B’desh update: Knitwear, some kind of uncertainty seen

Business: Unrest in Bangladesh – Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday that the current unrest in neighbouring Bangladesh has impacted India’s textile and knitwear sector. Significantly, Bangladesh has witnessed intense and violent protests against the Sheikh Hasina government in the last three weeks, after which she had to resign. An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has taken control of the country’s administration. Talking about the current unrest in Bangladesh, Finance Minister Sitharaman said: “I would like to say at this point that the matter of our textile and apparel investment in Bangladesh has been discussed and calls have also come from many people, many of whom come from Tamil Nadu.

The investments were made there with good intentions and they went there and did well.

Exports from Bangladesh have also increased and I also know that because of our duty and quota liberal approach towards low-income countries, they can also export to India and we were there earlier to import. So there is a little bit of uncertainty being seen particularly in the apparel and knitwear sector. I hope that the investments are safe at this point of time, apart from that it is too early for me to see what kind of impact this situation in Bangladesh will have on our economy.” “You have seen the Prime Minister’s comments, the statement of the External Affairs Minister in Parliament and the efforts being made to keep our borders safe. I hope that the interim government will sort things out as soon as possible so that the people of both Bangladesh and India can get back to normalcy,” she said.