According to sources, the restriction has been imposed to discourage Indian importers as import of jute products from Bangladesh rose by more than 500 percent during April-November period in 2005-06 financial year.

Submissions of chemical testing certificates have become mandatory for Bangladeshi traders who export twines. The certificates to be issued by the Indian authorities will have to mention that the twines do not have oil content over three percent, sources said.

India has also increased tariff on jute products to 12 percent from eight percent. Previously, Indian importers were supposed to pay eight percent tax comprising six percent in duties, one percent countervailing duty (CVD) and one percent to the education fund in cases of imports from Saarc countries.

The basic duty for non-Saarc countries is 15 percent, plus two percent to the education fund and one percent as CVD, totalling 18 percent.

Indian importers now have to pay 15 percent duty on jute cuttings and four percent duty on raw jute that were zero duty items previously.

"We were hoping to export 30,000 metric tons of jute goods this fiscal against 7,000 metric tons of last year. But the new measures have stopped the flow," Shabbir Yusuf, chairman of Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association (BJSA) told The Daily Star.

As a result, jute goods export to India has now gone down sharply, he said adding that the exporters still continue to export but the cumbersome barriers are making it very difficult for them.

Yusuf mentioned that the Indian producers earlier put pressure on their government to impose restriction on jute goods import from Bangladesh as the import rose sharply within a short span of time.

According to the statistics of Indian importers, jute products import from Bangladesh was 50,240 tons during April-November period in 2005-06 against 9,470 tons during the same period of 2004-05, BJSA chairman said.

Meanwhile, the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh recently identified testing requirements, harmonised system (HS) code classification, customs valuation, special labelling requirements for jute bags, mandatory standards requirement and technical regulations are some of the barriers the exporters are facing to continue their export to India.

EPB recently received an explanation from the commercial wing of Bangladesh deputy high commission in Kolkata and sent a letter with the explanation attached to it to different trade bodies whose members export to India.

The Office of Jute Commissioner of India has made mandatory for all imported jute bags to carry markings on individual bags declaring the country of origin, which must be machine stitched, the EPB letter said.

It is not clear as to why such requirements are imposed only on jute bags, while other packaging materials do not have to fulfil such conditions, it said.

According to available statistics, more than 90 percent of jute bags imported into India are from Bangladesh.

Indian customs authorities, in many cases, do not agree to the HS code classifications declared by Bangladeshi exporters. Apparently, the customs authorities attempt to classify the goods under such HS codes that are subjects to higher duties,

The Indian authorities also tend to take a long time for verification of prices, creating unnecessary delays in clearance, the letter mentioned.

According to official statistics, Bangladesh's import from India rose to $1.18 billion during July-December 2005 while its export was $105 million during the same period.