Bangladesh can't import Nepalese electricity amid no Indian objection
Representational image drawn by AI.
Bangladesh is currently unable to import electricity from Nepal, not due to any objection from India, but mainly because the capacity test of the transmission line has not been completed. Bangladesh will now have to wait at least one year for this electricity.
According to a report published on Sunday by the Kathmandu Post, it was stated that Nepal's additional electricity export to Bangladesh has been stalled because India did not grant approval.
When contacted for verification, Engineer Md. Rezaul Karim, Chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, clarified the matter. He said, "It is not correct that electricity import has stopped due to India's objection. The main reason is that a technical analysis is currently underway on the capacity of the transmission line that will carry this electricity through India. I hope this will be completed soon. After that, there are a few more processes, which will also be completed."
According to the power division, Nepal first exported electricity to Bangladesh on November 15, 2024, for only 12 hours. Since then, Nepal has been exporting 40 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh every year from June 15 to November 15. On November 27, 2025, at a meeting of the Nepal-India Joint Steering Committee at the energy secretary level in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Nepal agreed in principle to increase electricity exports by an additional 20 megawatts. In that meeting, an understanding was also reached to move forward with the necessary legal and administrative processes. After that, the process of testing the capacity of India's transmission lines began.
PDB officials say that since Bangladesh does not share a border with Nepal, electricity from there must be brought through India. Therefore, to import this additional electricity, a trilateral agreement among Bangladesh, India, and Nepal is required, along with several other formalities such as a decision from the Joint Steering Committee at the energy secretary level. Only then can that electricity be brought in.
Officials say that all these processes will take some time. For this reason, the possibility of bringing additional electricity this year is very low. Bangladesh will have to wait until June of next year. This is because Nepal typically exports its surplus electricity to India and Bangladesh during the monsoon season. However, during winter, Nepal has to import electricity from India to meet its own demand.
Citing Nepalese energy officials, the Kathmandu Post reported that India's Central Electricity Authority has suspended approval for the export of an additional 20 megawatts of electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh beyond the existing 40 megawatts, citing capacity limitations of the transmission line. As a result, Nepal is unable to export additional electricity to Bangladesh starting from June 15.
Nepal's electricity enters India through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 kV transmission line, and from there it reaches Bangladesh via the Baharampur-Bheramara 400 kV line.
Officials from Power Grid Bangladesh PLC, the state-owned electricity transmission company, said there is no capacity shortage within the country's own transmission system to import electricity from Nepal. The electricity import mainly depends on the capacity of the transmission line on the Indian side.
Currently, the 40 megawatts approved for export to Bangladesh are generated from Nepal's Trishuli and Chilime hydropower projects. These projects are also approved to export electricity to India. The proposed additional 20 megawatts for Bangladesh were also expected to be exported from the same projects.
So far, Nepal has received approval to export a total of 1,165 megawatts of electricity to India and Bangladesh combined. While Nepal sells electricity to India in Indian rupees, transactions with Bangladesh are conducted in US dollars.
According to Nepalese authorities, the country is selling electricity to Bangladesh at 6.40 US cents per unit. The same rate was expected to apply to the additional 20 megawatts.