Ahead of the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s two-day visit to Bangladesh, the Government today hinted at allowing its neighbour to export more duty-free garments to the Indian market.
“In April, we had raised the (duty-free) quota from 8 million pieces to 10 million... There is some more demand and the Government will take a fair view on that,” the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, said.
Dr Manmohan Singh will visit Bangladesh on September 6-7 with the objective of galvanising bilateral ties between the two nations.
When asked whether Bangladesh has demanded more duty-free garment exports to India, he said: “It is true that many of the tariff lines in the textiles sector are being discussed.”
In April, India had increased the quota for duty-free import of garments from Bangladesh by two million pieces to 10 million.
Bangladesh is pitching for the duty-free export of 61 items to India against 54 textile items that are currently allowed.
Bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $2.6 billion in the 2009-10 financial year.