Note on India-Bangladesh Economic Relations

Executive Summary

A large neighboring country positioned between India’s North East states and the rest of India, Bangladesh deserves the highest priority in our foreign and external economic framework.

Both governments have been cognizant of each other’s concerns and since the Awami League Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2009, many initiatives have been taken to take forward the bilateral relationship. However, despite regular exchanges at the political level, many points of concern remain, such as the pending Land Border Agreement, river water sharing, transit issues, trade imbalance and emigration from Bangladesh into India, among others.

Industry is convinced that building mutual stakes in each other’s development is the

best option for the two countries to strengthen harmonious relations; towards this

end, India needs to actively engage in investments and infrastructure in Bangladesh.

Economic Aspects

Bangladesh falls in the category of Least Developed Country with a per capita

income of $865. The Bangladesh economy has achieved steady GDP growth on a

sustained basis since 2000.

Due to the multiple complexities of doing business in the country, Bangladesh may

not be able to attract the funds that it needs for development without much strenuous

effort at reform. The IMF estimates Bangladesh GDP to continue to grow at an

increasing pace from 5.7 per cent in 2013 to 7 per cent annually for 2017-2019.

Bilateral Economic Relationship

The India-Bangladesh trade relationship aggregating $6.7 billion is overwhelmingly in

favor of India, which is of high concern to both sides.

India has accorded Bangladesh the status of zero-tariff imports as part of its LDC

strategy. However, the negative list still continues. Tariff and non-tariff barriers as

well as harmonization of standards and mutual recognition agreements are being

taken up.

Indian investments in Bangladesh have surged recently with cumulative FDI in 2012-

13 standing at $2.5 billion, from $1.2 billion in the previous year. India has extended

$1 billion Line of Credit to Bangladesh for a number of projects.

Other areas where economic co-operation is being enhanced include infrastructure

and transport connectivity, new border haats, Land Customs Stations, and power.

Many platforms and joint working groups on trade, power, textiles etc are meeting

regularly to strengthen cooperation.

Indian investment

CII feels that ‘an investment route’ must be targeted to increase trade in a strategic

manner to produce goods for the Indian and other markets. It lists the advantages of

the Bangladesh economy as competitive workforce, natural resources and strategic

location.

There are several factors in the low interest of Indian companies in investing in Bangladesh. Remittances to India can only be repatriated as royalty, consultancy and other charges, and are limited by a ceiling. Non-tariff barriers in the form of harmonization and classification issues and technical standards need to be addressed along with infrastructure bottlenecks.

There is need to build greater linkages between the private sectors of the two

countries.

Indian companies such as Godrej, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, Marico, CEAT, Venky’s Hatcheries, Forbes Marshall, SBI etc had invested in Bangladesh in the recent past

The signing of “The Treaty on Bilateral Investment and Protection” between India and Bangladesh has strengthened the framework for trade and investment between the two countries and has encouraged several Indian Investments and Joint Ventures projects in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh and North East Region (NER)

With a population of 45 million and a GDP of $60 billion, the NER is a large market in

itself. Bangladesh is not only a gateway to NER, given right infrastructure, but it can

also benefit greatly from enhanced connectivity within the Indian sub-region.

Recommendations

Relations with Bangladesh need to be re-strategised with primacy to the economic

and development content. As with all smaller neighbors, India has to craft a fine

balance between helpful attitude and ‘big-brother’ perception.

The key prongs of such a strategy would be

1) India should align itself with Bangladesh’s vision to emerge as a middle-income

country by 2021 and position itself as a partner in this mission.

2) This will involve expediting forward movement on issues such as the pending

Land Border Constitutional Amendment and river water sharing and working

strenuously to build greater confidence on the Bangladeshi side.

3) The idea should be to encourage a shift towards greater private sector

participation, from the current government-led model. Indian businesses would

need to be more forceful and frequent in engaging with the government as also

with local chambers and businesses.

4) Infrastructure will be key to the investment and development relationship. NER

state governments should be actively involved in the planning and preparation

exercise.

5) Energy capacity is a Bangladeshi requirement and India can expand its

cooperation in the field. It may be useful to initiate exploration of projects linking

NER’s hydel power capacity with the Bangladeshi grid.

