File photo.
The Daily Morning Sun Online //

A legal notice has been sent to ban import of unnecessary goods from India. On Sunday (December 29), Supreme Court lawyer Md. Mahmudul Hasan sent the notice through registered post. The notice has been sent to the Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Chairman of the National Board of Revenue and the Chief Controller of the Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports.

It has been requested to ban the import of all unnecessary goods from India within seven days of receiving the notice and take appropriate action against all Bangladeshi brokers who import goods and send the profit money through hundi or money laundering. Otherwise, a writ petition will be filed in the High Court to take action in this regard, the lawyer said.

The notice said that all countries of the world follow the economic policy of ‘comparative advantage’ when importing goods internationally. In the context of international imports, ‘comparative advantage’ refers to an economic policy where a country imports those goods or services that can be produced domestically but are produced at a relatively higher cost. Through this policy, the country concentrates its resources and expertise in those sectors where it has a comparative advantage. As a result, the country can import high-quality goods at a lower cost and achieve financial and economic development through trade.

For example, European and American countries import garment products from Bangladesh. In this case, European and American countries follow the ‘comparative advantage’ policy. If European and American countries want to produce garment products in their countries, their costs will be much higher. Therefore, it is more profitable for them to import garment products from Bangladesh at a lower price.

But it is very unfortunate that this international trade import policy of ‘comparative advantage’ is not being followed in the case of importing goods from India. Bangladesh imports some necessary goods from India as well as a large amount of unnecessary goods.

Another thing is that most of the importers in Bangladesh who import Indian products are not real importers. They are basically brokers of Indian exporters. These broker importers import goods at low prices on the instructions of Indian exporters and sell them at high prices in Bangladesh. They send the price of this import to the Indians in the form of hundi and get some commission in return. As a result, it is seen that at various times it is published in the media that some products have been imported from India at very low prices, but when the buyers go to the market, they see that the price of the products has not decreased in any way. On the other hand, the government gives duty exemptions on the import of various daily necessities from India to alleviate the misery of the people, but this also has no impact on the market.

However, this results in the profit of Indian exporters and their Bangladeshi broker importers. Because they import products at low cost to Bangladesh and sell them at high prices. Basically, Indian exporters use broker importers in Bangladesh as part of their business strategy. As a result, all unnecessary products are released into the Bangladeshi market. Due to this mismanagement by Indian exporters, Bangladesh is affected in several ways-

First: Although goods are imported at low prices, they are sold at high prices in the Bangladeshi market.

Second: The government receives less duty due to the low import prices.

Third: The brokers sell the imported goods at high prices and send a portion of the profit to the Indians, resulting in money laundering.

Fourth: Indian exporters release all unnecessary goods into the Bangladeshi market through them, as a result of which local industries in Bangladesh suffer huge financial losses and small industries in Bangladesh cannot develop well.

Fifth: The country’s valuable foreign exchange is wasted in importing unnecessary goods.

Stay connected to read the news regularly.