The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) said that the country’s e-commerce sector has incurred a loss of around 1,700 crore taka in the last 13 days due to the shutdown of the Internet and Facebook. And among the major sectors that have suffered losses in 10 days, there has been a loss of Tk 600 crore in e-commerce sector, Tk 300 crore in e-tourism sector and Tk 100 crore in e-logistics sector. To get rid of this type of loss, the organization has demanded to include in the e-commerce policy that the Internet and Facebook should never be closed under any circumstances.
In a press conference held in Gulshan on Wednesday, the e-CAB president Shomi Kaisar conveyed the matter to the media personnel. She expressed her demand that, like this time, the Facebook and Internet should never be stopped again. Because Internet is one of the basic needs of livelihood in digital Bangladesh.
In the press conference, the e-CAB leaders presented their demands and expectations to the government. These include extending the repayment period of minimum 6 months for entrepreneurs who have bank loans, providing loans on easy terms, temporarily waiving VAT on logistics and digital marketing, waiving trade license renewal fees and demanding extension of tenure. At the same time, those who have paid money to Meta for advertising for one month should contact Meta so that the money is not deducted. The 15 percent VAT on advertisement should be withdrawn. And entrepreneurs should be waived from the trade license renewal fee.
She also advised the government to contact Facebook for refund or re-advertisement of active ads on Facebook. We want to give business contingency plan to the government. BIDA is the coordinator for the implementation of this plan and requested the sincere cooperation of the government to ensure that small and medium entrepreneurs are not affected in this way.
E-CAB Senior Vice President Md Sahab Uddin Shipon, Vice President Syeda Ambareen Reza, General Secretary Nasima Akhter Nisha, Assistant General Secretary Khandaker Tasfin Alam, Finance Secretary Asif Ahnaf, Director Shahriar Hasan, Md Saidur Rahman Saeed, Md Ilmul Haque Sajeeb and Arnab Mustafa were present at the press conference.
In a written statement, Shomi Kaiser said, due to internet shutdown, slow speed and various social media including Facebook-WhatsApp being closed for a long time, there has been a huge loss to business and commerce. E-commerce business people have been affected. Its impact is far-reaching, which the government is also aware of. We have informed many higher ups. 2 million entrepreneurs of the country are dependent on the Internet. There are more than 5 lakh entrepreneurs based on Facebook alone. Another 8 lakh people are in delivery of goods. Every year this number is increasing at the rate of 25 percent. e-commerce transactions per day is Tk 1 crore 2o lakh, which has been closed for the last 12 days. Orders for perishable goods have also been stopped.
Thanking the government for relaunching Facebook, the e-CAB president said that after the launch of the internet, about 5% business have been restarted. In the last 13 days, there has been a loss of around 1400 crore taka in this sector. Its amount is increasing every day. Due to the shutdown of internet and Facebook, the loss in the e-commerce sector in the last 13 days may exceed Tk 1700 crore.
Information about the loss was obtained from the survey form to the members on digital marketers, content developers and startups.
E-CAB Senior Vice President Sahab Uddin Shipon asked for a hundred percent assurance from the government that the internet will never be shut down under any circumstances in the press conference. On the other hand, vice-president Ambereen Reza said that despite the internet and Facebook being closed in Bangladesh, e-Cab will contact Meta to return the money deducted from the auto ads of the entrepreneurs.
General Secretary Nasima Akhter Nisha said that 95% of e-commerce transactions in the country are still closed due to the closure of Facebook.
