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Bangladesh did not receive any official-level intimation before India shut down land ports for readymade garments, a diplomatic source from Bangladesh informed The Hindu on Monday (May 19, 2025). The observations came two days after the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) stopped readymade garment exports from Bangladesh to India through all Indian land ports, while also stopping land ports of northeastern India from being accessed by Bangladesh for export of specified products.

“We did not receive any advance notice that India was going to shut the land ports for our products and as a result many traders on our side were working normally and sent their trucks to the border land ports without knowing that they would not be allowed to proceed further. Now all those trucks are stuck on the border. Innocent people are suffering,” said the source giving the account from the Bangladeshi side. Bangladesh views the closure of the Indian landports as a “sovereign action” that sometimes can be undertaken unilaterally, but as neighbours with shared history, a prior hint from India was expected by Dhaka, The Hindu was told.

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While introducing the closure of land ports on the Indian side, officials had said the step was being taken as a reciprocal measure to Bangladesh introducing a ban on Indian yarn exports through its land ports and for resorting to aggressive inspection of Indian trucks. However, it was learnt that the Bangladeshi measures taken on April 13 and the stopping of supply of Indian rice through Hili land port were not aimed at hurting Indian trade interest but to deal with corruption issues that the Bangladesh authorities were dealing with.

Public inconvenience

Giving impression of the Bangladeshi side, the official said the stopping of Bangladeshi exports through Indian land ports was unprecedented and there was growing public inconvenience because of the Indian measures. Bangladesh, it is understood, is also watching the Indian side for any further punitive action as the strong step from the Indian side appears to have been initiated because of political reasons. It was also learned that Bangladesh feels that the barring of land ports for products from Bangladesh will also stop people-to-people interaction that benefits from commercial engagement.

“With a lot of challenges, trade between India and Bangladesh had reached above $10 billion and just as we are at the cusp of doing great things, we are again going down,” said the diplomatic source, explaining that the goods that Bangladesh supplies to India’s northeast have a regional economic rational that benefits both sides. India has however said the message for Bangladesh from the May 17 decision was to tell Dhaka that the northeast is not a “captive market” of Bangladesh.

Bilateral relation between India and Bangladesh has been cold since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024 which hit the issuance of Indian visa for Bangladesh travellers and medical tourists. India stopped issuing visas initially citing insecure environment for the consular staff in Dhaka but the total number of visas being issued continues to be around 1,000 daily, which is low compared to the pre-August 2024 figure of 8,000 daily. The diplomatic source said people-to-people interaction, which has been low because of lack of Indian visas, will now be further narrowed as trading interactions between the two sides will also nosedive.