Bilateral Relations

  • Home ›   Bilateral ›   Bilateral Relations

A brief history of India-Bangladesh bilateral relations

India and Bangladesh are bound by history, language, culture and many other identical characteristics. Over the past few years, the relationship has been further developed through cooperation in various fields, including political and security cooperation, trade and economic relations, development partnerships, cultural exchanges and people-to-people interaction. Bangladesh is India's largest trading partner in South Asia and India has become Bangladesh's largest export destination in Asia. 

  1. 2. In July 2024, there was a significant change in the political situation in Bangladesh. Anti-India protests against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her government were also seen in student-led movements. This has resulted in the loss of Indian property and has had a negative impact on the prevailing public opinion on India, especially on social media.

  2. 3. However, due to the multi-dimensional basis of bilateral relations and the positive interdependence that has been developed over the decades, high-level connectivity between the two countries continues even after August 2024. After the swearing-in of Professor Muhammad Yunus as the Chief Advisor to the Interim Government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him on August 08, 2024. On 16 August 2024, a telephone conversation was held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus, where Prime Minister Modi reiterated India's support for a democratic, stable, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh and reiterated India's commitment to support the people of Bangladesh through various developmental initiatives. At the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, Chief Advisor Yunus attended the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit held on 17 August 2024. Prime Minister Modi called on Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus at the side meeting of the BIMSTEC Summit held in Bangkok on April 04, 2022. The Foreign Minister of India met with Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Adviser Mr. Touhid Hossain at the side side-up of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 24 September. The two leaders reunited a side meeting of the 8th Indian Ocean Conference held in Muscat, Oman on 16 February. The Indian Foreign Secretary made an official visit to Bangladesh on December 09, 2024 and attended the Foreign Secretary-level meeting with his peers.

  3. 4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the first head of government to mourn the loss of lives in a tragic plane crash in Dhaka on July 21, 2025 and assured immediate support and assistance for the speedy recovery of the injured. On 23 July 2025, a four-member burn-hitting team from India arrived at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (NIBPS) in Dhaka and provided specialized medical advice for those affected. They held a consultation meeting with Bangladeshi doctors and gave important views on the treatment method. The then National Security Advisor of Bangladesh, Dr. Khalilur Rahman participated in the Colombo Security Conclave held in India in November 2015.

  4. 5. However, anti-India sentiment again became acute after Osman Sharif Hadir, a student leader of the movement, was shot in December 2015 and his killers fled to India. This led to attacks on the assistant high commissions of India located in Chittagong, Rajshahi and Sylhet. In this context, additional security measures were taken in the Indian missions and departments in Bangladesh.

  5. 6. During the 2024-25 period, significant progress made in building communication channels with the BNP. Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Come. Jaishankar attended the funeral of former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. He met BNP acting chairman and Begum Zia's son Tarique Rahman. The Foreign Minister handed over a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed deep shock on behalf of the Government and the people of India.

  6. 7. After the BNP's victory in the general election held on 12 February 2026, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was one of the earliest leaders who congratulated BNP Chairman Mr. Tarique Rahman. On 13 February 2026, a short telephone conversation was held between Tarique Rahman and Prime Minister Modi, where the Prime Minister congratulated him and expressed his support for his efforts to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Bangladesh. This was Tarique Rahman's first telephone conversation with a foreign leader after the election. Hon'ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Shri Om Birla, visited Dhaka on 17th February 2026 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new government. He handed over a message of greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman and invited him to visit India along with his family. Indian Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri, India's Leader of the Opposition and Emir of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, during the swearing-in ceremony. Shafiqur Rahman met with him. Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. Khalilur Rahman and Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Humayun Kabir visited India before attending the Indian Ocean Conference in Mauritius. During the visit, they held a meeting with the Indian Foreign Minister, National Security Advisor and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas. High-level visits and bilateral dialogues have provided opportunities for reviewing the progress of relations, resolving the deadlock and providing political guidance in line with the priorities and interests of the two countries.

