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Dhaka, July 26 — Bangladesh’s repeated requests to resume bilateral trade talks with India have gone unanswered for months, exacerbating a series of unresolved trade disputes and imposing mounting costs on Bangladeshi exporters.

Despite formal appeals from Dhaka to lift abrupt trade restrictions and convene meetings at the commerce secretary level and joint working group forums, New Delhi has remained noncommittal, according to senior officials at the Ministry of Commerce.

The silence from India comes amid geopolitical tension following the political transition in Bangladesh in August 2024, when a mass student uprising forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and seek refuge in India. Since then, officials say, communication from Dhaka regarding bilateral trade matters has failed to elicit any substantive response from New Delhi.

Unilateral Trade Restrictions and Their Fallout

India’s imposition of port restrictions on May 17—barring imports of Bangladeshi goods such as processed foods, apparel, fruit beverages, plastic items, and cotton waste through several land ports—dealt a significant blow to cross-border trade. Imports of these items are now limited to specific land customs stations in India’s northeast and select locations in West Bengal.

A subsequent decision on June 27 further restricted the import of jute and jute products, allowing them entry only through India’s distant Nhava Sheva seaport in Mumbai. The measure has severely disrupted Bangladesh’s jute exports, which were traditionally routed through nearby land ports.

“Transport costs per tonne of jute have surged by $100, rendering our products less competitive in Indian markets,” said a senior executive at a leading jute mill in Khulna.

Exporters now must ship goods by sea from Chattogram to Mumbai, and then overland to Kolkata—an expensive detour, as most Indian jute mills are concentrated in eastern India near the Bangladesh border.

Earlier, in April, India revoked transshipment privileges for Bangladeshi goods exported via Indian airports to third countries, further raising logistical costs—particularly for high-value, time-sensitive exports such as apparel.

Diplomatic Silence and Missed Meetings

On May 29, Bangladesh’s Commerce Adviser, Sk Bashir Uddin, formally requested Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to reconsider the port restrictions and called for immediate bilateral meetings. Nearly two months later, the request remains unanswered.

Efforts to revive regular trade talks have also stalled. The last commerce secretary-level meeting between the two countries took place in March 2022 in New Delhi. A follow-up meeting, proposed by Dhaka for March or April 2023, never materialized. Bangladesh renewed its proposal on May 12, 2025, suggesting a meeting in September, but once again received no response.

Requests for meetings in late June or mid-July—either in Dhaka or virtually—were also ignored, officials said.

“Repeated appeals to resume trade dialogue have gone unheeded,” said a senior commerce ministry official. “There is no indication from New Delhi that they intend to engage in talks anytime soon.”

Impact on Regional Trade and Economic Engagement

Trade disruptions have also affected grassroots-level cooperation. Operations of the border haats—local markets established along the Bangladesh-India frontier to promote informal trade—have been suspended since August 2024. These too require bilateral discussions to become operational again.

Further, the much-anticipated Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a framework aimed at deepening bilateral trade and investment ties, has been in limbo since February 2024. Although both countries exchanged trade data as a preliminary step, no progress has been made since.

The delay comes despite a September 2022 agreement between the two prime ministers to initiate formal CEPA negotiations at the earliest opportunity.

Experts Cite Political Overhang

Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), believes India’s reluctance to re-engage is rooted in political calculus rather than trade concerns alone.

“India views its relationship with Bangladesh through a political lens. Since the regime change last year, they appear to have taken the position that formal dialogue will only resume after an elected government is in place,” Dr Moazzem told The Banking post on Thursday.

He urged Dhaka to continue documenting trade developments and maintaining communication, so that Bangladesh’s concerns can be formally raised when talks eventually resume.

Meanwhile, a senior trade diplomat from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka met with officials at the Ministry of Commerce last week. However, the envoy reportedly offered no concrete assurances regarding the resumption of secretary-level meetings.