Bangladesh targets $1b exports to India by June

Armed with a duty-free facility to India, Bangladesh is aiming for $1 billion in exports by June.
It is also wooing Indian companies to invest in the special economic zones in Bangladesh.
"With duty-free export to India, we expect Bangladeshi export to increase to $1 billion by June 2012 from $500 million last year," said A Mutlub Ahmad, president of India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi, yesterday on the sidelines of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Business Forum meet in Kolkata.
Ahmad, who is also the chairman of Nitol-Niloy Group, is also developing two 100-acre each industrial zones with SEZ status in the country -- one for garments in Kishoreganj and for another multi-products in Chattak, Sylhet.
State Bank of India in Bangladesh is also supporting the projects.
"We are targeting Indian garment manufacturers at places like Tirupura and Ludhiana for apparel SEZ and we are receiving a positive feedback," Ahmad said.
The multi-product SEZ will try to attract Indian companies to invest with an aim to export to the north-east Indian states.