Trade between Tripura, BD to \\\'touch $82m by 2016-17\\\'

The rapidly increasing border trade between India's Tripura state and Bangladesh will touch US$82 million in the next two to three years, said a top Tripura Industry department official, reports bdnews24.com.

 "Our target is to increase the border trade to 5.0 billion rupees ($82 million) by 2016-17 and it is quite possible with coming up of new industries from Bangladesh," said PL Agarwal, director of Industries Department of Tripura.

"In 1994 this trade was zero but it rose to 3.4 billion rupees ($55.72 million) in 2012-13. It dropped by 1.0 billion rupees ($16.41 million) last year because of the violence before the elections, but the momentum is back. This trade favours Bangladesh but we are not unhappy."

He said Kolkata's Business Intelligence and Statistics has indicated that Tripura's handicraft mainly bamboo products are increasingly being exported to third countries through Mumbai and Kolkata ports to the tune of $1.64 million.

Mr Agarwal was confident one of the two border haats (markets) coming up in Tripura will be operating by end of October.

This will vastly boost the official India-Bangladesh trade through Tripura, he said.

Tripura has asked Delhi to open dozens of border haats on its border with Bangladesh.

Commerce ministries of India and Bangladesh had agreed to set up border haats at Kamalasagar in Sepahijala district and Sreenagar along the southern border town of Sabroom in 2013.