NEW DELHI – India gives defence credit line worth $500 million to Muslimcountry to counter Chinese influence.
New Delhi has provided a $500 million line of credit to Bangladesh toenable Dhaka to buy military equipment from Indialink.
The deal holds strategic value for India, given its wariness over China’smaritime influence in the region.
The move allows India to transfer technology to Bangladesh for buildingwarships. To achieve this, India’s state-owned Garden Reach Ship Builderswill work closely with the Khulna Shipyard Limited in Bangladesh.
Over the last few years, the Indian government has been trying to enhancedefence co-operation with Bangladesh in the light of the latter’s maritimepartnership with China.
China is Bangladesh’s strategic partner and its biggest supplier of arms.Official data suggest that in the last eight years, Bangladesh importeddefence equipment worth $1.8 billion from China.
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According to the terms of the soft loan window, the financing of exportsfrom India would be allowed in accordance with the country’s foreign tradepolicy, the RBI said.
“Out of the total credit by Exim Bank under the agreement, goods andservices including consultancy services to the value of at least 75 percent of the contract price shall be supplied by the seller from India,” thebank stated.
The balance can be procured from a seller outside of India, includingBangladesh, Sputnik has reported.
