Tax holiday is demanded for three more years in ICT sector
Even after taking various initiatives by the government, Bangladesh is lagging behind countries like India, Estonia, Indonesia, Philippines in terms of GDP in the ICT sector. 99 percent of this sector is run by first generation entrepreneurs. And since they don’t get bank loans and now if they are deprived of tax holiday benefits of policy benefits then the country will lose sovereignty in this sector. This market will go into the pockets of foreign companies. In such a situation, domestic and foreign investment will decrease in the future and industrial exports will decrease, talented people will go abroad. At the same time unemployment will increase. In such circumstances, the sector stakeholders have proposed to keep investment friendly policy and tax holiday facilities, industry-academia coordination, e-Identity in public-private joint partnership and follow the Jio Moment policy of India’s digital transformation for the next three years.
VCPIB President Shamim Ahsan presented this proposal at the Investment Climate for Smart Bangladesh round table meeting held at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel ballroom in Banani on Sunday in the afternoon.
Prime Minister’s Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman was present as the chief guest on the occasion. State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak was also present as a special guest; Chairman Parliamentary Standing Committee on Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Members of Parliament Ferdous Ahmed and Zara Mahbub too were present.
Those who the discussed on the main article were: BD Jobs Chief Executive Fahim Mashroor; founder chairman of Policy Exchange Bangladesh Dr. Mashroor Riaz; Brain Station 23 Co-Founder Raisul Kabir; Asset Management Angel Investor Tanveer Ali; University Grant Commission-UGC Member Sajjad Hossain; CRI Policy Advisor Imran Ahmed; Smart Technologies Limited Managing Director Mohammad Zahirul Islam; PRI Senior Fellow Dr. Mohammad Roknuzzaman; Spectrum Engineering Consortium Managing Director Md Forkan Bin Kashem; ADN Technologies Chairman Asif Mahmud; Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Md Ashraf Ahmed; Chittagong Chambers of Commerce and Industry Chairman Omar Hajjaz; FBCCI Vice President Amin Helali and others.
The speakers in the discussion found out that, the ICT sector in Bangladesh is being overestimated due to the incorrect data of the Revenue Board and the prescription is being given to remove the tax holiday benefits. According to them, when AI is swallowing the world, such initiatives will face the flying sector. This sector should be considered as a multi-faceted welfare sector as a crosscutting sector and not GDP. It is necessary to focus on knowledge-based economy by developing skilled workers rather than producing graduates from universities. Also due to the imposition of additional tax on laptops, illegal laptops have spread in the market. And since this sector is for innovation and reinvestment, businessmen need to be given opportunities by the government in this field. Tax grants will make it easier for traders to pay taxes.