The last-minute campaign was held on Sunday from three panels regarding the election of the executive committee of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the top organization of the country’s information technology business sector for the period of 2024-26. On Sunday, May 5th, Team Success completed the last-minute public campaign at the Banani Hotel Sheraton in the capital.
In the event, the team was vocal about tax holiday in the information technology sector till the year 2041 to build a smart Bangladesh. The commitment priority was the permanent address of BASIS. After being elected, Mustafa Rafiqul Islam Duke, the convener of Team Success, announced his early resignation if these two failed. Apart from this, he also said to convert the current number of 11 executive committee to 21. Out of this, we want to reserve 4 posts where 2 posts will be reserved for women entrepreneur members and 2 posts will be reserved for technocrat members.
Apart from him, other candidates presented their promises. These members are: from member category- Taufiqul Karim, Mohammad Aminullah, Md. Sahibur Rahman Khan, Farzana Kabir, Md. Shafiul Alam, Imran Hussain, Syeda Nafisa Reza; NM Rafsan Jani from Associate category; Abdul Aziz from Affiliate category and Abu Muhammad Rashed Majid from International category.
At the event, Mustafa Rafiqul Islam Duke said, tax exemption must be ensured till 2041 in order to save the artisans and the emerging information technology sector in the construction of Smart Bangladesh. The most powerful ally in building a smart Bangladesh is the information technology sector. Due to the Prime Minister’s efforts to exempt 27 digital services from tax since 2011, the information technology sector has now been established as the most promising sector in the country. The government’s 13-year tax exemption for these digital services is set to expire on June 30. It is being discussed in various quarters, due to the pressure of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the tax exemption period of the IT sector will not be extended. The IT sector has been kept in the dark by their words. However, I myself have spoken to senior officials of the IMF and they have not indirectly given any opinion on the tax holiday in the IT sector. Besides, we want to hold a round table meeting with IMF and government policy makers soon to clarify the issue.
With reference to Gartner, he said, every year the business of the global information technology sector is 5 trillion dollars. As a result of the global progress of this sector, IT-based business is also expanding rapidly in Bangladesh. If we stop this momentum now, we will lag behind in the international race. The IT sector of Bangladesh is the duck that lays the golden egg. If the tax holiday is stopped, the government will get four to five hundred crore taka. But this will cause the duck that laid the golden egg to die. And if the duck that lays the golden egg dies, the most promising sector of this country will die.
Referring to the rise of the garment industry, Duke said, “As the garment industry stands now. However, the salaries of their employees are not significantly increased, but the salaries of the IT sector are at international standards. Tax exemption in the IT sector till 2041 will provide employment to around 20 to 25 lakh people. If their average salary is 50,000 taka per month (assuming 20 lakh), the salary will be 1,20,000 thousand crore taka per year. If the 25% tax of that salary is deposited in the NBR fund of 30,000 crores, is it not conceivable where the economy of this country will stand? In overall consideration, IT sector should be ensured tax exemption till 2041 to make IT sector as another alternative to garment industry and to build smart Bangladesh.
A fashion show was held between speeches in the campaign.
In this year’s BASIS election, 33 candidates are contesting from three panels in 11 general category management posts. Voting for BASIS election will continue from 10 am to 5 pm on May 8 at Gulshan Shooting Club in the capital. The total number of voters in this election is one thousand 464 people. Among them 932 voters are in general category, 389 voters in associate category, 134 voters in affiliate category and 9 voters in international category.