Trade with Tripura still normal

After the ouster of the Awami League government in the face of a student-people mass uprising in August last year, trade between Bangladesh and various Indian states slowed down to some extent.

However, imports and exports through the checkposts in Tripura have remained unaffected. Fish is still being regularly exported from Bangladesh to the state.

Tripura’s Fisheries Minister Sudhanshu Das said regular consignments of fish are arriving from Bangladesh through the land ports. Trade continues uninterrupted, and fish remains the most important product in bilateral trade.

At a meeting with India’s fisheries department officials on Thursday (May 1), the fisheries minister further stated that the state faces an annual shortfall of about 31 tons of fish. To meet this deficit, traders are purchasing fish from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Bangladesh.

During the meeting, a fisheries department official also mentioned that various species of fish are being imported from Bangladesh into India.

Besides the main land port at Akhaura-Agartala, trade between Bangladesh and India is also taking place through eight other land ports. This bilateral trade has been growing steadily.

In the 2013–14 fiscal year, trade between Bangladesh and Tripura was worth ₹230.24 crore. In the 2023–24 fiscal year, Tripura exported goods worth ₹12.31 crore to Bangladesh, while goods worth ₹703.67 crore were exported from Bangladesh to Tripura. In the 2024–25 fiscal year, Bangladesh has already exported goods worth ₹894 crore to Tripura, and during the same period, Tripura imported goods worth ₹71.52 crore to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh imports crushed stone, corn, incense sticks, ginger, dried chili, vegetable seeds, various spices, and apples from Tripura. On the other hand, the majority of exports from Bangladesh to Tripura consist of fish. Other export items include cement, food products, steel, PVC pipes, beverages, and cotton waste.