6) India should engage with Bangladesh for joint exploration and development of

the maritime territory that has been awarded to Bangladesh by the international

arbitration tribunal.

7) India can consider IT industry skill development in the country.

8) India should assist in conservation, mitigation and management efforts and

support Bangladesh at international platforms on the issue of rising sea levels.

Action at the micro level would include opening new land customs stations,

harmonization and recognition of standards, pruning negative lists, improving the

investment procedures, capacity building of MSMEs and banking and finance

cooperation.

A Detailed Note on India – BangladeshEconomic Relations

This note dwells briefly on outstanding areas between India and Bangladesh,

provides an overview of Bangladesh’s recent economic growth experience, and

outlines the bilateral economic cooperation. It concludes with some suggestions for a

strategic roadmap for bilateral relations.

Economic Aspects

Bangladesh falls in the category of Least Developed Country as defined by the World Bank (per capita income of less than $1035 per year) with a per capita income of $865. Encouragingly, the Bangladesh economy has achieved steady GDP growth on a sustained basis since 2000, falling below 5.5 per cent rate only during the global slowdown of 2001-2002. Even during the 2008 global economic crisis and later period, it barely registered a dip in its over-6 per cent pace. As a result, its GDP on purchasing power parity basis (current international dollars) has multiplied close to

threefold since 2000 and per capita income has gone up by 2.3 times3. It is

estimated that the middle class of Bangladesh has expanded to about 30 million people. In contrast to the Indian economic structure – where the contribution of agriculture to GDP has fallen and that of the services sector has increased, while the industry sector share has remained constant over the last two decades – Bangladesh has witnessed declining share of agriculture being replaced by industry which now constitutes almost 30% of GDP. However, the manufacturing sector has maintained its share of GDP at about 17.5 per cent for the last five years.

Bangladesh has made rapid progress on exports primarily due to textiles and garments, where its LDC status gives it preferential access to markets. Its exports

have gone up from $15 billion in 2008 to $27 billion in 20134. Garment exports contributed about 80 per cent of the aggregate, accounting for 18 per cent of GDP (annex). The US and EU account for almost three-fifths of exports.

Imports stood at $33 billion in 2013, and the country is dependent on overseas for

machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, etc. China is its largest import

source, contributing 22 per cent of the total, while India comes in at just over 16 per

cent.5

In terms of investments, it is expected that Bangladesh could rapidly emerge as an alternative source for low-cost manufacturing that is in the process of shifting out of China. According to the World Investment Report 2014, FDI into Bangladesh went up from the pre-crisis annual average of $768 million to $1.6 billion in 2013. FDI contribution to gross fixed capital formation marginally declined from 4.1 per cent of GDP to 3.9 per cent, but as a proportion of GDP, it has gone up from 5.1 per cent in 2011 to 6.1 per cent in 2013. Due to the multiple complexities of doing business in the country in terms of lack of adequate infrastructure, incomplete harmonization of standards, power deficit, etc, Bangladesh may not be able to attract the funds that it needs for development without much strenuous effort at reform.

Moreover, investments in the critical garments sector were affected by a major fire

that swept through Rana Plaza in April 2013 and highlighted the poor safety

conditions in the sector which employs an estimated 4 million workers. The

subsequent closure of factories has led to job losses, while overseas garment brands

are attempting to improve conditions in factories.6

The source of stability for the country is the high remittances received from Bangladeshi workers across the world, and largely in the Gulf and Malaysia. The

receipts figure had gone up to $14.3 billion in 2013-14 (June to July7). About 4 million Bangladeshi workers are estimated to be present in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Malaysia, as per different news sources.

Bangladesh’s success in human development is well-noted, and it is on track to achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals. As per UNDP, targets such as reducing poverty gap ratio, attaining gender parity at primary and secondary education, under-five mortality rate, and some health indicators have already been met. Bangladesh has made ‘remarkable progress’ in poverty reduction, lowering infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, improving immunization and reducing incidence of communicable diseases. Being a LDC, Bangladesh still has a long way to go for lowering hunger, increasing literacy rates, etc. However, its success indicates strong governance procedures and offers lessons for many of the world’s poor and developing nations, including India.

