Bangladesh has a very bright prospect for enhancing the domestic and international market of software products to around Tk 7,000 crore by 2014 if proper government attention and support is given to the sector.
“There is a huge scope for market expansion. The domestic market and volume of exports could be raised to Tk 7,000 crore by 2014 with proper government attention and support,” said Habibullah N Karim, president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services.
He informed that the total size of software industry in the country is presently around Tk 1,000 crore that includes software products, IT services, IT Enabled Services (ITES), graphic design, animation, business process and outsourcing.
The country’s software industry was able to raise its export to US$ 32.91 million in the 2008-09 fiscal with an increase of around 32 percent from US$ 24.82 million in the previous fiscal (2007-08).
But, according to statistics provided by the Export Promotion Bureau, the export dropped in the July-November period of current fiscal (2009-10) to US$ 10.5 million, a shortfall of US$ 4.4 million or 29.6 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal (2008-09).
“I think, it will be tough for us to reach the export target of US$ 38.1 million in the current fiscal unless something unusual happens in the remaining seven months,” said the BASIS president.
He noted that the export had declined due to a delayed effect of global economic recession, the ongoing power crisis and some other problems.
“Our orders are being cancelled. Many of our overseas clients are not renewing their contracts; some of the companies have even gone out of business,” said Habibullah.
Apart from the highest export destination like USA, other export destinations for Bangladeshi software products are spread over more than 30 countries including Canada, Germany, Denmark, Holland, UK, Norway, Sweden, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Australia and India.
The BASIS president observed that the industry witnessed uneven growth in the last 10 years although there has been a positive growth in terms of investment.
He said the BASIS membership, which was only 17 in 1997, now stands at 335. Besides, the trend of Offshore Development Center is also increasing.
“If we can provide the right environment like power facility, the ODCs can come up quickly resulting in employment generation, branding, reaching new technological skills and facilitating outsourcing.”
Habibullah demanded that for the growth of the industry, the government would have to ensure electricity for the IT industry and setting up IT parks, saying that neighboring India already has some 100 IT parks.
To address the negative growth, he suggested that the telecommunication rate should be reduced along with the costs of internet bandwidth, overseas exchange of documents or data and also in addressing the double taxation issue.
Regulatory and policy level intervention is needed in this sector, the BASIS president said, adding that the government would not incur any loss if they reduce the bandwidth cost.
Besides, he mentioned that the entrepreneurs also face difficulty in executing the orders for lack of bank loans. The marketing activities should also be strengthened as those are still weak.
The software industry leader also demanded of the government to withdraw the Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) system, saying: “PSI is a big obstacle for import of computer and software tools, especially in the case of small number of hardware items.”
He also underscored the need for raising the allocation to Tk 1,000 crore in the ICT sector in the upcoming national budget for upgrading the e-governance infrastructure of the government to buy and implement e-governance software applications.
Asked about the progress on the ICT Park at Kaliakoir in Gazipur, Habibullah said the ICT Park is there but there is a need to attract private investment to build infrastructures.
Source:http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=23015
