I think you hit the nail right on the head.
These people here advocating CONVENIENT Bangladeshi industrialization prescriptions to preserve and help INDIAN INDUSTRY and EXPORTS TO BANGLADESH.
They are fifth columnists or false flagger Indians themselves who have little idea about the ACTUAL commercial and industrial scenario in Bangladesh.
Their prescriptions are supposed to help India remain a strategic industrial supplier to Bangladesh for the longer term and will only help Indian economy.
A nation of 170 Million (half the population of the United States) can certainly do better, even if we are a third or second world country. We have the size and chops of market strength and we can supply it internally - instead of allowing free flow of high value addition Indian goods (sans tariff), like these jokers suggest.
We should selectively block Indian imports like light and heavy commercial vehicles as our market size/sophistication increases, and not be a convenient open market for these Indian products - like these Indians are suggesting.
Bangladesh will not be a den of producing low value addition items forever, that is already changing.
Garments will keep being a staple export item. But like China, we will be going into at least medium value addition items like motorcycle manufacturing and export - as well as going into maybe small three and four wheeler mini-truck assembly/export with CKD kits from China, this is already happening locally with import substitution. The problem is - low or no Bangladeshi tariffs on Indian imports in this sector (like in many other sectors) make it unprofitable to do this while Indians dump their excess production in our market.
Once tariffs on Indian imports are applied (like Indians apply tariff on our products, unlike China) then many more local investors will jump into local Bangladeshi assembly and manufacture of these medium-value-addition products.
Electronic appliances and things like laptops and tablets will go into higher sophistication products for at least internal supply and import substitution, Walton is just a start. Indians cannot compete with our products here.
What we ACTUALLY NEED TO DO FOR STARTERS is TARIFF THE HECK OUT OF INDIAN AUTO and HCV/LCV (Heavy and Light Commercial Vehicle) parts/assemblies and go into assembling our HCV/LCV's from Chinese or other non-Indian CKD kits. These Indians had free rein to sell their products in Bangladesh without tariff for too long thanks to AL support and their RAW agent INDIA-SHILL commerce ministry fifth columnists.
Most Indian HCV/LCV suppliers are also military item suppliers to their ARMY, NAVY and AIR FORCE. On principle we should not support their exports in our market.
We should increase Tariffs on Indian trucks and buses (and their CKD kits) and become least dependent on any medium and high sophistication Indian product while they needlessly block our exports to their market on flimsy NTB pretexts. They know their business people cannot compete with our Bangladeshi exports to their market, so they place tariffs and NTB's ON EVERY SINGLE BANGLADESHI EXPORT.
Two can play at this game. First thing we need to do is remove this fifth columnist RAW agent commerce minister Tipu Munshi and his assistant Tapan Kanti Majumdar.
This bhakt Tipu Munshi is in India to negotiate "A planned CEPA with Bangladesh (which) could double India’s exports to its neighbouring country to over $32 billion."
Now I ASK you Bangladeshis - who does this idiot work for, Indians or us ? Indian Banyas are already licking their dirty chops at the prospects of minting money from Bangladesh. If Indians flood our markets, like this idiot commerce minister is allowing, how can we grow our own industry ??
We don't have to follow India-supplied prescriptions for developing our industry. We will (and are) looking to the East and integrating our economy with ASEAN countries (and most importantly - China) which these Indians themselves admit.
I will reply to their rants and de-confuse their serpentine arguments when I have a bit more time.