The IMF estimates Bangladesh GDP to continue to grow at an increasing pace from

5.7 per cent in 2013 to 7 per cent annually for 2017-2019. The EIU expects a lower

growth rate, but forecasts GDP growth rate to rise from 6.1 per cent in 2013-14 to 6.3

per cent for 2014-15 to 2017-18. This represents one of the fastest growth rates

among emerging economies, and offers another window of opportunity for Indian

investors. Bangladesh aspires to be a middle income country (per capita income of

$1036 to $4085) by 2020-21, the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence.

Bilateral Economic Relationship

The India-Bangladesh trade relationship is overwhelmingly in favor of India, and the gap has steadily widened as India’s exports have increased faster than its imports. While exports rose from $2.5 billion in 2008-09 to $6.2 billion in 2013-14, an average annual pace of 21 per cent, imports from the neighbor went up from $313 million to $484 million, less than 15 per cent average annual growth. Moreover, in 2013-14, imports from Bangladesh declined by almost a quarter due to lower imports of HS 53 (other vegetable textile fibers), and HS 8 (edible fruits and nuts). India’s exports were primarily cotton and cereals in 2013-14.

This trade imbalance is of high concern to both sides. India has accorded Bangladesh the status of zero-tariff imports as part of its LDC strategy. However, there is a negative list which has been pruned from 763 items in 2006 to 480 in 2008, and further by 47 items during Sheikh Hasina’s visit in 2010. PM Dr Singh cut another 46 textile items of interest to Bangladesh during his visit in 2011, so that

duty-free, quota-free access was granted to all but 25 tariff lines9. However, the

negative list still continues. Tariff and non-tariff barriers as well as harmonization of standards and mutual recognition agreements are being taken up and India is providing assistance to Bangladesh Standards Testing Institute.

It is unlikely that the trade balance can be redressed rapidly since the value of

Bangladesh’s total exports is less than $30 billion and mostly composed of garments

and textiles.

Other areas of cooperation are as below:

Infrastructure: During Former PM’s visit to Bangladesh, it was agreed to promote trade

and investment by enhancing transport connectivities of the two sides including inland

waterways, road and rail, and shipping and air. The Banglabandha-Fulbari Land Port has

been opened and seven integrated check posts are being developed at land posts and

land customs stations. Ashuganj and Sulghat are operational as additional Ports of Call

under the bilateral Inland water transit and trade protocol. The railway line between

Agartala and Akhaura is expected to be completed by 2015. Rail connections between

Chilahati-Haldibari and Kulaura-Mahishashan are being reestablished.

Border Haats: The process of opening of border haats was started in West Garo hills, and is being extended rapidly with 3-4 haats in Tripura and Meghalaya. Sixteen items have been identified for exchange including local agricultural and horticultural products, minor forest produce, fish and dairy products, and local handicrafts and handlooms with a maximum spending of $50 per head.

Land Customs Stations: India and Bangladesh have identified 16 LCS as important to trade and have agreed to allow movement of trucks up to the LCS of the importing country for unloading cargo. Customs administrations will also be improved with information sharing. The Joint Group of Customs met for the 9th meeting in October 2013.

Investments: The Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and treaty for avoidance of double taxation are in place. Bangladesh has announced establishment of a special economic zone for Indian investments. Indian investments in Bangladesh have surged recently with cumulative FDI in 2012-13 standing at $2.5 billion, from $1.2 billion in the previous year. Indian companies have been active in projects in sectors such as power, telecom, textiles, chemicals and pharma, glass, plastics and engineering.

Development Assistance: Several specific projects are in various stages of development. Under development partnership assistance, India has extended $1 billion Line of Credit to Bangladesh for a number of projects including supply of rail goods, buses, dredgers, etc. Of this, $200 million was converted to grant during Dr Singh’s visit, of which $150 million has been disbursed. Ministry of External Affairs also funds a Small Development Projects program as per MoU of April 2013 for small infrastructure projects in the social sector.

Power: India has agreed to provide 500 MW of power to Bangladesh every day for the next 35 years and inter-grid connectivity has been established between the two countries. NTPC has also signed an agreement to set up a 1320 MW coal-fired power plant under the joint venture entity Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company along with deals for power purchase and implementation.10 OVL signed 2 production sharing contracts with Petrobangla for exploration and production of oil and gas in two water blocks after offshore bidding round 2012 in Feb 2014.

