India to open new trade routes with Bhutan to enable smoother sub-regional coop

In another milestone, to boost trade relations between India and Bhutan, India has agreed to Bhutan’s request to open new trade routes for Thimpu’s bilateral and transit trade with India at Nagarkata, Agartala, Jogighopa, and Pandu, to be operational shortly. This will enable smoother sub-regional cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

Prior to this, Nagarkata in West Bengal (India), bordering Jitti in Samtse (Bhutan), was notified as a ‘seasonal’ Land Customs Station (LCS) restricted for trade of certain commodities only (viz. orange, ginger, and cardamom).


With this latest development, Nagarkata will now be notified as a ‘permanent’ LCS without any commodity restrictions, thereby allowing Bhutan to export inter alia boulders and river bed materials to India and other third countries, throughout the year, officials said.

The notification of Agartala in Tripura (India) as a new trade route is expected to facilitate Bhutan’s trade with Bangladesh through India. As on date, Dhubri in Assam (India) is the only riverine port designated for Bhutan’s trade with India. With this latest development, two new riverine ports – Jogighopa and Pandu, both located in Assam on India’s National Waterway 2 along the Brahmaputra River – will be included as additional trade routes for Bhutan’s bilateral and transit trade with India.

All of these developments are aimed at benefiting Bhutanese traders by increasing logistical efficiency in terms of both time and costs, officials added.

“India's bilateral cooperation with neighbouring countries are building blocks for our sub-regional cooperation. India's location is ideally suited for new, innovative and alternate connectivity options for land-locked countries such as Bhutan, Nepal. For example, Nepal can access our multi-modal terminal on the Ganga River in Sahibgunj by road as well as waterway. Eastern Nepal will then be better connected with the rest of the sub-region,” Bipul Chatterjee, Executive Director, CUTS International told ET.

Recently, in response to a request from Bhutan, India on 16 October formally allowed trade access through Ahllay in Bhutan, corresponding to Torsha tea garden in India, as an alternative to Phuentsholing. This has greatly mitigated disruptions in the movement of goods between the two countries, particularly given the congestion of traffic on the Jaigaon-Phuentsholing route and the evolving COVID-19 situation in the region.

India has also extended the fullest cooperation and support to Bhutan in terms of ensuring uninterrupted movement of commodities through the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said, adding, Going forward, India will continue to extend all possible support to Bhutan to minimize the health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.