What are the leading sectors in Bangladesh that have the most potential investment opportunities?
Agri- business, Garments & textiles, ICT, Leather & leather goods, Electrical & electronic products, Plastic, Light engineering, Shipbuilding, Tourism, Frozen food, Renewable energy, Ceramic, Power, Medical equipment, Healthcare etc.
What are the priority or thrust sectors for investments in Bangladesh?
The National Industry Policy (NIP) (2016) designates the priority industries as follow:
High priority sectors: | 1) Agriculture, food processing and agricultural tool, 2) Ready-made garment, 3) ICT/ software, 4) Pharmaceuticals, 5) Leather and leather product, 6) Light engineering, 7) Jute and jute product |
Priority sectors: | 1) Plastic, 2) Overseas employment (manpower export), 3) Shipbuilding, 4) Environment-friendly ship recycling, 5) Tourism, 6) Frozen fish, 7) Home textiles, 8) Renewable energy (solar power, windmill), 9) Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and radio pharmaceuticals, 10) Herbal medicine, 11) Radio-active (diffusion) application industry (e.g. developing quality/ decaying polymer, preservation of food, disinfecting medicinal equipment), 12) Polymer product, 13) Hospital and clinic, 14) Automobile manufacturing and servicing, 15) Handicraft and cottage industries, 16) Energy efficient appliances, electronic goods, electronic materials, 17) Tea, 18) Seeds, 19) Jewelry, 20) Toys, 21) Cosmetics and toiletries, 22) Agar, 23) Furniture, 24) Cement |
It is noted that the list of “industrial undertakings” entitled for incentives of tax holiday and rebate is stipulated as below. To be entitled for incentives, investment projects need to be registered with BIDA:
List of industrial undertakings entitled for tax holiday (up to June 2019)
1) Active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and radio-pharmaceuticals,,
2) Automobile manufacturing,
3) Barrier contraceptive and rubber latex,
4) Basic chemicals or dyes, and chemicals,
5) Basic ingredients of electronic industry, (e.g. resistance, capacitor, transistor, integrator circuit),
6) Bicycle manufacturing,
7) Bio-fertilizer,
8) Biotechnology,
9) Boilers,
10) Brick made of automatic hybrid Hoffmann kiln or tunnel kiln technology,
11) Compressors,
12) Computer hardware,
13) Energy efficient appliances,
14) Insecticide and pesticide,
15) Petro-chemicals,
16) Pharmaceuticals,
17) Processing of locally produced fruits and vegetables,
18) Radio-active (diffusion) application industry (e.g. developing quality/ decaying polymer, preservation of food, and disinfecting medicinal equipment),
19) Textile machinery,
20) Tissue grafting,
21) Tire manufacturing,
22) Any other category of industrial undertaking which the government may specify by notification
What are the restricted sectors to which investments are not allowed?
The National Industry Policy (NIP) (2016) designates the controlled and reserved industries as follow: Regarding “controlled industries”, a proposed FDI requires approval (or no-objection certificate: NOC) of the relevant ministry before registering with investment authorities such as BIDA, BEPZA, BEZA and Hi-tech Park Authority. Regarding “reserved industries”, private investors are not allowed to enter due to national security reason.
Controlled industry: | 1) Deep sea fishing, 2) Bank/ finance, 3) Insurance, 4) Generation, supply and distribution of power, 5) Exploration, extraction and supply of natural gas/ oil, 6) Exploration, extraction and supply of coal, 7) Exploration, extraction and supply of other mineral resources, 8) Large-scale infrastructure (e.g. flyover, expressway, monorail, economic zone), 9) Crude oil refinery (recycling/ refining of lube oil as fuel), 10) Medium and large industries using natural gas/ condescend and other minerals as raw material, 11) Telecommunication (mobile/ cellular and land phone), 12) Satellite channel, 13) Cargo/ passenger aviation, 14) Sea bound ship transport, 15) Sea-port/ deep sea-port, 16) VOIP/ IP telephony, 17) Industries using heavy minerals accumulated from sea beach, 18) Explosive production, 19) Acid production, 20) Chemicals, 21) All kinds of sludge and fertilizer made from sludge, 22) Stone crashing |
Reserved industry | 1) Arms, ammunition and other military equipment/ machinery, 2) Nuclear power, 3) Security printing and minting, 4) Forestation and mechanized extraction within the reserved forest |