Cooperation platforms are briefly mentioned below:

• India-Bangladesh Inter Governmental Railway Meeting is held annually to cover

working of the Maitree Express, re-opening of old connection points, and

construction of new points, container train services, and freight train operations

• Joint Steering Committee and Joint Working Group on Power have met for 7

rounds, with the last meeting after an interval of 10 months

• Joint Working Group on Trade under bilateral Trade Agreement has met for 9

rounds, with the last meeting after an interval of 9 months to deliberate on border

infrastructure, trade facilitation by information exchange, upgradation of testing

facilities and bottlenecks to trade.

• JWG on Fisheries Cooperation held its first meeting in March 2014 after

establishment after PM’s 2011 visit to deliberate on research, management of

Hilsa and other varieties, and skill development.

• JWG on Health Cooperation held its first meeting in Feb 2014 to discuss visits,

development of human resources for health, crossborder health issues, etc

• JWG on Textile Cooperation held its first meeting in Feb 2014 to discuss major

trade facilitation mechanisms, and cooperation of textile institutions in the fields of

skill development, fashion research and others

• JWG on New and Renewable Energy held its 2nd meeting in Nov 2013

Indian Investment

India and Bangladesh agree that the trade imbalance is a major concern and signed the Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development in 2011 during PM Dr Singh’s visit which promised to take steps to narrow the gap. A CII paper has highlighted that ‘an investment route’ must be targeted to increase trade in a strategic manner to produce goods for the Indian and other markets. It lists the advantages of the Bangladesh economy as competitive workforce, natural resources and strategic location. Some of the goods that India could increasingly import from its neighbor are garments, textiles, jute, leather, light engineering goods, etc. Also Indian companies could participate in joint ventures in the areas of agro-processing, automobiles, textiles, chemicals, plastics, light engineering, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, etc. In the services domain, opportunities are high in ICT, tourism, professional services, skill development, etc.

To build awareness of the investment opportunities, CII undertook an investment

roadshow in partnership with the Bangladesh Board of Investment in Mumbai,

Chennai and Kolkata in June 2013. This resulted in agreements worth $94.5 million

being signed.

There are several factors in the low interest of Indian companies in investing in

Bangladesh despite the obvious opportunities in a large neighboring economy

located close to vibrant Asian markets and benefiting from duty free and quota free

access to major developed markets like the EU.

Bangladesh is an LDC with poor infrastructure and human development indicators

and is still working on building a facilitative investment climate. It may be noted

that the country comes in at 130 in the World Bank’s Doing Business report 2014, as compared to India’s rank of 134. Indian companies should find it relatively easy to invest in Bangladesh with their exposure in India and other emerging markets. The experience of the Tata Group’s $2.5 billion investment proposed in 2004 in steel, fertilizer and power plants has been discouraging. The proposal was rejected by the Bangladesh government in 2008 and scrapped, as a result of which related investments from other large Indian industry groups too did not take place. In 2010, the Group planned a joint venture for a power plant, but more recent information on that is not available. The slow progress on transit and connectivity projects in Bangladesh is also a concern, particularly when it comes to the cross country movement of goods between India’s North East region and rest of the country.

CII has identified certain broad issues hampering investments in the country.

Remittances to India can only be repatriated as royalty, consultancy and other charges,

and are limited by a ceiling. Non-tariff barriers in the form of harmonization and

classification issues and technical standards need to be addressed. Infrastructure

bottlenecks such as inadequate power supply, port connectivity, telecommunications, etc

are a challenge, which could be resolved through a special economic zone for Indian

investments. A single-window system for clearances could attract more investments.

Thus, while government-to-government cooperation has increased, business-to-business engagement does not live up to the potential. Most infrastructure projects in Bangladesh are being led by the Indian government. There is need to build greater linkages between the private sectors of the two countries. Big-ticket projects need to be identified by the governments of the two sides and opened up for Indian investments. Anchor investments could build economic hubs, with a single large facility acting as a magnet for smaller ancillary facilities.

Bangladesh and North East Region (NER)

With a population of 45 million and a GDP of $60 billion, the NER is a large market in itself with rapidly growing incomes, expanding education and skill development, and rich resources including minerals, hydro power, and forest resources. Bangladesh is not only a gateway to NER, given right infrastructure, but it can also benefit greatly from enhanced connectivity within the Indian sub-region.

