The budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 announced by the government did not reflect the proposals of the information and communication technology sector as expected.
Rather, it is inconsistent with the purpose of Smart Bangladesh. The business leaders of the national trade organizations of the ICT sector said this at a press conference in a budget reaction on Sunday, June 4, 2023 at BASIS Auditorium in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS), Bangladesh Association of Contact Center & Outsourcing (BACCO), Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB) and E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (E-CAB) jointly organized the press conference.
BASIS President Russell T. Ahmed, BACCO president Wahid Sharif, ISPAB president, MdImdadul Hoque, and E-CAB vice president, Mohammad Shahabuddin, were present at the press conference and gave their budget reaction on behalf of their respective associations and answered various budget related questions from the media representatives.
BACCO President Wahid Sharif said, “international buyers get BPO services from Bangladesh at a relatively low price, so Bangladesh is currently in an important position in the international ICT industry market, many contact center software is not yet being developed in the country which has to be imported from outside the country, but the operating system, database, security software and other software is subject to import duty of 25 per cent along with 15 percent VAT. As a result, we believe that the cost of services in this industry will increase and will have a negative impact on the international market.”
He also said that, as a result of the corporate tax exemption, employment in this industry has grown from just 300 to more than 70,000 people today. In the budget proposal, the request to extend the period of corporate tax exemption for this industry from 2024 to at least 2030 was not taken into consideration. As a result, the price of BPO services will increase in the future, customer attraction will decrease, new investment will be hindered and overall the sector of BPO industry will be hindered.
