Home ›› 26 Oct 2021 ›› Front
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi says Tk 214 crore of clients and e-commerce companies stuck at payment gateways since July 1 will be released within three months.
He told reporters on Monday the central bank was working on this.
The minister said the decision to clear the payments was made during an emergency meeting at the ministry earlier in the day.
The money stuck in the payment gateways belongs to the customers who did not get their money back for not receiving products ordered after July 1 or the companies that did not receive payments as the customers did not confirm that the products were delivered.
So far, the total amount of money stuck in the payment gateways is Tk 559 crore.
Till June 30, Tk 345 crore was stuck at the payment gateways, but the Bangladesh Bank has no information on that. The central bank plans to clear this money after scrutiny.
The meeting also decided to introduce unique business IDs for registration of e-commerce companies, a central logistic tracking platform (CLTP), and a central complaint management system (CCMS), Tipu said.
The CLTP will legally monitor the operations of e-commerce firms, and customers will also get updates on products after placing orders.
On the other hand, customers can submit their complaints to the CCMS, and the system will handle those.
Tipu said these three services, along with escrow, would be launched within three months.
The ICT Division would provide updates on these services within two weeks, he said.
E-commerce companies not registering with their unique business IDs would not be able to operate, he said, adding registration would be free.
Tipu said discipline would be established in the e-commerce sector within two to three months, and the a2i under the ICT Division would work on that.
When asked why no step was being taken against companies other than Evaly, he said action had been taken against Evaly as the High Court had given an order. “This is a guideline. Actions will be taken against other companies later,” he said.
Speaking about returning the money of Jubok and Destiny-2000 clients, he said the two companies have property.
“The owners of the companies could not take the property. They only took some cash. If the property can be sold as per the law and in accordance with a court order, the clients of the companies may get back their money. At present, all this property remains illegally occupied,” he added.
State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak told reporters after the meeting no new law or authority was needed to govern the e-commerce sector as the existing laws were sufficient.
Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar, Prime Minister’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Md Jashim Uddin, e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh President Shomi Kaiser, and other high officials of different ministries and organisations were also present at the meeting.
