India orders land ports closure for ready-made garments from Bangladesh

India imposes port restrictions on Bangladesh exports, impacting ready-made garments and specified items, aiming to boost local manufacturing.

Bangladesh will no longer be allowed to use Indian land ports to export ready-made garments (RMG) to India, officials in New Delhi asserted, following a notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade issued on Saturday (May 17, 2025) evening that comes into immediate effect. The same notification has also ordered that specified commodities from Bangladesh will be prevented from entering India’s north-east through the land ports of Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, and Mizoram.

“Bangladesh has recently imposed port restrictions on the import of Indian yarn via land ports, allowing our yarn exports only via seaports. It has been decided to reciprocate this measure by imposing port restrictions on imports from Bangladesh of ready-made garments of all categories across all land ports – LCSs (Land Customs Stations) and ICPs (Integrated Check Posts),” said a senior official, who added that in recent months India has noted aggressive inspection of Indian trucks on the Bangladeshi side, which has disturbed policymakers in New Delhi.

The official further clarified that hereafter, ready-made garments from Bangladesh will be allowed to enter India only through the seaports of Kolkata and Nhava Sheva (Mumbai), where the cargo shipments will be subjected to “mandated inspections.”

On April 13, Bangladesh stopped Indian yarn exports through its land ports and, in addition, from April 15, also stopped Indian rice exports from the Hili and Benapole ICPs of West Bengal. The official said that Bangladesh, a major global producer of textile items, has been “cherry-picking” on trade issues and that India feels this cannot be allowed to continue.

The official further expressed India’s unhappiness about what he described as “unreasonably high and economically unviable charges” that Bangladesh imposes on Indian goods transiting through its territory, which prevent north-eastern States from cost-effectively selling their products to the rest of India.

“India has decided to impose port restrictions across all LCSs and ICPs in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram on specified Bangladesh exports to India, targeting those commodities that can be locally manufactured,” said the official, explaining the second part of the notification. The specified items under this order will include (among others) ready-made garments, plastic items, wooden furniture, juices, carbonated drinks, fruit-flavoured drinks, bakery items, confectionery items, cotton yarn, and dyes.

The Hindu has learnt that the list of specified items will be reviewed from time to time. This particular order on specified items will also be implemented through the LCSs of Fulbari and Changrabandha, located in the northern part of West Bengal.