Avaada Group boss suggests Bangladesh set up industrial corridors for Indian companies

Integrated energy enterprise Avaada Group Chairman Vineet Mittal has said that Bangladesh should consider establishing a dedicated industrial corridor where Indian companies can invest with the assurance that there is policy consistency and reliability, along with an incentive mechanism similar to India.

Addressing the media after an exclusive meeting of select CEOs with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Avaada Group Chairman Vineet Mittal said, "Energy transition can provide more stability to Bangladesh's economy and India can support the country in achieving the same."

"India Inc. is keenly looking forward to investing in Bangladesh. What we require is an enabling environment which follows a similar framework to India's ease of doing business and ease of living," he was quoted as saying by Indian financial daily Mint.

The CEOs meeting, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was held as part of the Bangladesh Prime Minister's four-day visit to India to meet the country's top leadership to further cement the relationship and ink bilateral agreements key areas of development such as water management, railway and science and technology.

Elaborating on the support India can provide Bangladesh, Mittal emphasized that adapting to greener energy can help secure the neigbouring country from the unforeseen economic shocks.

"Bangladesh's current annual deficit is about $18 billion which is significantly higher due to energy price fluctuations. This can be dealt with if Bangladesh and India can cooperate in the area of energy transition and bring stability to these prices. 

"The Solar Energy Corporation of India has discovered the lowest price for green energy for the next 25 years. So, as a solution, Bangladesh can partner with SECI on a government-to-government basis and use it to reach out to the India energy industry and collaborate with them to purchase hydrogen, invest in solar, wind and coastal wind energy as per their potential," he said.

"This helps Bangladesh in multiple ways as it can be done via currency swap between Indian Rupees and Bangladeshi currency the ratio of which is fairly static at 1:1.2 and also benefits the neighbouring country from getting the static price for 25 to 30 years for their energy price. So that would be much more beneficial for Bangladesh," Mittal added.

These suggestions fall in line with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision when he launched the Green Grids Initiative "One Sun One World One Grid." This was the first international network of global interconnected solar power grids established jointly with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson, at the COP26 summit last year with an aim to not only reduce storage needs and carbon footprints, but also enhance the viability of solar projects and cut down on energy cost via cooperation between different countries and regions.