New Delhi. The ongoing turmoil in Bangladesh has given sleepless nights to auto-parts traders in Delhi. Traders in markets like Kashmiri Gate and Karol Bagh who export spare parts to Bangladesh are worried about the sale of goods as they fear that they will have to pay for the goods already sent there and the goods that are on the way.

The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) said that the same brands of two-wheelers and four-wheelers are sold in India and Bangladesh, making sales in auto parts possible. Goods worth Rs 1,000 crore are exported from Delhi to the neighboring country every month, but as Brijesh Goyal, national convener of CTI, said, "The current crisis has put the trade at risk, due to which traders are unable to decide anything about the future of their business."

Vishnu Bhargava, former president of the Automotive Parts Merchants Association and a distributor of auto parts of major Indian brands, revealed that the number of Indian brand vehicles is quite high in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Bhargava, who runs Mahindra Auto Parts, told The Times of India, "Our business suffered during the political unrest in Sri Lanka. It took us time to get new orders and now the situation in Bangladesh has increased our concern about the loss. We are refusing to give new orders, but what about the orders we have already shipped?"

Ajay Gupta, a Karol Bagh auto spares businessman for 20 years, was equally worried. He claimed that the situation had already become worrisome before the events of the last few days. He said, "In the last two decades, we have not been able to face such uncertainty as now. Our recent consignment by road is stuck in Bangladesh at Benapole on the West Bengal border, now we have to pay damage charges to the transport company. Not only this, there are instances when customers have received goods as per bank information, but even after internet services were restored in Bangladesh, there has been no response to our queries on mail on receipt of goods. We can only hope that we do not have to face losses.”

Businessmen troubled by the situation in Bangladesh are in touch with exporters in Kolkata, Jaipur and Ludhiana and if the situation remains the same, they will all work together to find a solution. Chandni Chowk MP Praveen Khandelwal claimed that his research team is assessing the impact of the political crisis on the markets. He said, “Not just auto parts, India also supplies coffee, spices and confectionery items to Bangladesh. But at the moment we can only wait and watch. Only after the government is formed there, we can take this matter forward at some level.”