Are Bangladesh and India economic rivals? Yes and no

Numerous indicators confirm Bangladesh progressing ahead of Pakistan – especially on the social and economic fronts. As Bangladesh looks to the future, its inspirational targeted level of development achievement would most likely be nations like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, and there is still a lot more to do in order to reach the level of development achieved by those nations.

Where Bangladesh stands now, it is most often compared to India by many prominent economic analysts, publications and forums. India is not only Bangladesh’s closest neighbour and its largest trading partner but now has possibly become the most comparable nation to Bangladesh.

Or perhaps, the more accurate way to express it would be to say that Bangladesh has progressed so rapidly and achieved so much that it has now reached a position such that it can justifiably be compared to India from an economic and social perspective.

Therefore, is India Bangladesh’s new rival? From certain angles and economic perspectives, the answer would be, yes, but in terms of many other comparatives, the answer is, no.

Furthermore, this comparison is not so straightforward and has certain complexities and nuances.

Over the last year or so there have been several articles published by highly reputable Indian origin publications providing an economic and…

Read more