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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 and is inconsistent with the purpose of Smart Bangladesh, according to the technology industry.
The business leaders of the national trade organizations of the ICT sector said this at a press conference in a budget reaction on Sunday 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.
“The government has announced a budget of about tk7.62 lakh crore which is undoubtedly the biggest budget ever. As every time, the budget allocation for the ICT sector has increased in this year's budget. But in reality, there is no positive or significant good news for the ICT industry especially for the businessmen.” said BASIS President Russell T Ahmed.
BCS representative said, “We are completely disappointed. The current total tariff is 26 per cent as a result of imposition of 15 per cent duty on imports of laptops, FMC printers and toner cartridges in the last fiscal year 2022-23, which were proposed to be withdrawn this year, but remain the same. Not a bit has changed. This will completely undermine the determination to build a Smart Bangladesh.”
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 contacts 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 per cent 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.
ISPAB President Md Imdadul Hoque said, “ISPAB has been working for 25 years with the aim of building digital Bangladesh. Inspite of the directives of the prime minister in the proposed budget for the FY2023-24, not including all services of ISPs in ITES, not reducing the duty on the materials used in the IT sector and not withdrawing 10 per cent advance tax on broadband internet service providers, expansion of internet services, ISPAB that building Smart Bangladesh from digital Bangladesh will be hampered.
“On behalf of ISPAB, I am expressing a strong reaction against such a retrograde decision. At the same time, through this press conference, we strongly request the finance minister and NBR Chairman to take the ISP sector forward through inclusion of ITES in all the services of the ISP organizations to ensure the best use of the Internet and to remove the obstacles.”
E-CAB Vice President Mohammad Shahabuddin said, “This time the definition of the market place in the budget is the effort of E-CAB in the last three to four years. Only E-CAB has been meeting with NBR for the last few years for this definition alone. When this issue of VAT came to e-commerce, NBR also did not know what the definition of market place is.
“We had to wait three to four years to fix that divination. Digital businesses will benefit from VAT as a result of this integration. Logistics companies will be benefited. Everyone can stand from a place of clarity. This sector will move forward in a more organized manner.”
