Indian Trucking Industry Faces Major Setback Amid Bangladesh Unrest

New Delhi, Aug 8 (KNN) The escalating unrest in Bangladesh has significantly impacted India's trucking industry, with an estimated 1,300 trucks stranded at the Benapole border.

This situation has prompted the All-India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) to urgently seek government intervention.

AIMTC president Amrit Lal Madan revealed that the organization has written to the Indian government to facilitate the return of these stranded vehicles and their crew members.

"After we intimated the government, with GoI intervention, the trucks have started coming back to India," said Madan. He further emphasised the broader implications of the unrest: “There will be an impact on the transportation business on account of the developments in Bangladesh.”

The unrest in Bangladesh is causing significant jitters within India’s transportation sector due to the country's importance as a market for Indian goods. Daily, around 1,000 trucks transport a variety of products to Bangladesh, benefiting from a favourable duty structure.

This flow has now come to a complete halt, according to Ramesh Aggarwal of the All India Transporters Welfare Association. He noted, "India ships everything from auto parts, earth-moving machinery, and engineering goods to pharmaceuticals and fresh produce to Bangladesh."

In contrast, Nepal, another neighbouring market, imposes high import duties, limiting the flow to only 100-150 trucks per day.

The transportation industry did not anticipate the situation in Bangladesh to deteriorate so rapidly. Aggarwal commented, “The unrest had been happening for nearly a month, but we did not foresee this level of escalation.”

Truckers estimate that the 1,300 trucks currently stuck in Bangladesh are just a fraction of the total affected. Chennai-based transporter Rajinder Singh, general secretary of the All India Confederation of Goods Vehicles Owners Association, stated, "There are around 5,000 trucks that are currently affected in terms of unloading and getting return load."

The worst affected are the 250 local trucks from West Bengal that regularly carry goods to Bangladesh. The peak rainy season is exacerbating the situation, causing longer transit times and lower loads nationwide, leading to increased rentals on key routes.

According to the latest Shriram Mobility Bulletin, the Kolkata-Guwahati-Kolkata route saw the highest increase in rentals, rising nearly 4 per cent from Rs 128,000 for a round trip in June to Rs 133,000 in July.

Madan expressed concern over the potential spillover effects, “The truck industry is apprehensive as there is a fear of a negative fallout in Kolkata and Guwahati if the disturbance in Bangladesh percolates across the border.”

(KNN Bureau)