Bangladesh is paying Indian conglomerate Adani Group ৳5,000-6,000 crore ($500-600 million) annually above market rates for electricity imports under contracts signed during the previous government, Prothom Alo reported in Bengali.
The revelation adds to mounting scrutiny of energy deals signed during Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule, which ended in August 2024 when she fled to India amid mass protests. Bangladesh's interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has begun reviewing dozens of major infrastructure contracts for potential corruption and unfavorable terms.
The Adani contracts cover electricity imports from India through multiple power plants and transmission infrastructure. According to energy sector analysts interviewed by Prothom Alo, Bangladesh pays significantly higher per-unit rates than comparable regional deals or domestic power generation costs.
A billion people aren't a statistic - they're a billion stories. For Nasrin Akhter, a garment worker in Dhaka, the excess payments mean her family pays more for electricity than neighboring India – despite Bangladesh importing that power from Indian companies at inflated rates. The mathematics don't make sense unless you follow the money.
The Adani Group, controlled by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, has faced intense scrutiny globally following US Securities and Exchange Commission fraud allegations related to a separate solar project in India. While those charges are contested, they've focused international attention on Adani's rapid expansion across South Asian energy markets during the 2010s and early 2020s.
Bangladesh imports approximately 1,160 megawatts of electricity from India – enough to power roughly 2 million households. While cross-border power trade can benefit both nations through grid balancing and resource optimization, the terms matter enormously. Paying ৳5,000-6,000 crore above market rates annually represents a transfer of wealth that Bangladesh's struggling economy can ill afford.
The country faces a severe dollar crunch, with foreign exchange reserves declining from $48 billion in 2021 to approximately $20 billion today. Every dollar sent abroad for overpriced electricity is a dollar unavailable for essential imports of food, medicine, or industrial raw materials.
Energy sector corruption has become a focal point for Bangladesh's interim government. Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, the current power and energy adviser, has publicly stated that numerous contracts signed during the Hasina era involved "massive irregularities" and would be renegotiated or cancelled.
But renegotiating international contracts isn't simple. Adani's agreements likely include arbitration clauses that make unilateral changes expensive or impossible. Bangladesh may find itself trapped in unfavorable deals for years, continuing to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars annually to Indian corporate interests.
The story also highlights the complex economics of South Asian energy politics. India has positioned itself as a regional power exporter, with ambitions to sell electricity to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and potentially Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Whether these arrangements benefit all parties fairly or extract rents from smaller neighbors through political influence matters for regional stability.
Anu Muhammad, a prominent Bangladeshi economist and activist, has long criticized energy deals signed during the Hasina government. "These contracts were signed without competitive bidding, without proper feasibility studies, and without consideration of Bangladesh's national interest," he told reporters. "The public is paying the price in their electricity bills while corporate profits flow across borders."
Follow the money across South Asian borders. Corporate influence, political connections, and contracts signed in the name of regional cooperation but structured to benefit powerful interests at public expense. The ৳5,000-6,000 crore excess payment isn't just numbers on a balance sheet. It's schools not built, hospitals not staffed, and families choosing between electricity and food because someone decided Bangladesh should pay more than market rates to keep the lights on.
