The government has proposed a slew of special incentives for FY2022-23, including a 0.1 per cent reduction in turnover tax, in an effort to assist ICT startups get off the ground and run their businesses smoothly.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal made the projection while proposing a Tk 6,78,064 crore budget for the next fiscal year in parliament, which is Tk 74,383 crore more than the last budget.
The minister proposed exempting startup businesses from all other types of reporting except filing an income tax return; removing expenditure restrictions; and lowering the turnover tax rate to 0.1 per cent instead of 0.6 per cent.
He also proposed allowing startup companies to set off and carry forward losses over a nine-year period, allowing them to use their competitive advantage to expand their business globally.
The digital economy has flourished as a result of the implementation of Digital Bangladesh. Exports in the ICT sector have already exceeded US $1.4 billion.
39 Hi-Tech parks/IT incubation are being set up across the country. Business activities are taking place in nine parks.
So far, these parks have received about Tk 2,000 crore as domestic-private investment and about US $439 million as foreign investment.
At present, there are more than 2,500 startups in the country. About 15 lakh people have been directly and indirectly employed in the startup sector.
“Our future plan is to increase exports in the ICT sector to US $5 billion and IT-based employment to 30 lakh by 2025, and to execute this plan, an adequate budget is being allocated for this sector,” the minister said.
“To support the growth of e-commerce in Bangladesh and to encourage new startups, which will create new job opportunities, a project titled ‘My e-commerce, My own business’ has been taken up by the government,” he added.
This project aims to harness new entrepreneurs' skills and develop small and medium enterprises in this sector in the rural areas of Bangladesh.
