Import of vehicles from India
India was fulfilling its transportation needs by locally manufactured vehicles for a long time until the car manufacturing industries were made open to foreign investment on joint-venture basis a few years ago. Heavy tax & duty are levied on imported vehicles.
In Bangladesh most of our cars are imported from Japan, costing a huge amount of foreign exchange. Other brands of cars are imported from European countries and the US.
If we import most of our vehicles from India, I believe we can save a lot of foreign exchange but at the same time I am afraid of the huge trade imbalance we have with India and if we stop import of Japanese vehicles (cars), Japan might be displeased as one of our major economic donors.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Our economists may devise a strategy in this regard as car is still a luxury item in Bangladesh.