Garment exporters looking at West Bengal for warehousing facilities

According to Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President FBCCI, garment makers are no longer looking to set up warehouse in Gujarat but looking at West Bengal due to its proximity to Bangladesh. Abdul Matlub, who was lobbying the government for warehousing space in Gujarat, stated that facility in Gujarat will not be beneficial for Bangladesh due to the long distance. Further, the government is more interested in allocating land for setting up factories, rather than warehousing stated Siddiqur Rahman, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Setting up the warehouse in West Bengal would be commercially viable for Bangladeshi garment makers, said Ahmad. Subsequently, he proposed the idea of the warehouse in West Bengal in a business summit last month, and the state government of West Bengal also showed interest in allocating the land for the same. If West Bengal proposal goes ahead the exporters will also set up a garment park there, Ahmad said.

During the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka in June last year, Bangladesh garment makers had demanded 50 acres of land in Gujarat to build a warehouse to supply apparel directly to retail shops across India. However, shift for warehousing came as Bangladesh sought to boost its annual garment exports to India to US$1 billion in three years from US$100 million now. India is a huge market for Bangladeshi apparels, as its annual retail market size is set to cross the US$40 billion-mark due to growing middle-class.