With the exception of 25 products, goods from Bangladesh have had duty free access to India since 2011.
However, a large number of factors including regulatory bottlenecks, poor infrastructure and non-tariff barriers are preventing Bangladeshi businesses from exploiting their potential to export to the Indian market.
Even though Bangladeshi exports to India have jumped fivefold to $563 million in the past decade, there is still an over $4bn trade gap between Bangladesh and India. Proportionally, the barriers limiting trade, affect Bangladesh far more adversely as it relies on India for a much larger proportion of its global trade.
The government should be more assertive in calling for a simplification of export procedures and a reduction in red tape between our two countries.
It should also take a more strategic view in its use of credit arrangements with India. According to the Centre for Policy Dialogue which held a seminar on the subject this week, much of this finance is being used to buy trucks instead of developing better transport infrastructure.
Non-tariff barriers and physical infrastructure may take time to improve, but there are also other ways in which businesses can benefit from the existing duty free facilities.
Diversification of exports and developing more competitive products for the Indian market are needed to help grow trade and to boost calls to bring down trade barriers. We should also build on the historical linkages between Bangladesh and neighboring parts of North East India to encourage a more mutually beneficial trading relationship.