Defense cooperation:

  1. 8. Training exchanges in the defence sector continue to be the main foundation of bilateral defence cooperation. Over the past year, the Bangladesh Armed Forces has nominated more than eighty-eight courses proposed by India. Notably, four officers of the National Defence College course and three officers participated in the Staff College course on the basis of mutual exchanges between the two sides. Excessive Bongosagar-25 and Integrated Patrol (CORPAT) were conducted in the Bay of Bengal on 10-12 March 2025. Indian Navy INS Ranveer and Bangladesh Navy BNS Abu Ubaidah participated in the exercise. On 24 February 2022, an official of the Bangladesh Armed Forces visited India to attend the Global South Women's Women's Security Conference on the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. Fourteen people received medical care in India in February 2025 as part of the medical facilities for the Bangladesh Armed Forces and their families. Eleven mine Protective Vehicles, 20 M&M Scorpio ‘N’ vehicles, forty milk transport vans, two truck dumpers (capable capacity-10 tons) and six covered vans (capacity-06 tons) have been provided under the defence loan facility in the last one year. Twenty-six members of the Bangladesh Air Force participated in the sixth edition of ‘The Marshal of the Air Force Achieving Singh Memorial Hockey Tournament-2025’ held at the Chandigarh Air Force Station in India. The chiefs of the three forces of India and Bangladesh held a virtual meeting between November 2024 and January 25, in which they discussed identifying the area of cooperation and advancing bilateral activities. A three-member Indian military delegation, led by a two-star rank official, visited Bangladesh on 13-17 October 2025. Similarly, General Officer Commanding of the Army Training and Doctrine Command of the Bangladesh Army participated in the first Army Chiefs Conclave of the United Nations in New Delhi on October 13-16. A five-member delegation of the Bangladesh Army visited the Remount Veterinary Core Centre and College in Meerut, India on 25-29 November. A four-member Indian delegation from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of External Affairs visited Bangladesh on 17-19 November 2025 to attend a workshop on Marine Domain Awareness (MDA). Two officers of the Bangladesh Navy and a representative of BIMSTEC participated in the Maritime Information Sharing Workshop (MISW) held at IFC-IOR in Gurgaon on 03-05 November 2025.

  2. 9. As part of the annual visit of the freedom fighters on the occasion of Victory Day, a delegation of eight freedom fighters and two working officers of the Bangladesh Armed Forces visited Kolkata to celebrate ‘Vijay Day 2025’ on 14 December. As part of the mutual exchange, a delegation of eight war-wounded veterans of the Indian Armed Forces and two working officers arrived in Dhaka on 15 December to celebrate Victory Day-25. A total of twelve NCC cadets, including six boys and six girls, visited India from 15 January to 29 January to celebrate India's Republic Day celebrations. The Director General of Bangladesh NCC also visited India from January 24 to January 29, 2022. Under the scholarship program for the freedom fighters, 200 scholarships are given every year so that the children of the freedom fighters can study at the higher secondary and undergraduate level in Bangladesh. A total of 24,018 scholarships have been awarded so far. Since 2019, the freedom fighters have been given the opportunity to receive medical care in India under the Freedom Fighters Medical Scheme.

River Water Sharing and Flood Management

  1. 10. India and Bangladesh share fifty-four cross-border rivers. Regular meetings of the Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) on the sharing of waters of the Ganges are held. The 89th meeting of the Joint Committee on Water Sharing of the Ganges was held in Dhaka on April 05-09. Members of the Joint River Commission of the two countries led their respective delegations. In the wake of the increase in the risk of floods and droughts, the two countries have started monitoring and exchanging water levels and flood forecasts of cross-border rivers from July 2023 on a daily basis. The Ministry of Water Resources of India immediately provides information on the water level and flood forecasts of the cross-border river to prevent preventive measures and make flood control more effectively.

Multipurpose Communication System:

  1. K. Rail Communication:

  2. 11. India and Bangladesh have been steadily increasing cooperation in the railway sector. India's LoC loan facility for Bangladesh has been provided with the aim of strengthening and capacity building of Bangladesh's rail infrastructure.

  3. 12. Efforts to expand broader connectivity to build a people-centric long-standing partnership have revived six previous rail links between India and Bangladesh in 1965. Hon'ble Prime Minister Modi and then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the sixth cross-border rail link between Agartala and Akhaura, Bangladesh, on 1 November 2023. This rail link will provide an alternative route for India's northeast and pave the way for greater sub-regional connectivity. The other five other rail links currently operational between India and Bangladesh are: Petropol (India) – Benapole (Bangladesh); Gede (India) – Darshana (Bangladesh); Singhabad (India) – Rohanpur (Bangladesh); Radhikapur (India) – Rare (Bangladesh); and Haldibari (India) – Chilahati (Bangladesh).

  4. 13. There are currently three passenger trains running between the two countries— (i) Maitri Express (i) between Kolkata and Dhaka since 2008; (ii) Bandhan Express (from 2017, between Kolkata and Khulna); and (iii) Mithali Express (from June 2022, New Jalpaiguri and Dhaka). The movement of these passenger trains has been temporarily suspended from July 1924 for safety reasons. However, cross-border freight trains continue to operate on the scheduled route.
  5. 14. The 37th Intergovernmental Railway Meeting (IGRM) between India and Bangladesh was held at the Railway Building in New Delhi on January 20-22. The broad gauge (BG) wagon rent adjustment meeting between India and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi on May 05-09.