The NER is additionally a gateway through the land route to vibrant Asian market. A

dynamic economic corridor if properly developed can be the alternative to the

crowded maritime route while also unleashing the potential of development in the

region.

CII was privileged to organise two major events recently to promote the possibility of land connectivity between India and South East Asia. The first was the ASEAN India Car Rally which commenced in Singapore and passed through eight ASEAN countries before coming to Guwahati. The second was the Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar or BCIM Rally between Kolkata and Kunming. Both of these car rallies demonstrated that the land route is viable through the difficult terrain rivers and mountains, if adequate infrastructure is built alongside. Leveraging this strategic

location would require sufficient industrial parks, power & other trade facilities to be built in the NER.

Recommendations

Relations with Bangladesh, one of the more stable and friendly regimes in the

SAARC region, need to be re-strategised with primacy to the economic and

development content. As mentioned earlier, the window of opportunity may be short

and with a friendly government in place, the two sides can make progress on many

outstanding issues. As with all smaller neighbors, India has to craft a fine balance

between helpful attitude and ‘big-brother’ perception. Political compulsions against a

perceived ‘big brother’ attitude could be mitigated with more interaction and joint

development initiatives.

The key prongs of such a strategy would be -

i) India should align itself with Bangladesh’s vision to emerge as a middle-income

country by 2021 and position itself as a partner in this mission. Over the longer

term, many of Bangladesh’s issues with India such as migration would be

stabilised with faster economic growth and higher incomes.

ii) This will involve expediting forward movement on issues such as the pending Land Border Constitutional Amendment and river water sharing and working strenuously to build greater confidence on the Bangladeshi side. In this regard, institutional dialogue forums such as JWG should be held with greater frequency.

iii) The idea should be to encourage a shift towards greater private sector participation, from the current government-led model. Indian businesses would need to be more forceful and frequent in engaging with the government as also with local chambers and businesses. There is need to move beyond Dhaka to other large cities. The private sectors of both sides could take the lead in identifying projects, including large and small projects, in Bangladesh and work with both governments for implementation.

iv) Infrastructure will be key to the investment and development relationship. India’s interest lies in building transport and connectivity linkages from west to east in Bangladesh which would also be of interest to that country in linking with its ports. NER state governments should be actively involved in the planning and preparation exercise.

v) Energy capacity is a Bangladeshi requirement and India can expand its

cooperation in the field. It may be useful to initiate exploration of projects linking

NER’s hydel power capacity with the Bangladeshi grid.

vi) India should engage with Bangladesh for joint exploration and development of

the maritime territory that has been awarded to Bangladesh by the international

arbitration tribunal.

vii) Bangladesh has a young population which is increasingly literate and familiar

with English. India can consider leveraging its IT industry skill development

capacity in the country. Cooperation in higher education and R&D would also

contribute to people-to-people connectivity.

viii) Climate change is of high concern to Bangladesh. India should assist in

conservation, mitigation and management efforts and support Bangladesh at

international platforms on the issue of rising sea levels.

Apart from overall macro strategy, the economic engagement would require continued intensive action at the micro level such as opening new land customs stations, harmonization and recognition of standards, pruning negative lists, improving the investment procedures, capacity building of MSMEs and banking and finance cooperation.

Some Issues in Indo- Bangla Economic Relations

Difficulty in sending remittances back to India:

An important issue faced by Indian companies invested in Bangladesh relates to

remittances to India (of Taka earned locally converted to US$). Presently,

converted dollars can be repatriated only as royalty, consultancy and “other

charges”. Further, there is a ceiling on the repatriable amount: under ‘royalty’, for

instance, only 6% of the sale proceeds in Bangladesh can be remitted to India.

It is heartening to note that recently, the limits for remittances of salaries of

expatriate employees have also been increased from 50% to 75%.

