AS reported in the press, Bangladesh has a bright prospect for enhancing the domestic and international market of software products to some Taka 7,000 crore by 2014 if proper government attention and support are given to the sector. According to the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the total size of software industry in Bangladesh is not Tk1,000 crore that includes software products, IT services, IT-enabled services, graphic design, animation business process and outsourcing. The country’s software industry was able to raise its export to $32.91 million in the 2008-09 fiscal with an increase of around 32 per cent from $24.82 million in the year before.
But according to the figures available with the Export Promotion Bureau, export dropped in the July-November period of this year to $10.5 million. It would be rather tough to reach the export target of $38.1 million this fiscal year. The export declined due to a delayed effect of global economic recession and the continuing power crisis besides others. Apart from the highest export destination like USA, Bangladeshi software products are destined to reach 30 other countries. Although there has been a positive growth in terms of investment, software industry witnessed ‘uneven growth’ in the last ten years, as stated by the BASIS chief.
If the right environments like power are provided, the industry would come up quickly resulting in employment generation, branding, attaining new technological skills and facilitating outsourcing. For rapid and smooth growth of the industry, the government would have to ensure electric supply to the IT industry. It may be mentioned here that neighbouring India has already some 100 IT parks. Regulatory and policy level intervention is needed in this sector as the government would not incur any loss if it reduces the bandwidth costs.
Source:http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/06/14/news0065.htm