  6. K. Roads and Inland Waterways:

  7. 15. Currently, five bus routes are operational between India and Bangladesh, which connects the cities of Kolkata, Agartala and Gokhati in Bangladesh with Dhaka and Khulna. However, there are currently two routes running, these are Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka and Agartala-Dhaka-Dhaka.

  8. 16. Shri Amit Shah, Union Home Minister and Co-operatives, inaugurated the Passenger Terminal Building and ‘Maitree Dwar’ at Petrapole Land Port in West Bengal on 27 October as an important step to further improve cross-border trade and migration infrastructure. “Protocol on Inland Waterways Trade and Transit (PIWTT)” exists between India and Bangladesh to facilitate trade and transit between the two countries through inland waterways, which has been in effect since 1972. Under the agreement, inter-country commercial goods and transit facilities are provided through barge and ships using river routes between India and Bangladesh. Inland waterways have also been launched between the two countries. The world’s longest river-based cruise ‘MV Ganga Vilas’ completed its journey in February-March 2023 using the inland waterways of India and Bangladesh. The new route of Sonamura-Daudkandi was added through the second addition of PIWTT, signed on 20 May 2020, which connects Tripura through Bangladesh to the National Waterways of India.

  9. G. Port Connection:

  10. 17. Currently, there are six integrated check posts (ICPs) networks between India and Bangladesh. These are: Petropol (West Bengal), Agartala (Tripura), Sabroom (Tripura), Srimantapur (Tripura), Sutarkandi (Assam) and Dauki (Meghalaya). Five more ICPs (four of them in West Bengal and one in Mizoram) are under plan. The implementation of the ‘Chittagong and Mongla Ports Agreement (ACMP) has facilitated the transportation of transit goods between the northeast and other parts of the country. The sixth meeting of the sub-group on integrated check post/land customs station infrastructure between Bangladesh and India was held in New Delhi on 12 November 2024.

Economic and Commercial Cooperation:

  1. 18. Bangladesh is India's largest trading partner in South Asia, while India is the second largest trading partner in Bangladesh in Asia. India exported $9.73 billion worth of goods to Bangladesh in the fiscal year 2025-26 (February 2016), while India's imports from Bangladesh at the same time amounted to US$1.62 billion. The total volume of bilateral trade as of February 2025-26 was US$11.35 billion. Under the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), India provides duty-free and quota-free market facilities for almost all Bangladeshi products. India is one of the largest export destinations in Asia for Bangladeshi products.

  2. 19. India and Bangladesh officially launched a new system of trade settlement in Indian rupees (INR) on 11 July 2023. The system was introduced to reduce dependence on the US dollar in bilateral trade, reduce transaction costs and time, speed, efficiency and convenience, and increase the overall trade volume.

  3. 20. Commercial cooperation in new sectors, such as the startup sector, has developed in the last few years. The India-Bangladesh Startup Bridge was inaugurated in July 2023. The first start-up delegation from Bangladesh visited India in May 2023 and later visited Bangladesh from India to participate in the first Bangladesh Startup Summit held in July 2023. A business delegation from Bangladesh’s textile sector visited India to participate in the ‘India Tex 2025’ held in New Delhi on 14-17 February.

Power and Energy Cooperation:

  1. 21. Cooperation in the power and energy sector has become one of the most important aspects of India-Bangladesh relations. Bangladesh is currently importing 1160 MW of electricity from India. The Joint Working Group (JWG) and the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) in the power sector provide an institutional framework to enhance bilateral cooperation in the border power trade. The Maitri Super Thermal Power Plant, which has a capacity of 1320 MW built in Khulna with Indian support, is currently supplying electricity to the national grid of Bangladesh. In October 2024, India, Nepal and Bangladesh signed a trilateral agreement to export 40 MW of electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh through India's power grid. This trilateral power transaction through India's grid was inaugurated on 15th November 2024 and the actual transmission of hydroelectricity began from 15 June 2025 to 40 MW.

  2. 22. The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline for high-speed diesel transportation from India to Bangladesh was jointly inaugurated by the Prime Minister of the two countries on 18 March 2023, which has made a significant contribution to ensuring Bangladesh's energy security. During the recent energy crisis, India has supplied 57 TMT diesel to Bangladesh through the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline in the current calendar year till April 2026.

