By Sumi Khan

Dhaka, Jul 15 (IANS): India's investment in Bangladesh is huge and will increase more gradually due to "three reasons", leading Bangladesh business personality Abdul Matlub Ahmad said.

In an interview to IANS, Ahmad, who is the President of the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) and Chairman of Nitol-Niloy Group of Companies, one of the prime conglomerates of the country, said India is such a good friend of Bangladesh, and the supply of oxygen from it through Benapole port has been resumed after two months.

He said Indian investors are keen on Bangladesh as "three important reasons are behind this".

"One of the three reasons is low labour cost in Bangladesh, which is one-third of Indian labour cost. Secondly, Indian importers get a huge market of 1.70 million people, and it is rising very fast," he said, hoping that if the pandemic risk decreases within 2 months, it will jump higher.

"And the third reason is, Bangladesh has arrangements with 39 countries based on the world class status of trade," he added.

"Indian products have 30 per cent value added in Bangladesh. Products with Indian raw materials are made in Bangladesh. 39 countries including India have an arrangement with Bangladesh. It (Bangladesh) is a huge market. Especially the Indian investors are getting a good amount of export incentives and other incentives from the Bangladesh government, which inspires the foreign investors to invest in Bangladesh."

At the same time, Ahmad said that importing goods from India is the easiest, cost effective, fastest, as also safest for Bangladesh. "As per our requirement, we get facilities there. For this reason, export to India also increased, our business people also keen to export their products to India."

"Otherwise, it is safest serving the trade as per our requirement, although it's a big pressure on connectivity through the water, rail, or by air. Regular business and trade are naturally rising high. But if new laws are required for new trade, we will implement them. Yes, we need to activate and implement more laws, which are required for broader trade and business," he added.