At a time when India is looking to expand its presence in the global markets by increasing the basket of its exports, the Economic Survey has pointed that it has a lot to learn from its neighbour Bangladesh on how to build a competitive edge and scale up its position in the export market.
Bangladesh seems poised to emerge as a dominant exporter as its exports posted an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6 per cent during 2011-2019, higher than 0.9 per cent for India, and 0.4 per cent for the world.
The top five export commodities account for more than 90 per cent of total exports of Bangladesh since 2015. These five commodities mainly pertain to textiles & apparel and footwear industry, which are highly labour-intensive and employ unskilled and semi-skilled labour.
Bangladesh holds lesson for India on how to build specialisation in products in which it is competitive, the Survey said.
High diversification combined with low specialisation implied that India is spreading its exports thinly over many products and partners, it added.