Bangladesh Power Crisis: Why India May Struggle to Help
Bangladesh is facing severe power shortages driven by gas supply constraints and generation problems, while India’s ability to provide additional electricity remains limited.
Bangladesh is facing one of its most severe power shortages in decades, with prolonged blackouts affecting households, hospitals and industries. At Barishal General Hospital, nurses reportedly used mobile phone torches to treat patients after repeated outages and the facility exhausted its diesel backup supply. Several districts have faced power cuts lasting multiple hours a day.
The electricity deficit has reportedly reached 3,000–3,500 MW, far above the shortfall recorded during the 2022 energy crisis. Bangladesh has around 30,000 MW of installed generation capacity, but average output has remained well below demand because of shortages of natural gas and technical problems at several coal-fired plants.
Natural gas is central to the problem. Gas supplied 44% of Bangladesh’s electricity in FY2024-25, while domestic production has declined and imports have increased. A fire that shut one of the country’s two operating LNG terminals in July further tightened supplies. Although gas inflows reportedly returned to pre-crisis levels on September 16, the shortage has already disrupted electricity generation and industrial activity.
Bangladesh’s garment and textile sectors have been particularly affected, with factories reporting reduced production, cancelled orders and shipment delays. Businesses have also turned to costly diesel and LPG alternatives.
India already supplies Bangladesh with electricity, but expanding assistance may take time. Existing contracts, limited spare capacity, transmission requirements and strained bilateral relations could make any major emergency increase in power supplies difficult.
