New Delhi: The Economist swears it isn’t making machh ado about nothing in its story on fish diplomacy between India and Bangladesh.
Besides an overdose of puns—India-Bangladesh relations are “falling to pisces” over ilish the “delish” fish, it says—The Economist digs into how the ilish fish, also known as Hilsa, has become a fishbone of contention after the August uprising in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi ilish is considered the finest fish from the region, and is particularly in demand during Durga Puja in India. And now the new Bangladeshi de facto minister of fisheries and livestock Farida Akhter has reinstated an old export ban.
This export ban was earlier in place for a decade between 2012 and 2022 over a water-sharing dispute. It was called off on the first day of Sheikh Hasina’s state visit to India in 2022, when ilish was reportedly discussed front and centre. Now, with relations at rock-bottom, the “price for the back-and-forth will be paid by hungry Indian Bengalis,” The Economist writes. Bengalis tend to turn up their noses at fish from Gujarat, but a Bangladeshi ban may finally “tip the scale”, the story finishes with a flourish.
Not to be left out, the BBC also had a report on fish diplomacy—though, disappointingly, lacking in puns.
“Hilsa is Bangladesh’s national fish but it is a luxury, affordable only for the rich and middle class; the poor can’t buy it,” the BBC reports. It accounts for 12 percent of the country’s total fish production and contributes to 1 percent of its GDP.
The new ban, the BBC reports, is to ensure that there’s no shortage of the fish in Bangladesh. It quotes Akhter as saying that goodwill towards India is completely separate from fish diplomacy.
“We will have goodwill gestures in all other ways. They are our friends. But we should not do anything by depriving our people,” said Akhter.
It seems to have been a big day for analysing Indo-Bangladesh relations for both the BBC and The Economist. Fish diplomacy aside, the BBC also ventured into ‘megaphone diplomacy’.
A report claims that Muhammad Yunus, the interim head of government in Bangladesh, is frustrated with India for allowing Sheikh Hasina to make political statements. “If India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” said Yunus to reporters.
The BBC reports that former Indian diplomats are “taken aback” by this strong statement of “megaphone diplomacy” from Yunus, who’s discussing contentious matters of foreign policy via the media.
The Economist has yet another story on whether the garment industry in India can benefit from turmoil in Bangladesh. It sounds like it could: a group of exporters based in the textile hub of Tiruppur said that it had earned fresh orders worth $54 million because of unrest in Bangladesh, while a group outside Delhi said it received 15 percent more orders in August from clothing brand Zara.
“Despite being the world’s second-biggest producer of cotton—which it exports to Bangladesh—India lags behind its neighbour in garment production, exporting a quarter as much by value in 2023,” The Economist explains.
But India doesn’t yet have the capacity to compete with Bangladesh. “For India, the bigger opportunity for growth might come from the decline of low-value garment production in China. But here, too, India will have to contend with competition, including from Bangladesh. According to the bank’s research, the two biggest beneficiaries from China’s shrinking share of low-skill manufacturing exports like garments are Bangladesh and Vietnam,” the piece explains.
Departing from Bangladesh, the Financial Times has a story on the rise of the Indian tourist. Rising incomes, a growing middle class, and improved flight connection now has Indians travelling more than ever before, FT reports.
India is on the move to become the world’s third-biggest domestic tourism market—after US and China—and in three years will become the world’s fifth biggest international tourism market.
“By 2027, India should eclipse Australia, Canada and France to become the world’s fifth-biggest outbound tourism market,” FT says. “By then, Indian tourists will account for $89bn of the market value, it forecasts, more than double the $38bn recorded in 2019.”
Surprisingly, the Middle East seems to be India’s top destination for foreign travel, followed by south-east Asia, North America, and western Europe. India is now the biggest source of tourists in Dubai and the third-largest source of tourists in Thailand.
Plus, rising prices in Indian tourist hubs are encouraging more middle-class Indian families to look abroad. “Prices in Indian resort destinations such as Goa and Kerala have made foreign trips to nearby countries such as Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Singapore more attractive,” FT reports.
For wealthier Indians, however, the story is very different. Family vacations for the rich don’t really have a price tag. But family businesses run by the rich do—and The Economist does a deep dive into how family empires like the Ambanis, Adanis, Bajajs, Birlas, and the Jindals of India dominate business.
“Big family companies play a strikingly large role in Indian commerce. Its ten most valuable family-business groups are worth nearly $900bn,” The Economist writes. “The top 100 are worth $1.4trn.”
It makes a sharp observation: in a country with weak institutions, family firms are “better placed to attract capital, negotiate with workers and sway government policy in their favour.” And it helps that India hasn’t had an inheritance tax since 1985, making it easier to maintain family control over both business and legacies.
Change will be slow, however. “In time, the growing dynamism of India’s economy may further loosen the grip of corporate dynasties. New-business registrations have picked up as the process has become simpler. Despite a recent slump in venture-capital investment, India has a vibrant tech scene full of entrepreneurs eager to disrupt stodgy incumbents,” The Economist optimistically writes, before concluding that India’s family empires will not be jetting off anywhere fast.
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