K Subrahmanyam forgets to mention that Bangladesh provides India the most liberal access to its market while India has practiced the most restrictive trade policy toward Bangladesh.
Any visitor to Bangladesh will see an abundance of Indian goods and services in Bangladesh. Trade imbalance is 10 to 1 in India's favor. On the other hand, India has gone out of its way to restrict goods from Bangladesh to Indian markets, especially markets in Tripura, Assam and West Bengal. There is a huge demand in bordering Indian states for products from Bangladesh.
An average Indian outside the eastern states is not aware of the fact that quality of Bangladeshi products, especially in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plastic goods, leather and garments are excellent. Bangladesh has a sizable market for its medicine in Europe and Africa. It is a major supplier of garments to Europe and USA. It is also a major tea exporter.
India had recently banned import of medicine and cosmetics from Bangladesh using some law from British period which prohibits import of such items using land routes. The issue was resolved during Pranab Mukherjee%u2019s visit to Dhaka. Consider how people of Bangladesh feel when India wants access to its roads and railways for transit while setting up such restrictions.
Indian tea producers have blocked Bangladesh Tea from Indian market. There are many experts who feel that importing tea from Bangladesh will not only bring lower prices to the Indian consumer, it will allow India to export more of its higher quality tea to the world market.
West Bengal restricts import of Bengali books and magazines from Bangladesh. Contrast this with the fact that more than 60% of Bengali books and magazines published in West Bengal are for market in Bangladesh. While numerous Indian TV channels are available in Bangladesh, Indian government bans Bangladeshi channels in India.
