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VOL. 8, ISSUE 3 (2026)
India-Bangladesh digital connectivity: Cooperation, asymmetry and adaptation
Authors
Shreshtha Sharma
Abstract
Digital connectivity between neighbouring states with different levels
of digital maturity need not be inherently dependent for the weaker link. India
and Bangladesh provide an example of India’s outreach to its smaller neighbour
that goes beyond cross-border bandwidth and into areas of cybersecurity,
digital payments, e-governance, and digital public infrastructure. In its
interactions with Bangladesh, India has offered its vast digital public
infrastructure and technical maturity, but Bangladesh has been the deciding
factor in adopting, adapting, or withholding specific technologies and
policies. India’s offerings have served as inputs to Bangladesh’s domestic
political and institutional considerations. This paper aims to argues that
Bangladesh is an institutional filter through which Indian technological and
policy offerings pass to secure adoption, adaptation, or rejection in line with
Bangladeshi preferences rather than originate in New Delhi. Telecommunications
offer the clearest illustration of Bangladesh as a filter with low transaction
costs for adopting Indian technologies. Cybersecurity partnerships exemplify
how Bangladesh engages with India to design its standards while complementing
its institutional preferences. Digital payments present the most salient case
of Bangladesh as a filter because it indigenously generated a UPI analog before
deciding to develop its interoperable payments system. The Digital Partnership
2024 between Bangladesh and India aims to build upon Bangladesh’s digital
ecosystem, but the ongoing transition to a new government in Bangladesh may
have challenged the trajectory as the caretaker government assessed initiatives
proposed by the Hasina administration. Informed by the inputs of ADB, JICA, and
the Government of Bangladesh, the present paper concludes by positing
Bangladesh’s absorptive capacity to determine the country’s ability to
integrate India’s offerings.
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Pages:122-126
How to cite this article:
Shreshtha Sharma "India-Bangladesh digital connectivity: Cooperation, asymmetry and adaptation". International Journal of Sociology and Political Science, Vol 8, Issue 3, 2026, Pages 122-126
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