Walton begins export trade with India in Rupee

Bangladesh's leading global electrical, electronics and technology products manufacturer Walton has started export trade operations with India in Rupees.

The initiative to start bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India in Rupees has gone one step further.

Standard Chartered Bangladesh executed the first BDT-INR export transaction for Walton.

In this regard, Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC and Standard Chartered Bangladesh (SCB) signed the first BDT-INR foreign exchange deal at a five-star hotel in the capital on Monday.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries Managing Director (MD) and CEO Golam Murshed and SCB's CEO Naser Ezaz Bijoy inked the deal on behalf of their respective organizations.

Walton Refrigerator's Chief Business Officer Tofail Ahmed said, this year Walton will export refrigerators worth about $10 million to a well-known electronics product marketing company in India.

Of this, Walton is going to send the first shipment of refrigerators worth Rs1.7 crore to the Indian company in November this year. The Indian company has already paid 10% of the advance payment in Rupees.

SCB completed the first Indian Rupee denominated trade transaction for Walton, Ahmed added.

Walton Hi-Tech's MD and CEO Golam Murshed said: "Bangladesh is currently using US dollars to settle foreign trade transactions. Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, we are facing dollar crisis. The value of the dollar against the taka has been appreciated sharply, which has had a significant impact on the country's foreign exchange reserves."

In such a situation, India and Bangladesh's bilateral trade settlement in Rupees has been introduced to reduce. To make this initiative of the two countries successful, Walton has started export trade with India in INR, he also said.

Walton annually exports about Rs1 billion worth of refrigerators, compressors, fans, spare parts in India. As Walton has started export trade settlement in INR, Bangladesh will be able to settle equivalent import bills with INR. Thus, the pressure on the dollar will reduce in the transactions between the two countries. Moreover, the cost of exchanging currencies twice for importers and exporters of both countries will also be reduced. It will also save time in transaction settlement, Murshed added.

In FY22, the bilateral trade between Bangladesh and India was about $16 billion, of which Bangladesh's export was $2 billion.

Under the new system, Bangladeshi traders will be able to settle bills of up to $2 billion for imports from India in Rupees.