mobile
News Room
 
CII Media Releases
 
Bangladesh Offers Incentives for Indian Investments: Sheikh Hasina
Apr 10, 2017

H E Sheikh Hasina, Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh, today urged Indian industry to bring businesses and investments to Bangladesh. She was speaking at an interactive session organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) during her tour of India.

The Prime Minister enumerated Bangladesh's advantages for Indian industry as steady economic growth, high demographic dividend, competitive cost structure and a large consumer base. The Prime Minister mentioned that Bangladesh is offering attractive incentives to incentivize Indian investment such as 100% repatriation of profit and invested capital.

The Prime Minister added that an Indo-Bangla Investment Agreement is in place to protect bilateral investment. Bangladesh enjoys Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) benefits from 38 countries and duty-free, quota-free access into countries such as China, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Chile. Indian companies investing in Bangladesh could gain from these benefits.

The Prime Minister pointed out that Bangladesh is making significant socio-economic progress and is well on its way to becoming a middle-income country by 2021. Its GDP growth in 2016 was 7.1% and the country is targeting to reach 8% growth by 2020.

Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India stated that one of the key pillars of cooperation between India and Bangladesh was the energy sector. He  highlighted initiatives such as a pipeline between the two countries to supply High Speed Diesel, the setting up of an LPG plant in Bangladesh to supply LPG to India, and setting up of LPG import terminals, among others.

Mr Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, stated that Indian industry should look at Bangladesh as a base to export finished products back to India. This, in his view would go a long way in boosting bilateral trade beyond the USD 1 billion level. He highlighted the need to remove restrictions on the port of entry and exit placed by India on Bangladeshi nationals to boost bilateral B2B linkages.

Mr Sandeep Jajodia, President, ASSOCHAM and Chairman & Managing Director, Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd, highlighted the need to boost trade engagement through betterment of physical infrastructure on both sides. He also noted the need to explore newer areas of cooperation between the two countries especially in Infrastructure Development, Ports development, Power and Energy, Textiles, Healthcare, Transportation sectors.

 Mr Adi Godrej, Past President, CII & Chairman, Godrej Group, stated that India and Bangladesh could cooperate in the Bay of Bengal under the “Blue Economy” programme for harnessing the immense potential of hydrocarbons, marine resources and disaster management.  He added that connectivity could be a game changer with other countries in South Asia. The recent Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic has the potential to increase intra-regional trade and investment manifold.

 Mr Harsh Mariwala, Past President, FICCI & Chairman, Marico Ltd. highlighted areas of cooperation such as collaboration in knowledge sharing to facilitate innovation and research, skill development, regional connectivity, power trade, media and entertainment and tourism among others.

 In the presence of HE the Prime Minister, 13 MoUs were signed between Indian and Bangladeshi industry.

New Delhi 

10April 2017

Email to a friend   Print
Related Information
Download CII App:
App Store Google Play