India may allow Bangladesh to import power from Nepal, Bhutan via its transmission line

By Samara Ashrat*
Cross Border Electricity Trade (CBET) has been taking place between South Asian countries under bilateral Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) /Power Trade Agreement (PTAs) over the last decade. Bangladesh and Nepal are waiting for India’s consent to start power export from Nepal to Bangladesh. India’s consent is necessary in this regard, as transmission line has to be passed through India, which stands between the two countries. Both Nepal and Bangladesh will sit on May 15-16 to advance the power export plan further. The fifth meeting of the joint secretary-level Joint Working Group and the secretary-level Joint Steering Committee meetings will be held then.
Bangladesh will likely allow India to set up a 116-200 kilometer power transmission corridor connecting India's northeastern states, also known as the seven sisters. In return, India may allow Bangladesh to import power from Nepal and Bhutan using its transmission line, which has been under negotiation for years.
Technical data from the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) indicates that the capacity of the Bharamara-Baharampur transmission line is expected to increase from 2,400 MW to 3,200 MW soon. But Bangladesh imports 900-940 MW of electricity from India's Baharampur to Bheramara. Considering the unutilized 2,040 MW grid line between Bangladesh and India, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) proposed finalizing the existing grid to supply imported electricity from the GUKUL project in Nepal on 2022. In response, Indian NVVN stated that an agreement for additional power supply to Bangladesh using the Indian grid line could only be signed after finalizing the new transmission corridor between the two countries. According to India's Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Indian authority can make cross-border trade where India is involved. There is a specific provision of a tripartite agreement that allows the Indian authority to sign the framework of bilateral agreements between the government of India and the governments of the respective neighboring countries. In other words, Bangladesh and Nepal must sign bilateral agreements for cross-border electricity trade with India.
Bangladesh permitted the 21st Joint Steering Committee's meeting with India on power sector cooperation. At the meeting, it was agreed that a tripartite power purchase agreement (PPA) would be concluded soon between Nepal, India, and Bangladesh to facilitate the transfer of 500MW of cross-border electricity from Nepal's 900MW Upper Karnali hydropower project. The Joint Steering Committee also discussed implementing a hydropower project in Bhutan through a tripartite investment between Bangladesh, Bhutan, and India. Nepal has an estimated hydropower potential of around 80,000MW, but the country can only produce around 2,000MW. Since 2019, Nepal has been exporting power to India at six Indian rupees per unit. Bangladesh imports 1,160MW of power from India through the Baharampur-Bheramara and Tripura-Cumilla cross-border grid lines. Bangladesh aims to increase the share of imported electricity in its energy mix up to 40% by 2041 when the total generation capacity will reach 60,000MW.

An exchange-led Power market

The northeastern region is India's main hub for increasing its renewable energy capacity. India needs to tap the unexplored natural resources of its Northeast. This region has a potential of 33,100 MW of hydropower. Still, it is untapped because of the low electricity demand, while the absence of a power grid hinders the supply of excess electricity to its western parts. Electricity transmission from northeastern India to western parts of India requires a corridor through Bangladesh due to geo-political boundaries.
India and Bangladesh want to substantially increase their share of renewable energy in the upcoming years. The Indian government has set an ambitious plan to generate 500GW from non-fossil energy-based sources by 2030, meeting 50 percent of energy requirements from renewables. Likewise, Bangladesh wants to increase the share of renewable energy in the country's power mix to around 40 percent by 2050 from less than three percent now.
Bangladesh has the potential to offer multiple electricity corridors for transmission. Arunachal Pradesh alone has a 50,000 MW of hydroelectricity potential. According to Indian North Eastern Electric Power Cooperation, the Indian North Eastern Region has the potential of about 58,971 MW of power, almost 40 percent of India's total hydropower potential. India plans to explore all hydropower potentials in Arunachal Pradesh and other northeastern states. India has a total potential of 145,320 MW hydropower, but only 45,399.22 MW of the quantum was being tapped. But India needs to spend a huge amount of money to transmit hydropower from India's northeastern to northwestern region. But the geographical barrier has constrained India from untapping its potential. Eighteen projects above the capacity of 25 MW were now under construction across Northeast in 2019.
This is why India wants to build power transmission lines for using the power corridor of Bangladesh to reduce the cost. In 2021, Bangladesh showed interest in the power corridor and expected to get 20 to 25 percent of the hydropower to be transmitted through the high-voltage gridline passing through its territory. The transmission line with the capacity of 6,000MW in Bangladesh land maybe 100km in length if it is built in Boropukuria and 200km if it is installed in Jamalpur, while a substation would be built in each route. Two possible routes of the transmission line are — from Asam's Bonga through Baropukuria (Dinajpur) or Jamalpur to Bihar's Punia and from Asam's Silchar via Meghna Ghat-Bheramara to West Bengal. There can be such high-capacity interconnectors in Tripura-Comilla, Bongaigaon (Assam)-Jamalpur/Dinajpur-Purnea (Bihar), Silchar (Assam), and Fenchuganj.
This deal will be fruitful only if India finally allows a power corridor to Bangladesh to import electricity from Nepal. Three grid-connected countries – Nepal, Bangladesh, and Bhutan can participate in the most competitive Day-Ahead Power Market on the power exchanges to either meet their power supply requirements or to replace costlier power in their portfolio.This South Asian Power Market can further expand and develop as more countries in the region are becoming connected. Along with getting the corridor, Bangladesh needs to ensure that it gets a fair share of electricity from India in return of establishing those transmission lines. Because,India can achieve its untapped opportunities of hydropower from the northeastern region by establishing power transmission lines over Bangladesh, both Bangladesh and India should come forward to enhance their energy security based on reciprocity and enhance South Asian regional cooperation.
---
*PhD fellow, International Relations, University of Bucharest

Comments

The silencing of conscience: Ideological attacks on India’s judiciary and free thought

By Sunil Kumar* “Volunteers will pick up sticks to remove every obstacle that comes in the way of Sanatan and saints’ work.” — RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat (November 6, 2024, Chitrakoot) Eleven months later, on October 6, 2025, a man who threw a shoe inside the Supreme Court shouted, “India will not tolerate insults to Sanatan.” This incident was not an isolated act but a continuation of a pattern seen over the past decade—attacks on intellectuals, writers, activists, and journalists, sometimes in the name of institutions, sometimes by individual actors or organizations.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Citizens’ group to recall Justice Chagla’s alarm as India faces ‘undeclared' Emergency

By A Representative In a move likely to raise eyebrows among the powers-that-be, a voluntary organisation founded during the “dark days” of the Indira Gandhi -imposed Emergency has announced that it will hold a public conference in Ahmedabad to highlight what its office-bearers call today’s “undeclared Emergency.”

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

World Bank arm accused of hiding crucial report on Gujarat’s Tata Mundra power project

By A Representative The Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) has accused the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the accountability arm of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), of concealing crucial evidence related to the Tata Mundra coal power project in Gujarat during the period when the case was being heard in U.S. courts. In a press statement released on October 10, 2025, CFA said that the CAO’s final monitoring report, which was completed in 2019 but released only in September 2025, revealed that IFC had failed to take remedial action for years, even as environmental and livelihood harms to local communities worsened.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Search This Blog