Development Partnership:

  1. 23. Bangladesh is one of the biggest development partners in the world. India has provided three loan facilities to Bangladesh. Bangladesh has also been given $500 million defence loan facility for the first time. Under a total of four LoCs, the government of Bangladesh has been paid about US$8 billion for various sectors such as road, rail, shipping and port development. So far, about two billion dollars have been distributed. The 23rd bilateral project review meeting, held on 05-06 March 2025, assessed the progress of the ongoing projects and determine the future course of action. Apart from LoC, India has been providing grants to various infrastructure projects, including the construction of the Akhaura-Agartala rail link, the dredging of Bangladesh's inland waterways and the construction of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline.

  2. 24. Besides, the high-impact community development project (HICDPs) is an important part of development assistance in Bangladesh. The Government of India has funded a total of eighty-three HICDP projects, including the construction of dormitories, academic buildings, skill development and training institutions, cultural centres and other community infrastructure in different districts of Bangladesh. Ten more projects are under implementation. The total value of these projects is around $50 million.

Training and Capabilities Development:

  1. 25. Since 2014, more than 7240 government officials and 1250 judicial officers have received training in various institutions in India, including the administration, police, customs, narcotics detection, science and technology, agriculture and wildlife conservation under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. In the fiscal year 2024-25, 65 government employees/professionals participated in various ITEC courses and so far in the 41st fiscal year, 41 participants have received various trainings in India.

  2. 26. In the last three years, about 1544 Bangladeshi students have received full-funded scholarships in various reputed educational institutions in India through the Golden Jubilee Scholarship (SJS) and Lata Mangeshkar under the ICTR. So far, 543 Bangladeshi students have been awarded the ICCR scholarship in the 2025-26 academic year and seven students have been awarded the AYUSH scholarship. In addition, from January 2025 to now, about 2161 Bangladeshi students have received visas from different institutions in India under the self-financing program.

Cultural Cooperation:

  1. 27. Art and culture, including language, literature, music and film, serve as an important cultural bridge between the two countries. Both countries feel proud of their collective literary heritage through personalities like Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Bengali films of both countries also play a role in contemporary culture. Cultural exchanges were created by festivals like Durga Puja, Pahela Boishakh (Bangla New Year) and Eid.

  2. 28. The ICCR (ICCR) has been operating in Bangladesh since 2010. The Centre serves as an important centre for deep cultural relations and exchanges between India and Bangladesh. Its inauguration was an important milestone in the strengthening of cultural diplomacy between the two countries. Previously, the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC) used to operate in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. However, on August 5, 2024, the IGCC building was vandalised and set on fire by the miscreants. Since September 2024, all activities have been transferred to the Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) located at Gulshan Avenue in Dhaka. The Centre is conducting various courses and workshops, including yoga, Indian classical music, Bharatanatyam and Kathak Dance, which is being carried out as part of the development of mutual understanding between the local population and the development of mutual understanding between the people of India and Bangladesh. The Centre is also incorporating Bangladeshi professionals who have received training from Gurus in India or at Indian universities. In 2025, the IGCC organized art exhibitions, joint music and dance performances, film exhibitions and educational activities on a weekly basis, highlighting India's rich cultural heritage. These included large events such as Lalon Evening, the centenary film exhibition, Friendship Day and International Yoga Day. Recently, on the occasion of Pahela Boishakh in 2026, the center organized a two-day music programme, where renowned Indian singer Srikanth Acharya and renowned Bangladeshi singer Aditi Mohan participated. The mission has also helped the Indian artists and cultural teams to participate in various international events from Bangladesh, such as Surajkund Mela 2026, 10th International Dance and Music Festival 2025 and Bali Yatra Festival 2024.

  3. 29. The Bangladesh Youth Delegation Programme began in 2012, which is an important initiative to enhance understanding between young people's mutual trust, values and culture. So far, more than 850 young people from different sectors of Bangladesh have visited India under the programme. In February 2024, a 100-member Bangladesh youth delegation visited India and visited various important educational and cultural establishments.

Visa:

  1. 30. Visa services are usually provided through sixteen centres in Bangladesh to strengthen the people's relations between India and Bangladesh and to meet the growing demand for Indian visas. However, visa activities have been restricted due to the deterioration of the law and order situation in Bangladesh after August 5, 2024. Indian Missions and Posts in Bangladesh continue to provide emergency medical, education, business and other emergency visas required for travel to third countries. Visa activities will be gradually normalized depending on the improvement of the security situation.



Go to Navigation