A wholesaler at Jashore's Boro Bazar has been fined by the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection for selling Indian hilsa as local fish. The outlet, Karnaphuli Fish, was fined Tk5,000 during a drive at the fish market on Wednesday afternoon.

The operation was led by Selimuzzaman, assistant director of the directorate in Jashore. The wholesaler could not produce the fixed price for Indian hilsa or the paperwork for its purchase and sale.

Retail and wholesale shops across the fish market were also inspected. The firm was instructed to sell Indian hilsa at the fixed price and to keep import documentation on file. Sadar upazila fisheries officer Ripon Kumar Ghosh and members of the law enforcement agencies were present.

Hilsa is now coming into Bangladesh from India to cover a shortfall in the domestic market. In the first two months of the 2026-27 financial year, 352,786kg of hilsa was imported through the Benapole land port in Jashore — 323,346kg of it in August and 29,440kg in July. The declared value of those imports is about Tk69.3 crore.

Indian newspapers Anandabazar Patrika and Hindustan Times have reported that roughly 500 tonnes of hilsa was exported from India to Bangladesh over the past two months. Citing Syed Anwar Maksud, secretary of the Howrah Wholesale Fish Importers' Association, the Indian media said the shortfall in Bangladesh had, for the first time, pulled hilsa out of the Howrah market as well.

Passing imported fish off as local exposes the buyer to a price risk: hilsa from the Padma and the Meghna usually commands more than imported fish. The requirement to keep import papers is the consumer's main protection here.

Source: Samakal (Jashore correspondent)