Kolkata, Feb 20 (IANS) Encouraged by duty-free entry of its textile products into India, the value of total exports from Bangladesh to India is expected to double to $1 billion by the end of June 2012, the Indo-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Monday.

"Exports from Bangladesh to India were about $500 million in the last financial year (Bangladesh's financial year ends June 30). This fiscal, because (Indian Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh has given duty-free access to Bangladesh, our exports are shooting up. Garment export to India is doubling," chamber president Abdul Matlub Ahmad told reporters on the sidelines of a BCIM Business Forum programme here.

"We are expecting that exports from Bangladesh to India at the end of this fiscal will be $1 billion. Garment exports to India during this period will be $0.5 billion," Ahmad said.

In the last fiscal, textile exports from Bangladesh to India were nominal.

A total of 46 Bangladeshi textile items have been given duty-free access to Indian markets since September 2011 after the Indian prime minister's two-day visit to Dhaka.

Ahmad, who is also Nitol-Niloy Group chairman, is currently setting up two 100-acre industrial zones with SEZ status in Bangladesh - one for garment in Kishoregunj near Dhaka and another multi-product in Chattak (Sylhet).

Saying that the industrial zones were mainly targeting garment manufacturers from India, Ahmad said: "We are receiving positive feedback."

He said Indian apparel manufacturers could now join Bangladeshi companies and use the country as its new, cheaper production base.

"The joint-venture companies in Bangladesh can export duty-free products to India and many parts of the world from their plants in Bangladesh," Ahmad added.