India has banned the entry of several jute products and ropes from Bangladesh at all land border crossings. This is a new sign of rising diplomatic tensions. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) announced this step, which is the latest in a series of trade restrictions that India has put on its neighbor since April.
The DGFT notice says that no land port on the India-Bangladesh border will be able to bring in commodities like jute woven fabrics, twine, cordage, ropes, sacks, and bags of jute that have been bleached or not. But there is an exception that lets these imports keep coming in just through the Nhava Sheva Seaport in Maharashtra.
This year, India has already limited trade with Bangladesh once before. A variety of jute items and woven fabrics were also banned on June 27. India put limits on imports of ready-made clothes and processed foods at ports in May. These moves started in April when India took away a transshipment facility that had let Bangladesh send commodities to the Middle East, Europe, and other places through Indian territory.
The two countries’ relations are so bad right now, which is why these trade sanctions are being put in place. The current decline is mostly due to controversial comments made by Muhammad Yunus, the chairman of Bangladesh’s interim administration, while he was in China. New Delhi allegedly didn’t like the statements, and Indian political officials from all parties were quick to criticize them. The relationship has gotten worse since news came out that Yunus’s government couldn’t stop attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh, especially Hindus.
India and Bangladesh are big rivals in the textile business. In 2023–24, the two countries did a lot of business with each other, totaling USD 12.9 billion. India sent Bangladesh $11.46 billion worth of goods in the most recent financial year (2024–25), and Bangladesh sent India $2 billion worth of goods.