populated and having strong historical connection. If adequate measures are taken, we can easily raise this figure to US$ 15 billion, he added.
The First Session was chaired by chaired by Mr. Jayanta Sarkar, Director, CSIRD. Dr. Biswajit Nag, IIFT, made the first presentation on the topic "Prospects & Opportunities of Trade with Bangladesh." He dwelt upon FTA between India and Bangladesh, giving vivid dimensions of the trade covering product structure, tariff barriers, transport issues, services trade, other linkages etc. The transaction cost of export from India has now been reduced to 12% while for import from Bangladesh it continues to remain high at 33%, he pointed out.
Another representative of CSIRD, Dr. Prabir Dey in his presentation focused on emerging challenges in Indo-Bangladesh trade in the areas of road network, rail network, aviation and maritime network. He also provided an insight into the future logistical solutions being provided for facilitating trade between the two sides.
Mr. Sushil Patwari, Managing Committee Member of FIEO and Convenor, Committee on Infrastructure, highlighted issues relating to land customs stations in India with special reference to problems of exporting through Mahadipur and Petrapole Land Custom Stations.
At the end of the session, the Chairman observed that if the physical difficulties in trade were neutralized, lot of bilateral investments could be made in areas of education and real estate.
In the Second Session on "Recent Developments and Emerging Challenges," Mr. P.K. Shah, Past President, FIEO, stated that extensive use of riverine route to Bangladesh and more barge services were expected to reduce the huge congestion of export cargo at LCS and eventually the transaction cost. "We have to create a socio-economic bond by concentrating on opening up health care sectors in Bangladesh as thousands of patients are coming to India for treatment. Along with growth in export of commodities, potential of export of services should also be tapped." He added.
Mr. Sanjeev Nandwani, JDGFT, in his address stated that over 15% of total Bangladesh imports come from India while its exports to India account for only less than 1% of India’s imports. Informal trade constitutes almost three-fourths of the total trade between the two sides. Investments from India could help formalize the trade. Major initiatives like testing facilities for fish, upgradation of five land customs stations in West Bengal, grant of transit rights to Bangladesh truck drivers at the CWC parking lot in Petrapole, new mooring station at Chittagong and allowing exporters from North East to use Chittagong Port for their export overseas, could bring encouraging results. This will help all the States in North East to export their commodities at much lesser cost. On the other hand, India should be prepared to give greater trade concessions to Bangladesh. On the Bangladesh side, banks should use greater caution in issuing letter of credit and should conform to UCP 600 norms to reduce trade disputes with India. Mr. nandwani added.
Mr. Pravin Saraf, Managing Committee Member, FIEO, in his address stated that the trade between the two countries was growing but it was highly in favour of India. This trade imbalance should be corrected. Of the total imports by Bangladesh, 8% is of capital goods and 20% is of consumer goods. The bottom line is, Bangladesh needs a larger market access to India at concessional duty and New Delhi should consider it sympathetically, as we have long-term interest in prosperous Bangladesh. Mr. Saraf observed.
While summing up, the Chairman of the session, Mr. Ajitava Raychaudhury, Professor, Jadavpur University, stated that all the presentations were leading to one issue that was opening up of more trade and investment with Bangladesh.
The third session, "Removing Trade Barriers," was chaired by Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Director in the Ministry of Commerce. Mr. P.K. Halder CES, ZJDGFT Kolkata made the first presentation providing an overview of Indo-Bangladesh trade. The second presentation was made by Col. Nair, Regional In-charge, NHAI, who provided an outline of the road existing in West Bengal and the improvements being done for NH 35 that ends at Petrapole. A detailed discussion followed the presentation where the CHAs were keen to know more about the other roadways in West Bengal.
The third presentation was made by Mr.Chanchal Sarkar, Dy. Director in the Ministry of Commerce, who highlighted the difficulties in trade between India and Bangladesh in terms of tariff and non-tariff barriers. He also threw some light on WTO related issues.
The Chairman of the third session stated that the Ministry of Commerce was keenly interested in enhancing trade between India and its neighbors by developing land customs stations and providing international quality infrastructure in order to facilitate smooth bilateral trade of merchandise between India and Bangladesh, China, Myanmar and Nepal. The objective of the Conference is to gather inputs and to make necessary changes required for the base paper being prepared currently. The Petrapole-Benapole border will have an Integrated Check Post for which the Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared by RITES. Similar ICPs are in the pipeline on other roads also. Moreover, testing also can be done in laboratories in Bangladesh and India is providing technical assistance for developing testing labs there. He said.
Summing up the proceedings of the day, Mr. Tapan Chattopadhyay, Dy Director General, FIEO, Eastern Region said that the Federation would be happy to hold similar seminars alongwith CSIRD in Moreh in Manipur (on trade with Myanmar), Jaigaon/Phuntshilling (on trade with Bhutan), Nathula/Sikkim (on trade with China) and Raxaul (on trade with Nepal).