Non - Tariff Barriers Constraining Trade:

Non-tariff barriers and measures (NTBs) include measures other than border

tariffs that affect trade in goods, services and factors of production. The major

policy issues under this are:

o Harmonization and Classification Issues: Customs authorities decline to

accept classification declared by importers as per nomenclature rules.

o Technical Standards: BIS and BSTI, Bangladesh to recognize each other's

standards for products from both the countries.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure bottlenecks related to power, ports, energy, and telecommunication

needs to be addressed. These significantly increase the cost of production,

impede productivity growth and thus hamper export competitiveness of

Bangladeshi firms. Availability of Land is a major bottleneck. The earmarking of

land for setting up an India-specific special economic zone (SEZ) in Bangladesh

will go a long way in attracting Indian investment into Bangladesh.

Improving the Investment Climate:

To create favorable investment climate in Bangladesh, there are certain issues

which need to be addressed:

o Developing single window clearance for new business proposals

o Setting an Industrial Park for India in Bangladesh outside EPZ with all

the needed infrastructure facilities

o Upgrading the tax holiday system

Transit Issue

India shares more than 4000 kms of land border with Bangladesh and we don’t

have the transit agreement between the two countries. As consequence of this,

Assam’s tea travels 1400 kms to Kolkata port while it could curtailed 60 percent

of the distance if access to Chittagong port was available. Goods from Agartala

travel 1645 km to Kolkata, while direct distance would be 250 km if Bangladesh

allows through movement.

It is estimated that if Bangladesh allows the free movement of Indian goods, it

would earn more than USD 1 billion as a transit fee which could help in reduce

the trade imbalance between the two countries

Development of appropriate transport connectivity between the two countries is

a pre-requisite for smooth trade and investments flows. Free movement of goods

shall provide boost to Bangladesh economy as a whole host of services will have

to be developed all along the route. This will enhance large number of

employment opportunities in Bangladesh. Cross country movement of goods

through rail and road is not smooth and inadequate. Development of more land

border route and containerized cargo will help in easing the congestion at the

land border and increasing the volume of trade between the two countries.

Thus, Bangladesh can act as an important source of connectivity – rail, road and

riverine – between North Eastern India and the rest of India. This would be a win-

win situation for all. While India would benefit from cheaper transportation cost,

Bangladesh would also benefit economically by facilitating such connectivity.

At the same time, air connectivity is also limited in extensiveness, and need to be

improved.

Conclusion

With large and rapidly growing markets on each side of the border and huge unmet demand for employment and income generation opportunities, there is need to leverage mutual synergies in a determined manner to unlock opportunities. The recent progress in bilateral political engagement is heartening, and must be now taken to the next stage

Exports and Imports of India to Bangladesh

2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14

Exports ($ mn) 2434 3243 3789 5145 6167

Exports (% yoy) -2.6 33.2 16.8 35.8 19.9

Imports ($ mn) 255 447 586 639 484

Imports (% yoy) -18.7 75.4 31.1 9.2 -24.2

Total trade ($ mn) 2688 3690 4375 5784 6651

Total trade (% yoy) -4.4 37.2 18.6 32.2 15.0

Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India

Major Items of Export and Imports

HS Export items 2012-13 2013-14 Sharecode ($ mn) ($ mn) (%)

52 Cotton 1506 1577 25.6

10 Cereals 569 924 15.0

87 Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling 374 479 7.8stock, and parts and accessories thereof

84 Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and 268 266 4.3mechanical appliances; parts thereof

23 Residues and waste from the food 190 252 4.1industries; prepared animal fodder

72 Iron and steel 130 245 4.0

26 Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of 153 201 3.3their distillation; bituminous substances;mineral waxes

Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India

HS Import items 2012-13 2013-14 Sharecode ($ mn) ($ mn) (%)

53 Other vegetable textile fibres; paper yarn 124 83 17.2and woven fabrics of paper yarn

62 Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, 52 79 16.3not knitted or crocheted

8 Edible fruit and nuts; peel or citrus fruit or 97 57 11.7melons

63 Other made up textile articles; worn clothing 85 48 9.9and worn textile articles; rags

25 Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; plastering 27 21 4.3materials; lime and cement

Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India

Textile and Clothing Exports

USD mn India Bangladesh

Textile (USD mn) 18,907 1,893

Share in global exports (%) 6.2 0.6

Clothing 16,843 23,501

Share in global exports (%) 3.7 5.1

Total 35,750 25,394

Share in global exports (%) 4.7 3.3

Source: WTO International Trade Statistics, 2013